Book summary

Laura Hillenbrand, an award-winning racing journalist, delivers an in-depth, winning biography of a horse, detailing the lives of three men: Tom Smith, a silent, eccentric trainer; Charles Howard, a wealthy horseowner; and Red Pollard, a half-blind, down-on-his-luck jockey, whose combined talents produced an unlikely champion. The struggles of Seabiscuit and his jockey paralleled those of an entire nation--which was suffering under the Depression and the threat of war--and caught its attention; in 1938 the horse reportedly received more newspaper coverage than Roosevelt, Hitler, or Mussolini. In a work that gives an impressive sense of a particular horse, the sport, the racetrack milieu, and the mood of the country during the time, the author inspires admiration and respect for the implausible champion and his team, and also does a great service to sportswriting. A New York Times Notable Book for 2001.

Media reviews

"[A]n absorbing book that stands as the model of sportswriting at its best."