Michael Leahy
Encyclopedia
Michael Leahy is an author and award-winning writer for The Washington Post
and The Washington Post Magazine. He is best known for his second book, When Nothing Else Matters
, which chronicles basketball superstar Michael Jordan
's last comeback to the NBA. Leahy's stories have also been selected for the 2001, 2002, 2003, and 2004 editions of The Best American Sports Writing anthologies. His first book, Hard Lessons
, follows the lives of six Beverly Hills High School
students, class of 1986, and deals with the challenges and anxieties of teenage life in modern America.
. At age 10, he moved with his family to a suburb of Los Angeles, California
. He is a graduate of Yale University
.
, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
, and his work has appeared in Playboy Magazine and Sports Illustrated
.
Leahy has published two non-fiction books: Hard Lessons
(1988) and When Nothing Else Matters
(2004), which was heralded by GQ Magazine as "the best sports book of the year."
Along the way, he has written about subjects as wide-ranging as presidential politics
, rural poverty
, obesity
in the American South, malaria
in sub-Saharan Africa, the housecleaner dubbed fisherman-savior of Elian Gonzalez
, the Army’s recruiting efforts amid the specter of the Iraq war, corporate scandals, a nudist camp, his mother’s struggles with Alzheimer’s, and the playing comeback of basketball legend Michael Jordan
in Washington.
of The Times
wrote "A better book, a perceptive writer, might have noticed that there was something heroic in all this: but Leahy is too deeply committed to his premise that everything Jordan does is, by definition, shameful."
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
and The Washington Post Magazine. He is best known for his second book, When Nothing Else Matters
When Nothing Else Matters
When Nothing Else Matters is a 2004 non-fiction book by Michael Leahy. The book chronicles basketball superstar Michael Jordan's last comeback to the NBA playing for the Washington Wizards....
, which chronicles basketball superstar Michael Jordan
Michael Jordan
Michael Jeffrey Jordan is a former American professional basketball player, active entrepreneur, and majority owner of the Charlotte Bobcats...
's last comeback to the NBA. Leahy's stories have also been selected for the 2001, 2002, 2003, and 2004 editions of The Best American Sports Writing anthologies. His first book, Hard Lessons
Hard Lessons
Hard Lessons is a 1988 nonfiction book by Michael Leahy.- Plot overview :The book follows the lives of six Beverly Hills High School students, class of 1986, and deals with the challenges and anxieties of teenage life in modern America....
, follows the lives of six Beverly Hills High School
Beverly Hills High School
Beverly Hills High School is the only major public high school in Beverly Hills, California. Beverly is part of the Beverly Hills Unified School District and located on on the west side of Beverly Hills, at the...
students, class of 1986, and deals with the challenges and anxieties of teenage life in modern America.
Early life
Leahy was born in Newark, New JerseyNewark, New Jersey
Newark is the largest city in the American state of New Jersey, and the seat of Essex County. As of the 2010 United States Census, Newark had a population of 277,140, maintaining its status as the largest municipality in New Jersey. It is the 68th largest city in the U.S...
. At age 10, he moved with his family to a suburb of Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
. He is a graduate of Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
.
Career
A highly regarded feature writer known for his intimate portraits of subjects, Leahy explores everything from social issues to sports. He has written for the Los Angeles TimesLos Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette is the newspaper of record in the U.S. state of Arkansas, printed in Little Rock with a northwest edition published in Lowell...
, and his work has appeared in Playboy Magazine and Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated is an American sports media company owned by media conglomerate Time Warner. Its self titled magazine has over 3.5 million subscribers and is read by 23 million adults each week, including over 18 million men. It was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the...
.
Leahy has published two non-fiction books: Hard Lessons
Hard Lessons
Hard Lessons is a 1988 nonfiction book by Michael Leahy.- Plot overview :The book follows the lives of six Beverly Hills High School students, class of 1986, and deals with the challenges and anxieties of teenage life in modern America....
(1988) and When Nothing Else Matters
When Nothing Else Matters
When Nothing Else Matters is a 2004 non-fiction book by Michael Leahy. The book chronicles basketball superstar Michael Jordan's last comeback to the NBA playing for the Washington Wizards....
(2004), which was heralded by GQ Magazine as "the best sports book of the year."
Along the way, he has written about subjects as wide-ranging as presidential politics
Politics
Politics is a process by which groups of people make collective decisions. The term is generally applied to the art or science of running governmental or state affairs, including behavior within civil governments, but also applies to institutions, fields, and special interest groups such as the...
, rural poverty
Poverty
Poverty is the lack of a certain amount of material possessions or money. Absolute poverty or destitution is inability to afford basic human needs, which commonly includes clean and fresh water, nutrition, health care, education, clothing and shelter. About 1.7 billion people are estimated to live...
, obesity
Obesity
Obesity is a medical condition in which excess body fat has accumulated to the extent that it may have an adverse effect on health, leading to reduced life expectancy and/or increased health problems...
in the American South, malaria
Malaria
Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease of humans and other animals caused by eukaryotic protists of the genus Plasmodium. The disease results from the multiplication of Plasmodium parasites within red blood cells, causing symptoms that typically include fever and headache, in severe cases...
in sub-Saharan Africa, the housecleaner dubbed fisherman-savior of Elian Gonzalez
Elián González
The custody and immigration status of a young Cuban boy, Elián González , was at the center of a heated 2000 controversy involving the governments of Cuba and the United States, González's father, Juan Miguel González Quintana, González's other relatives in Miami, Florida, and in Cuba, and Miami's...
, the Army’s recruiting efforts amid the specter of the Iraq war, corporate scandals, a nudist camp, his mother’s struggles with Alzheimer’s, and the playing comeback of basketball legend Michael Jordan
Michael Jordan
Michael Jeffrey Jordan is a former American professional basketball player, active entrepreneur, and majority owner of the Charlotte Bobcats...
in Washington.
Awards
- His story on the life of a paroled child murderer spared execution in the early '70s because of a Supreme Court decisionFurman v. GeorgiaFurman v. Georgia, was a United States Supreme Court decision that ruled on the requirement for a degree of consistency in the application of the death penalty. The case led to a de facto moratorium on capital punishment throughout the United States, which came to an end when Gregg v. Georgia was...
that briefly rendered the death penalty unconstitutional won the Washington D.C. Society of Professional JournalistsSociety of Professional JournalistsThe Society of Professional Journalists , formerly known as Sigma Delta Chi, is one of the oldest organizations representing journalists in the United States. It was established in April 1909 at DePauw University, and its charter was designed by William Meharry Glenn. The ten founding members of...
’ best feature story award.
- In 2006, his Washington Post Magazine story about a single mother from Massachusetts who took her two young children across the country to meet their father – a sperm donor known to the woman for years only as Donor 929 – won honors from the Society of Professional Journalists as the best magazine story in the country for that year.
- His sports work has been selected four times for The Best American Sports Writing anthologies, published by Houghton Mifflin Company, which annually features the 25 best sports stories in the nation.
Criticism
In his review of When Nothing Else Matters, English journalist Simon BarnesSimon Barnes
Simon Barnes is an English journalist. He is currently Chief Sports Writer of The Times. He also writes a column on wildlife in the Saturday edition of The Times....
of The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
wrote "A better book, a perceptive writer, might have noticed that there was something heroic in all this: but Leahy is too deeply committed to his premise that everything Jordan does is, by definition, shameful."