MICHAEL JORDAN

According to New York Times sportswriter Lipsyte (Arnold Schwarzenegger, 1993, etc.), Michael Jordan is a master of timing not just in his game but in his whole involvement with basketball and advertising. Jordan managed not only to be the greatest basketball player ever but also to do it at a time when basketball was at its most popular, with corporations most ready to cash in on marketable stars. Perhaps the moment was right for Jordan to retire from the sport in 1993, as well, although it's still early to tell. He certainly had proved himself, which was important to the fiercely competitive superstar. Jordan's timing wasn't always as good as it later became. He was a late bloomer, cut from his high school basketball team in his sophomore year. He wasn't offered the most prestigious college scholarships available. But in 1982, the University of North Carolina freshman announced his presence with a spectacular 17-foot swish that brought his team the NCAA title. And the rest is history. Lipsyte provides not merely the facts but a sophisticated social and historical analysis of the game of basketball and Jordan's place in it. He doesn't pander to his audience; he writes up to it. A spectacular biography. Kids are lucky to have Lipsyte writing on their side. (Biography. 10-14)