UI Press | William J. Baker | Jesse Owens: An American Life

Jesse Owens

An American Life

The rise and fall of one of sport’s most enduring icons

Born the tenth child of a poor Southern sharecropper and barely able to read or write, Jesse Owens would nevertheless go on to win an unprecedented four gold medals at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, becoming an international superstar overnight and exploding Hitler’s myth of Aryan supremacy in the process. William J. Baker’s Jesse Owens is the most complete and probing biography of Owens ever written, vividly detailing the successes and failures of this complex and troubled but ultimately indomitable figure who transcended his own athleticism and became an American icon.

"This well-researched work . . . is an honest and open account of the life of the legendary Olympic champion. Rather than glossing over the surface of this complex individual who became an American icon, Baker provides an in-depth examination of the man, his successes, and his failures."--Multicultural Review

"The best biography of Jesse Owens."--The Alabama Review

"An honest and open account of the life of the legendary Olympic champion."--Multicultural Review

“This book goes far beyond the Jesse Owens of the record books, the legendary winner of four Olympic gold medals and the setter of six world records in a single afternoon’s burst of eternal glory. Jesse Owens delves more deeply into Owens the man and, even more significantly, introduces us to his life before and after his brief term as an unforgettable athlete. It is must reading for all who are interested in the man still regarded by most as the greatest track and field athlete in history.”--Bert Nelson, editor of Track & Field News

"The best biography of Jesse Owens."--The Alabama Review

"An honest and open account of the life of the legendary Olympic champion."--Multicultural Review

William J. Baker is the professor emeritus of history at the University of Maine. He is the author of If Christ Came to the Olympics and other books.

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