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For the Glory
For the Glory
Dec 21, 2024 1:23 PM

Author:Duncan Hamilton

For the Glory

‘Eric Liddell deserves a definitive biography. This is it.’

Sunday Times, Books of the Year

Faster. Higher. Stronger. No one has embodied the ideals of the Olympic movement quite like Eric Liddell, star of the Oscar-winning film Chariots of Fire. After refusing to compete on religious principle in the event in which he was favourite, the 100 metres, at the 1924 Games in Paris, Liddell won an astonishing gold medal in the 400 metres. But instead of pursuing a path of global fame and fortune, he chose to follow his calling as a missionary in the country of his birth, China, a land which then fell under the iron grip of a brutal Japanese army.

Liddell became the inspirational leader of the work camp in which he, like many thousands, was interned, and For the Glory is the full story of his life, of his family, of his fellow prisoners and the terrible hardships and atrocities they experienced in the Far East. This is the tale of a sporting icon, a man of honour and principle who paid the ultimate sacrifice while becoming the moral centre of an otherwise unbearable world.

Reviews

For the Glory is wonderful: painstakingly researched, intelligently structured and written with flair. In an Olympic year, it is fitting that an Olympic tale should be the most uplifting.

—— Daily Telegraph, Sports Books of the Year

Eric Liddell deserves a definitive biography. This is it.

—— Sunday Times, Sports Books of the Year

Absorbing... in an age when sport is riddled with corruption, vanity and petty rage, Liddell's story is timely. However, the real theme is faith and providence rather than fame and proving oneself. A story about religious belief could be dry fare, but Liddell is too good a subject and Hamilton too deft a guide to let that happen... He is one of the great sportsmen of the 20th century purely because he knew sport's place.

—— The Times

Eric Liddell's athletic prowess was immortalised in Chariots of Fire. But Duncan Hamilton offers a more detailed and equally engrossing insight into one of Britain's great sporting heroes in this compelling new biography. For the Glory is in turn triumphant, harrowing, moving yet ultimately uplifting. It also cements the status of Hamilton, twice-winner of the William Hill Sports Book of the Year, as the doyen of biographical sports writing.

—— Daily Express

Duncan Hamilton's compelling biography puts flesh on the legend and paints a vivid picture of not only a great athlete, but also a very special human being.

—— Daily Mail, Book of the Week

Superb... Liddell was a saint whose death was the result of following an exemplary life. It is usually an insult to describe a work as hagiography but in Liddell's case there may be no other way to tell his story.

—— Sunday Telegraph

While its descriptions of sporting greatness are worth savouring, For the Glory is most of all an inspiring portrait of a good man. Duncan Hamilton's achievement is to disarm cynics in his measured and memorable account. He brings to life an unparalleled athlete, but more importantly, an inspirational man.

—— TLS

The triumph of Duncan Hamilton's moving, inspiring book is not that it covers brilliantly an exhilarating, unlikely sporting career. It does all this, of course, as Hamilton has fine form, being a double winner of the William Hill Sports Book of the Year. His finer achievement though, is to give a sense of a good man. It is the most sincere of tributes. Hamilton makes Liddell unforgettable for what he did, how he lived and how he loved.

—— The Herald

Gripping... an uplifting story of a truly decent man, his athletic prowess and his unwavering faith. Read it.

—— Oldham Evening Chronicle

Hamilton sets out to reveal the man behind the movie (and that indelible song) and he certainly succeeds.

—— Washington Post

Hamilton shows Liddell as more than a star who used the spotlight to call attention to his beliefs: he was a truly selfless human being who gave everything he had to others... his writing feels effortless in this inspiring story.

—— Publishers' Weekly

Vivid and heartfelt... Hamilton's passion for his subject shows through on every page.

—— Bookpage

An honest moving account of marriage, personal loss and living life to the full.

—— Woman & Home

Plaudits will arrive faster than an incoming tide.

—— Dorset Echo

In her memoir Leap In, Alexandra Heminsley gives an eloquent exposition of the painful, powerful but ultimately exhilarating effects of wild swimming throughout the winter.

—— Breathe Magazine

Haunting and beautiful

—— Image Magazine

Like father, like son, for both come across as hugely talented, hugely driven misfits.

—— National

The Marches marks him [Stewart] out not only as a writer but as a political force rooted in geographies so different to London as to shed new light on politics itself… [A] serious politician, social critic, and practical ethnographer at work. As such The Marches is a book for walkers, for those who love the Borders, and for fathers seeking inspiration in their family responsibilities… If this is the polymath as politician, then we need more of them.

—— Frances Davis , Conservative Home

This is so much more than the story of their journey – it’s a superbly written, endlessly fascinating book encompassing history, geology, landscape, family memories, wars experienced and lives well lived.

—— Choice Magazine

One of the most unexpected and enjoyable reads of 2016… The book fizzes erudition and is delightfully leavened by the companionship of his aged and doughty father.

—— Guardian, Readers' Book of the Year

A very funny book - not jovial in the post-Wodehouse Boris mode but something more taught and Caledonian... The politician in Stewart never had a chance against the writer, a reliable adversary of consensus and cant.

—— Minoo Dinshaw , Oldie

Beautiful, evocative, and wise.

—— Malcolm Forbes , Star Tribune

The Marches is a transporting work from a powerful and original writer.

—— Harvard Press

This beautifully written account is a moving memoir of tales from along the route but also reflections on life and relationships – father and son on this their last journey together.

—— Prospect

Rory Stewart is one of the most talented men of our era. The Marches takes us from Rory’s constituency to his family house is an attempt to understand the bloody history of the Scottish borders… The quest is fascinating even if the answers are elusive.

—— Bruce Anderson , Spectator

As the book unfurls, the march along the marches turns into a eulogy to his father, part memoir, part biography, always a love story. It also contains one of the most unflinching, moving descriptions of death I have read.

—— Melanie Reid , The Times

This beautifully written book is a haunting reflection of identity and our relationships with the people and places we love.

—— Jane Shilling , Daily Mail

Stewart provides much food for thought about how we value our past history

—— Susannah Law , Scottish Field
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