Author:Alex Gordon
Celtic strode majestically into the history books in 1967 as the first British club to conquer Europe, and the iconic photograph of captain Billy McNeill holding aloft the glittering European Cup in the Lisbon sunshine is the defining image of that footballing era. Yet at the start of the decade, Celtic were a team plagued by defeats and in disarray both on and off the field. What brought about their remarkable transformation?
In Celtic: The Awakening, Alex Gordon enters uncharted territory to investigate the story of Celtic in the 1960s, an extraordinary decade in the club's roller-coaster 125-year history. Players of the era, good, bad and indifferent, are interviewed in depth in an attempt to unravel one of football’s greatest mysteries.
Sweeping through the ’60s and beyond, Celtic: The Awakening details the previously untold story of how a proud club rose from grief to glory, from dismay to delight.
This book is as close as you’ll ever get to being in the Celtic dressing-room in the ’60s.
—— Tommy GemmellCeltic: The Awakening highlights the utterly remarkable and welcome transformation of Celtic in the ’60s. It really took me back . . . I’ll never tire of reading about that European Cup win!
—— Billy McNeillIt was an unforgettable era for Celtic and all the players involved. For the supporters who missed those years, all I can say is read this and add your imagination. You’ll be there with us.
—— Bertie AuldIt was wonderful to be taken back in time to rekindle the greatest period in my playing career.
—— Davie HayAs a memoir, an elegy and a piece of investigative journalism, it dazzles
—— The EconomistIridescent
—— Sunday TimesAmply researched and gracefully told
—— New YorkerSullivan has found the transcendent in the house
—— Sports IllustratedBracingly eccentric…Sullivan is a remarkable writer
—— Jane Shilling , Sunday TelegraphIt's a good, funny, moving book... [Sullivan] is unfailingly good company, always curious, often very funny
—— Theo Tait , GuardianSullivan knows how to craft a paragraph and tell a story
—— Sunday Business PostReads as what it is: a great first book
—— Jon Day , New StatesmanThis morning Blood Horses showed up in the post. It’s Sullivan’s first book, a memoir about his late sportswriter father as well as a study of equine racing and breeding and obsessing over. We’re only 30 pages in but we’re convinced Sullivan wins it by a length and then some. He’s the best thing to come out of the south since 2 Chainz
—— Dazed and ConfusedA truly fascinating and brilliantly written memoir recounting Sullivan’s relationship with his writer father but also a detailed examination of horse racing, the love of his father’s life, as well as an entire treatise on the relationship between man and horse
—— Doug Johnstone , The Big IssueBlood Horses blends history, reportage and personal essay. The book is an excellent example of the mixed form that the critic Northrop Frye once called an “anatomy”. [Sullivan’s] enthusiasm rubs off
—— John Sunyer , Financial TimesBrilliant, sometimes maddeningly discursive memoir… Sullivan writes beautifully. Blood Horses makes better reading than the smoothly finished works of less witty and accomplished writers
—— Nick Rennison , Sunday TimesAll the elegance and craft [Sullivan] displayed in [Pulphead] are present once again
—— Tim Lewis , ObserverLuminous, hard-to-characterise book... By the sheer fizzing excellence of his writing [Sullivan] carries off the difficult task he set himself triumphantly
—— Simon Redfern , Independent on SundayIt’s a daring approach combining memoir and reportage and, beneath it all, the autobiographical theme of his attempt to understand his father, but it works magnificently
—— Christena Appleyard , Literary ReviewAn obvious choice, ultimately. A book that went beyond entertainment or education in their normal senses. This is the book that opened the world's eyes to the incredible doping scandal in cycling and the crimes of Lance Armstrong. A book that will be on almost all awards lists for books this year, and will surely migrate to the lists of all-time great books as its impact becomes more apparent over time.
—— Newstalk, Sports Book of the YearExplosive... a stunning and sometimes sickening account of the doping pervasive in the pro peloton.
—— Sports IllustratedHaunting... takes readers deep inside the gory cult of back-alley phlebotomy that ruled cycling as Armstrong launched and nurtured his Livestrong brand.
—— New York Daily NewsRich, magisterial account...Other books on Hemingway have tended to focus on his post-1930s literary decline and his machismo. The portrait that emerges from these pages is altogether more human
—— Ed Caesar , Sunday TimesHe has a tremendous feel for Hemingway, as both writer and man
—— Sarah Churchwell , GuardianThis is a portrait of the author which is likely to leave one feeling more warmly disposed towards him
—— HeraldMore a portrait than a biography, this book is a dazzling late example of "New Journalism"...the result is touching, revelatory and utterly absorbing
—— IndependentUnmissable
—— The LadyWhile much of Hemingway’s life may have been hellish, Hendrickson’s writing is a delight. A fine work
—— Fachtna Kelly , Sunday Business PostVery well told
—— William Leith , ScotsmanAn album of fascinating snapshots of Hemingway
—— Simon Shaw , Mail on SundayPaul Hendrickson writes with a great deal of passion…
—— NudgeA terrific and fresh approach to the man
—— Daniel Woodrell , Financial Times