Magic : the life of Earvin

Magic The life of Earvin "Magic" Johnson

Roland Lazenby

Book - 2023

"Magic Johnson is one of the most beloved, and at times controversial, athletes in history. His iconic smile lifted the dowdy sport of American pro basketball from a second tier sport with low ratings into the global spotlight, a transformation driven by his ability to eviscerate opponents with a style that featured his grand sense of fun. He was a master entertainer who directed Los Angeles Lakers "Showtime" basketball to the heights of both glory and epic excess, all of it driven by his mind-blowing no-look passes and personal charm. At the charismatic height of his power, Johnson then shocked the world with a startling cautionary tale about sexually transmitted disease that pushed public awareness of an HIV and AIDs crisis.... Then out came his confession of unprotected sex with hundreds of women each year, a retirement, an attempted return, then a proper farewell on the iconic 1992 Olympic Dream Team. Longtime biographer Roland Lazenby spent years tracking Johnson's unlikely rise to become an immensely popular public figure who was instantly scandalized in 1991, then turned to his legendary will to rise again as a successful entrepreneur with another level of hard-won success in business. In his portrayal, Johnson's tale becomes bigger than that of one man. It is a generational saga over parts of three centuries that reveals much not just about his unique basketball journey but about America itself. Through literally hundreds of interviews with Johnson's coaches, representatives past and present, teammates, opponents, friends and loved ones, including key conversations with Johnson himself over the years, Lazenby has produced the first truly definitive study, both dark and light, of Earvin "Magic" Johnson, Jr., the revolutionary player, the icon, the man"--

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Subjects
Johnson, Earvin, > 1959-
Basketball players > United States > Biography.
Basketball players
United States
Biographies.
Biographies
Genres
Biographies
Published
New York, NY : Celadon Books 2023.
Language
English
Main Author
Roland Lazenby (author)
Edition
First edition
Physical Description
xii, 813 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color) ; 25 cm
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN
9781250248039
  • Part I: Lansing
  • Boom, baby
  • Smile
  • Get on the bus
  • Tobacco road
  • The bike ride
  • Mississippi
  • Sobriquet
  • Goons
  • Popcorn time
  • Natural high
  • Mourning becomes electra
  • "Glass!"
  • The great and the gruesome
  • The Spartan
  • Another promised land
  • The Great Salt Lake
  • Part II: Hollywood
  • Strange days, indeed
  • We happy few
  • Game 6
  • The storm surge
  • Power play
  • The art of Riles
  • The Larry thing
  • Heaven is a payback
  • The life
  • The guarantee
  • The long kiss goodbye
  • Part III: Across the great divide
  • Laker red
  • Absolutely positive
  • Shelter from the storm
  • The wanderer
  • The messenger.
Review by Booklist Review

A nearly unstoppable force on the basketball court, Earvin "Magic" Johnson guided his Los Angeles Lakers to five NBA championships in the 1980s. Born and raised in Lansing, Michigan, Johnson was a young star athlete, guided by his parents' diligence and serenity and attracting media attention in his early teen years for his basketball skills. When the Lakers drafted him in 1979, they were a team in transition, but new ownership and Johnson's arrival--and the "Fast Break" offense that he commanded--began to alter the Lakers' fortunes. Johnson's influence as a teammate and his gregarious personality off the court made an indelible mark. His early retirement due to an HIV diagnosis in 1991 shocked the world, but Johnson viewed his battle with mortality as one more game to play. Magic reigns as a wonderful and comprehensive biography of a world-class athlete and fascinating person. Lazenby, who has written biographies of Jerry West, Michael Jordan, and Kobe Bryant, adds another to his list with this masterful examination of the man behind the winning smile and unbreakable confidence.

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

Sportswriter Lazenby (Showboat) disappoints in this bloated biography of the Los Angeles Lakers superstar. Born in Lansing, Mich., in 1959, Johnson earned the nickname "Magic" for his prowess on the basketball court when he was 15. After a successful college career at Michigan State, Johnson led the Lakers to a championship title in 1980, his first year in the NBA. He became a celebrity, giving him the clout to force out coach Paul Westhead, with whom he had butted heads, in a 1981 power play that put a dent in his affable public image. Johnson helped the Lakers win a total of five championships in the 1980s, but his career was cut short in 1991 when he tested positive for HIV, after which he devoted himself to educating the public about AIDS and safe sex. Following unsuccessful returns to the hardwood in 1992 and 1996, and a failed stint coaching the Lakers in 1994, Johnson became a successful businessman, opening coffeehouses and movie theaters throughout the U.S. Unfortunately, the scrupulous detail Lazenby lavishes on Johnson's childhood and NBA career grows tiresome (a lengthy account of Johnson's lineage back to the 18th century comes across as filler), yet the book's ending feels rushed, covering the 27 years since Johnson last retired from the NBA in under 20 pages. This is a missed opportunity. (Oct.)

(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Kirkus Book Review

An overstuffed biography of the best point guard in NBA history. Larry Bird, of the much-reviled Boston Celtics, took great pleasure in tormenting Magic Johnson (b. 1959) during the many years of their rivalry for NBA supremacy. Appropriately, Lazenby, who has authored biographies of Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant, opens with Bird's marveling at what he called "a one-man fast break." Readers may wish that Lazenby had some of Bird's economy of language, for he follows with a staccato flood of encomia: "Magic. In defiance of the physical world. Finite. Complete. Perfect. Open only to pale imitation." The worshipful overwriting is characteristic ("He was so sweet then, his head tilted often in that sudden tenderness that only the truly innocent possess"), but determined readers will tough it out. As the author shows, few players worked as hard as Magic, and few were so attuned to the strategy of the game and the wiles of opponents. Lazenby turns up a few things that only diehard fans might know, connecting them to larger matters. For instance, Johnson was dyslexic, and though he had trouble reading, he compensated by listening so closely to instructions that he was able to act as a de facto coach for less attentive teammates. The author is very good at both play-by-play narrative and recalling the ways of the receding past, as when he writes of a push-and-shove between Bird and Johnson's fellow Laker Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, "In the modern game, the exchange would have resulted in immediate suspensions. In that era, the NBA wasn't about to throw stars like Bird and Kareem out of a highly charged championship series." Lazenby also writes sensitively of Johnson's HIV--positive status and its consequences, as well as Johnson's post--NBA emergence as a highly successful entrepreneur. Too long by half, but a satisfying bio for fans of the legendary player. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

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