The Comeback chronicles the life of one of America’s greatest athletes, from his roots in the windswept hills of Nevada's Washoe Valley to the heights of his global fame at the Tour de France. With a swift narrative drive and fierce attention to detail, Daniel de Visé reveals the dramatic, ultra-competitive inner world of a sport rarely glimpsed up close, and builds a compelling case for LeMond as its great American hero.
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Coming June 5 from Atlantic Monthly Press“The Comeback is an eye-popping ride, sweeping the reader through the extreme eccentricities of endurance cycling. But the heart of the story, the charismatic spirit and re-crowning of America’s authentic cycling champion Greg LeMond, is what makes you cheer through the pages.” -- Diana Nyad, author of Find a Way and the only person to swim between Cuba and the United States.
"Greg LeMond was Lance Armstrong before Lance Armstrong--and he won his three Tours de France WITHOUT cheating. The Comeback is the story of a true hero and his remarkable comeback to win arguably the most dramatic Tour de France in history. This is a must read if you believe in miracles." -- John Feinstein, bestselling author of Season on the Brink and The First Major. “Once in a blue moon a sports book comes along appealing to a such a broad audience that it becomes a perennial favorite of neighborhood reading groups--Boys in the Boat and Seabiscuit being prime examples. Now make way for The Comeback by Daniel de Visé, a superbly well-crafted narrative. For devotees of the sport of bicycle racing, and for those with little knowledge of it, this book will satisfy in every way.” -- Paul Dickson, author of Bill Veeck and Leo Durocher. “Greg LeMond is an American sporting hero whose story would surely be rejected by Hollywood as too fanciful. It includes taking on and beating the French at their own game, a near-fatal shooting, a career in apparently terminal decline, an extraordinary comeback, and a bitter feud with his successor. Remarkably, it’s all true, and The Comeback is the first book to document the full LeMond story in all its astonishing, scarcely credible detail.” -- Richard Moore, author of Slaying the Badger and host of The Cycling Podcast. "Daniel de Visé has written a gripping account of what is widely considered to be the greatest finish in Tour de France history. His meticulously researched story of the professional and personal life of LeMond is enhanced by compelling descriptions of the cast of heroes and villains who built him up….. and tried unsuccessfully to tear him down." -- Bob Bowen, president of the U.S. Bicycling Hall of Fame. "Daniel de Visé explores one of cycling’s epic duels, on the final day of the 1989 Tour de France when America’s Greg LeMond had recovered from a life-threatening shotgun blast to score a heroic come-from-behind triumph over France’s Laurent Fignon. In The Comeback, de Visé portrays the complex personalities of LeMond and Fignon in a narrative freighted with nuanced analyses, thorough research, and a narrative that rocks." -- Peter Joffre Nye, cycling historian, author of Hearts of Lions and The Fast Times of Albert Champion. |
 Orson Welles in Touch of Evil. On television and in the movies, comedic actor Don Knotts generally played second banana, deputizing himself — literally or figuratively — to someone else. Off screen, the reality of his theatrical relationships was a bit more complicated.There was the time, for example, when Don spent a month of his life more or less babysitting the great Orson Welles.
Orson -- Broadway director at twenty-two, Citizen Kane producer at twenty-five -- first met Don in 1957 when he guest-starred on The Steve Allen Show, which employed Don as a regular. Though still in his early forties (he was born one hundred and one years ago this month), Orson was already in the twilight of his career, working on one of his final cinematic triumphs, Touch of Evil. The Steve Allen producers wanted him to read Shakespeare. Orson insisted that he first be permitted to perform his magic act. Orson was an accomplished magician -- just like Don, whose first great talent was ventriloquism. Don revered the bearded legend and surely would have hung on his every word; but the mercurial star declined to mingle with the Steve Allen cast in rehearsal and “seemed, in fact, quite unapproachable,” Don recalled in his memoir. Fifteen years later, Don took a phone call from a producer, who wanted to know if he would perform in a television adaptation of The Man Who Came to Dinner, an updated version of the Roosevelt-era play. The star would be Orson Welles. Click here to read the rest of my new post at Classic Movie Hub. Comments are closed.
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