Jimmy Breslin

The book that inspired Harrison Ford in his portrayal of Branch Rickey in the hit movie “42”
The idea of integrating baseball began as a dream in the mind of Branch Rickey. In 1947, as president and general manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers, he defied racism on and off the field to bring Jackie Robinson into the major leagues, changing the sport and the nation forever. Rickey's is the classic American tale of a poor boy from Ohio...

An invaluable collection of early columns by one of New York's sharpest minds In the 1960s, as the once-proud New York Herald Tribune spiraled into bankruptcy, the brightest light in its pages was an ebullient young columnist named Jimmy Breslin. While ordinary columnists wrote about politics, culture, or the economy, Breslin's chief topics were the city and Breslin himself. He was chummy with cops, arsonists, and thieves, and told their stories with...

A collection of classic columns from one of New York's most celebrated journalists Although his career spans decades, the seven years that Jimmy Breslin spent at the New York Daily News sparked some of his finest work. When New York City tumbled into economic and social chaos at the end of the 1970s, Breslin was there. In his brief, insightful columns, he looked at the city not from the top down but from the bottom up. Eschewing the view of politicians,...

After the Watergate scandal corrupted American democracy, it took a gang of honest politicians to restore honor Not long after burglars were caught raiding the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate Hotel, Congressman Tip O'Neill noticed that Democratic fundraising efforts for the 1972 election had stalled. Major contributors were under IRS investigation, and Republican lackeys were threatening further trouble if those donors...

A madcap novel of the sloppiest turf war ever launched by the Brooklyn mob Kid Sally Palumbo has been a loyal servant to the Brooklyn Mafia for years. His specialty is murder, and he is so skilled at it that he has gotten the attention of Mafia boss Papa Baccala. But unfortunately for Kid Sally, murder pays poorly. He wants to make real dough, to get respect, and to be able to tell his colleagues where to sit when they eat dinner. In short, he wants...

An evocative portrait of a man who lived a lifetime at the track At seventy-seven, James "Sunny Jim" Fitzsimmons should have been considering retirement. His six-decade career stretched back to 1885, when, as an eleven year-old, he began working as a stable boy. After failing as a jockey, Fitzsimmons-or Mr. Fitz to those in the know-started training horses, eventually winning three Kentucky Derbys, two Triple Crowns, and more than two thousand races....