Magic in the Air

The Myth, the Mystery, and the Soul of the Slam Dunk

De: Mike Sielski

Duración: 9 h

Resumen del Editor

From the author of the bestselling Kobe Bryant biography The Rise comes the legend of the most powerful shot in basketball: the slam dunk.

The evolution of basketball, and much of the social and cultural change in America, can be traced through one powerful act on the court: the slam dunk. The dunk's history is the story of a sport and a country changed by the most dominant act in basketball, and it makes Magic in the Air a rollicking and insightful piece of narrative history and a surefire classic of sports literature.

When basketball was the province of white men, the dunk acted as a revolutionary agent, a tool for players like Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell to transform the sport into a Black man’s game. The dunk has since been an expression of Black culture amid the righteous upheaval of the civil-rights movement, of the threat that Black people were considered to be to the establishment. It was banned from college basketball for nearly a decade—an attempt to squash the individual expression and athleticism that characterized the sport in America’s cities and on its playgrounds. The dunk nevertheless bubbled up to basketball’s highest levels. From Julius Erving to Michael Jordan to the high flyers of the 21st century, the dunk has been a key mechanism for growing the NBA into a global goliath.

Drawing on deep reporting and dozens of interviews with players, coaches, and other hoops experts, Magic in the Air brings to life the tale of the dunk while balancing sharp socio-racial history and commentary with a romp through American sports and culture. There's never been a basketball book quite like it.

©2025 Mike Sielski (P)2025 Macmillan Audio

Reseñas de la Crítica

"This is a terrific book, a history of basketball through the culture and racial politics of the dunk -- revelatory and full of surprises. It's a connection of dots that nobody's ever made in just this way. I highly recommend this unique history of America's great and now universal game." — Ron Shelton, director of White Men Can't Jump and Bull Durham and author of The Church of Baseball

"Mike Sielski expertly traces the evolution of elevation: the origins, innovations, controversy and artistry of the singular spectacle known as the dunk. They’re all here — the streetball pioneers and modern masters, the rule makers and rule breakers, names you only thought you knew, and others you never did. With Sielski’s dogged reporting, lyrical prose and infectious enthusiasm for the subject, Magic in the Air is a soaring 10.0." — Tyler Kepner, New York Times bestselling author of The Grandest Stage and K: A History of Baseball in Ten Pitches

"From Dr. J. To M.J., Magic in the Air is the definitive history of the greatest way to finish in sports. Once you know how it started, how it evolved and how it became what it became, you will never see basketball with the same eyes. I hate to do this, but just have to: this is a helicoptering windmill of a book, an absolute slam dunk.” — Rich Cohen, author of When the Game Was War: The NBA’s Greatest Season