Wright Thompson

Haunting . . . The writing is often breathtaking, brutality amplified through perfectly crafted prose.The TimesExtraordinary . . . Serious history and skillful journalism, but with the nuance and wallop of a finely wrought novel.Washington PostWith a passion for truth and justice, and a fierce determination to dig for the secrets, Wright Thompson has produced an incredible history of a crime that changed America. John GrishamHow forces from around the world converged on the Mississippi Delta to bring about the most consequential murder in US history.Emmett Tills murder is one of the most infamous in American history; a moment that, more than any other, awakened the world to the racism of the Deep South. Yet despite growing up just a few miles from where it happened, Wright Thompson knew nothing of it until he left Mississippi. This is no accident: the cover-up began at once, and it is ongoing.Over the course of five years research, Thompson has learnt that almost every part of the standard account of Tills killing is wrong. In August 1955, after the two men charged with the murder were acquitted by an all-white jury, they gave a false confession to a journalist: one that was misleading about where the murder took place and who was involved. We now know that at least eight people were present, and many more complicit. And we now know precisely where it took place: inside a barn on a 36-square-mile grid called Township 22 North, Range 4 West.This book tells the story of that barn. It is the story of what really happened on the night of August 28, 1955, and of the individuals who have spent decades bringing the truth to light. And it is the story of the centuries-old forces that made that night inevitable: forces that, over the course of 200 years, transformed Township 22 North, Range 4 West from Choctaw land, to a slave plantation, to a sharecroppers farm, to the site of the most significant murder in US history.The result is a revelatory work of investigative reportage and a panoramic new history of white supremacy in America. It maps the road that the US and the world must travel to heal its oldest, deepest wound.

An instant New York Times bestsellerFrom the bestselling author of The Cost of These DreamsThe story of how Julian Van Winkle III, the caretaker of the most coveted cult Kentucky Bourbon whiskey in the world, fought to protect his familys heritage and preserve the taste of his forebears, in a world where authenticity, like his product, is in very short supply.As a journalist said of Pappy Van Winkle, "You could call it bourbon, or you could call it a $5,000 bottle of liquified, barrel-aged unobtanium." Julian Van Winkle, the third-generation head of his familys business, is now thought of as something like the Buddha of Bourbon - Booze Yoda, as Wright Thompson calls him. He is swarmed wherever he goes, and people stand in long lines to get him to sign their bottles of Pappy Van Winkle Family Reserve, the whiskey he created to honor his grandfather, the founder of the family concern. A bottle of the 23-year-old Pappy starts at $3000 on the internet. As Julian is the first to say, things have gone completely nuts.Forty years ago, Julian would have laughed in astonishment if youd told him what lay ahead. Hed just stepped in to try to save the business after his father had died, partly of heartbreak, having been forced to sell the old distillery in a brutal downturn in the market for whiskey. Julians grandfather had presided over a magical kingdom of craft and connoisseurship, a genteel outfit whose family ethos generated good will throughout Kentucky and far beyond. Theres always a certain amount of romance to the marketing of spirits, but Pappys mission statement captured something real: "We make fine bourbon - at a profit if we can, at a loss if we must, but always fine bourbon." But now the business had hit the wilderness years, and Julian could only hang on for dear life, stubbornly committed to preserving his namesakes legacy or going down with the ship. Then something like a miracle happened: it turned out that hundreds of very special barrels of whiskey from the Van Winkle family distillery had been saved by the multinational conglomerate that bought it. With no idea what they had, they offered to sell it to Julian, who scrambled to beg and borrow the funds. Now he could bottle a whiskey whose taste captured his familys legacy. The result would immediately be hailed as the greatest whiskey in the world - and would soon be the hardest to find.But now, those old barrels were used up, and Julian Van Winkle faced the challenge of his lifetime: how to preserve the taste of Pappy, the taste of his familys heritage, in a new age? The amazing Wright Thompson was invited to be his wingman as he set about to try. The result is an extraordinary testimony to the challenge of living up to your legacy and the rewards that come from knowing and honoring your people and your craft. Wright learned those lessons from Julian as they applied to the honest work of making a great bourbon whiskey in Kentucky, but he couldnt help applying them to his own craft, writing, and his upbringing in Mississippi, as he and his wife contemplated the birth of their first child. May we all be lucky enough to find some of ourselves, as Wright Thompson did, in Julian Van Winkle, and in Pappyland.

The instant New York Times bestseller!From one of Americas most beloved sportswriters and the bestselling author of Pappyland, a collection of true stories about the dream of greatness and its cost in the world of sports."Wright Thompsons stories are so full of rich characters, bad actors, heroes, drama, suffering, courage, conflict, and vivid detail that I sometimes thinks hes working my side of the street - the world of fiction." John GrishamThere is only one Wright Thompson. He is, as they say, famous if you know who he is: his work includes the most read articles in the history of ESPN (and its not even close) and has been anthologized in the Best American Sports Writing series ten times, and he counts John Grisham and Richard Ford among his ardent admirers (see back of book). But to say his pieces are about sports, while true as far as it goes, is like saying Larry McMurtrys Lonesome Dove is a book about a cattle drive. Wright Thompson figures people out. He jimmies the lock to the furnaces inside the people he profiles and does an analysis of the fuel that fires their ambition. Whether it be Michael Jordan or Tiger Woods or Pat Riley or Urban Meyer, he strips the away the self-serving myths and fantasies to reveal his characters in full. There are fascinating common denominators: it may not be the case that every single great performer or coach had a complex relationship with his father, but it can sure seem that way. And there is much marvelous local knowledge: about specific sports, and times and places, and people. Ludicrously entertaining and often powerfully moving, The Cost of These Dreams is an ode to the reporters art, and a celebration of true greatness and the high price that it exacts.

De uno de los grandes periodistas deportivos, llega esta colección de historias reales, sobre los sueños de grandeza y su precio en el mundo del deporte.El trabajo de Wright Thompson incluye varios de los articulos deportivos mas leidos en la historia de ESPN y sus articulos han sido incluidos en diez ocasiones en la serie Best American Sports Writing. Cuenta con John Grisham y Richard Ford como algunos de sus mas reconocidos admiradores. Pero decir que sus articulos solo estan relacionados con el deporte es quedarse muy corto. Thompson logra conectar por completo con lo mas profundo de la gente sobre la que escribe, haciendo un gran analisis sobre el combustible que enciende sus ambiciones. Ya sea Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods o Pat Riley, siempre consigue separar los mitos y las fantasias para revelar a estos personajes con profundidad. Este es un libro repleto de conocimiento, sobre varios deportes, epocas, lugares y personas.Tremendamente ludico y poderosamente conmovedor, El precio de aquellos sueños es una oda al arte del periodismo.La critica ha dicho... Las historias de Wright Thompson estan repletas de personajes maravillosos, malos actores, heroes, drama, sufrimiento, conflicto y de detalles tan reales que en ocasiones creo que el trabaja al igual que yo, en el mundo de la ficcion. John GrishamThompson ha escrito varios de los mas importantes articulos del deporte contemporaneo. Este libro eleva el periodismo deportivo como nunca antes se habia logrado.The New York TimesUn K.O. por parte de Wright Thompson. Este libro es el ejemplo a lo que todos los periodistas deportivos deberian aspirar.Wall Street JournalWright Thompson no es solo el mejor escritor sobre deportes de los Estados Unidos, es tambien uno de los mejores escritores, punto. Este libro es una autentica joya de la literatura.Mens Journal

De uno de los grandes periodistas deportivos, llega esta colección de historias reales, sobre los sueños de grandeza y su precio en el mundo del deporte. El trabajo de Wright Thompson incluye varios de los articulos deportivos mas leidos en la historia de ESPN y sus articulos han sido incluidos en diez ocasiones en la serie Best American Sports Writing. Cuenta con John Grisham y Richard Ford como algunos de sus mas reconocidos admiradores. Pero decir que sus articulos solo estan relacionados con el deporte es quedarse muy corto. Thompson logra conectar por completo con lo mas profundo de la gente sobre la que escribe, haciendo un gran analisis sobre el combustible que enciende sus ambiciones. Ya sea Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods o Pat Riley, siempre consigue separar los mitos y las fantasias para revelar a estos personajes con profundidad. Este es un libro repleto de conocimiento, sobre varios deportes, epocas, lugares y personas. Tremendamente ludico y poderosamente conmovedor, El precio de aquellos sueños es una oda al arte del periodismo.La critica ha dicho...Las historias de Wright Thompson estan repletas de personajes maravillosos, malos actores, heroes, drama, sufrimiento, conflicto y de detalles tan reales que en ocasiones creo que el trabaja al igual que yo, en el mundo de la ficcion.John Grisham Thompson ha escrito varios de los mas importantes articulos del deporte contemporaneo. Este libro eleva el periodismo deportivo como nunca antes se habia logrado.The New York TimesUn K.O. por parte de Wright Thompson. Este libro es el ejemplo a lo que todos los periodistas deportivos deberian aspirar.Wall Street Journal Wright Thompson no es solo el mejor escritor sobre deportes de los Estados Unidos, es tambien uno de los mejores escritores, punto. Este libro es una autentica joya de la literatura.Men's Journal