Michael Leahy

A noted sportswriter offers a portrait of a legendary athlete confronting the twilight of his storied sports career, capturing the many faces of Michael Jordan during his return to basketball at the age of thirty-eight.

Michael Jordan's Last Comeback

When Nothing Else Matters

Conquering America's #1 Addiction

Porn Nation

It's rare for a team to encapsulate an era as indelibly as the Los Angeles Dodgers did the 1960s. White, black, Jewish, Christian, wealthy, working class, conservative, liberal--the Dodgers embodied the disparate cultural forces at play in an America riven by race and war. In this book, journalist Michael Leahy tells the story of this mesmerizing time and extraordinary team through seven players--Maury Wills, Sandy Koufax, Wes Parker, Jeff Torborg, Tommy Davis, Dick Tracewski, and Lou Johnson--taking readers through the high drama of their World Series appearances, pivotal triumphs, and individual setbacks while the Dodgers reigned and baseball was king. It is a story about what it was like to be a major leaguer when the country was turned upside down by the tumult of the civil rights movement, a series of wrenching political assassinations, and the shock waves of the Vietnam War. Outside the public eye, these seven Dodgers--friends, mentors, and confidants--struggled to understand their place in society and in a sport controlled by owners whose wishes were fiat. Even as they starred in games watched by millions, they coped with anxieties and indignities their fans knew nothing about--some of their wounds deeply personal, others more common to the times, though no less painful. In their dissatisfaction, they helped plant the seeds of a rebellion that would change their sport. This is a unique portrait of a watershed era in baseball and in America. --Adapted from dust jacket.

the collision of the turbulent sixties and the Los Angeles Dodgers

The last innocents

Winner of the CASEY Award for Best Baseball Book of the Year Finalist for the PEN/ESPN Award for Literary Sports Writing From an award-winning journalist comes the riveting odyssey of seven Los Angeles Dodgers in the 1960s—a chronicle of a team, a game, and a nation in transition during one of the most exciting and unsettled decades in history. Legendary Dodgers Maury Wills, Sandy Koufax, Wes Parker, Jeff Torborg, Dick Tracewski, and Tommy Davis encapsulated 1960s America: white and black, Jewish and Christian, wealthy and working class, pro-Vietnam and anti-war, golden boy and seasoned veteran. The Last Innocents is a thoughtful, technicolor portrait of these seven players—friends, mentors, confidants, rivals, and allies—and their storied team that offers an intriguing look at a sport and a nation in transition. Bringing into focus the high drama of their World Series appearances from 1962 to 1972 and their pivotal games, Michael Leahy explores these men’s interpersonal relationships and illuminates the triumphs, agonies, and challenges each faced individually. Leahy places these men’s lives within the political and social maelstrom that was the era when the conformity of the 1950s gave way to demands for equality and rights. Increasingly frustrated over a lack of real bargaining power and an oppressive management who meddled in their personal affairs, the players shared an uneasy relationship with the team’s front office. This contention mirrored the discord and uncertainty generated by myriad changes rocking the nation: the civil rights movement, political assassinations, and growing hostility to the escalation of the Vietnam War. While the nation around them changed, these players each experienced a personal and professional metamorphosis that would alter public perceptions and their own. Comprehensive and artfully crafted, The Last Innocents is an evocative and riveting portrait of a pivotal era in baseball and modern America.

The Collision of the Turbulent Sixties and the Los Angeles Dodgers

The Last Innocents

As one of the greatest, most celebrated athletes in history, Michael Jordan conquered professional basketball as no one had before. Powered by a potent mix of charisma, nearly superhuman abilities, and a ferocious need to dominate the game, he won six NBA championships with the Chicago Bulls and captured every basketball award and accolade conceivable before retiring and taking a top executive post with the Washington Wizards. But retirement didn't suit the man who was once king, and at the advanced age of thirty-eight Michael Jordan set out to reclaim the court that had been his dominion. When Nothing Else Matters is the definitive account of Jordan's equally spectacular and disastrous return to basketball. Having gone on the road to chronicle Jordan's final two seasons, award-winning Washington Post writer Michael Leahy draws a riveting portrait of a deeply complex man waylaid by his impulses and impatience, frequently hampered by injuries, assaulted by younger players eager to usurp his throne, and ultimately done in by his presumption. Encouraged for two decades by his sport's magnates to believe that he had no limits or superiors, Jordan could not see his influence and power fading as his Wizards days ticked down and his team's losses and dissension grew. For teammates and outsiders alike, the star emerged as a relentlessly driven, at times unapproachable personality. Leahy reveals the striking contrast between Jordan's public image and the man who couldn't stand not "bein' it." Hell-bent on transforming the mediocre Wizards into championship contenders, Jordan controlled every facet of his new team, dispensing orders behind the scenes to coaches and players. As his anger and bitterness over Washington's on-court setbacks became increasingly public, his teammates' resentment of him stoked already burgeoning tensions between Jordan and the Wizards' top brass. Leahy unmasks the myths and unravels the deeper lessons behind the highs and lows of the two seasons, illuminating the excruciating reality Jordan was forced to accept after the Wizards' failed playoff bid in his final season. When Nothing Else Matters is about nothing less than a man struggling to come to grips with the end of a career, and the uncertainty of his life ahead.

Porn University reveals the startling results of a brand new study on the sexual attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors of more than 25,000 college and university students on more than 100 campuses all over America. The revealing results offer a closer look at the shifting sexual trends and histories of the next generation of leaders in America. Included are commentary and analysis from the author and other experts in this field on key findings and discoveries, as well as predictions of where the sexual trends of tomorrow might be headed. There are an estimated 18-22 million male and female sex addicts in America today, and the average American teen is exposed to over 14,000 sexual images and messages every year through our mainstream media. This is the new reality. Don’t be discouraged. There is hope!

What College Students Are Really Saying about Sex on Campus

Porn University

Speaking from personal experience and drawing on several years’ worth of research surveys, author Michael Leahy presents the facts about our porn-saturated world in the place where we spend the most time: our jobs. Whether you are a workforce veteran or you are sitting in your very first cubicle, the business manager or the lone HR spokesperson, pornography at work is a real threat. The latest era of workplace connectivity has given rise to a whole new level of office efficiency, but it has also opened the door to all kinds of potential dangers and temptations. Lost productivity and litigation risks are where the errant click-throughs generally lead. Don’t fall into the trap! Porn doesn’t have to be the norm.

Exposing the Office's #1 Addiction

Porn @ Work

Pornograpy and sex-related sites make up nearly 60 percent of daily web traffic. For some of us, it's going on in our very own basements or in the den after the family goes to bed. Over twenty million Americans spend a good deal of their waking hours looking at pornography. And they won't stop, because they can't stop. At least not on their own. They are addicted. Porn Nation captivates readers with the true story of Michael Leahy, a sex addict who only came to terms with his problem after losing his marriage and children. But it's also the story of the rest of us. It's the story of America- our porn nation. How is it affecting us? How is it changing the way we see ourselves and others? And what can be done about it?

Michael Leahy

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