Playing for Keeps: Michael Jordan and the World He Made

By David Halberstam

Categories: Biographies & Memoirs, Sports & Outdoors

David Halberstam traces Michael Jordan from his years under Dean Smith at North Carolina through the Chicago Bulls' six championships, with portraits of Phil Jackson, Scottie Pippen and Dennis Rodman and rivals such as Magic Johnson. He sets Jordan's career against the NBA's growth under David Stern, the rise of ESPN and the marketing by his agent, David Falk, and Nike, aided by Wieden and Kennedy and Spike Lee, that made Jordan one of the most recognizable people on earth.

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• Ryan Holiday: “I've read many books by Halberstam, including The Children (amazing. MUST read), Breaks of the Game (a favorite), The Coldest Winter (haunting) and his book about Michael Jordan, too.”