My good friend and the co-author of I Hate People!, Jonathan Littman, has a new book out on the market! Just in time for Christmas (and available through Amazon), Crashing Augusta is a collection of his sports-related tales which he has spun over the years for Playboy Magazine. Jon is a great journalist to begin with so when you mix that with his uncanny ability to put himself in harm's way in the course of pursuing a story, it's the stuff that makes for high adventure of the real kind.
To put it in his own words: "I've been lucky to have had the chance to write about whatever strikes my fancy for Playboy. I love golf, so I made a country odyssey to Augusta Georgia to write about the Masters. Track and field was the sport of my youth, and so I set out to regain it by running far behind the fastest men and women in the world, Maurice Greene and Jeremy Wariner. I even got to sit down and chat with Michael Johnson, the legendary olympic sprinter. At the Super Bowl, I carried a bag with a quarter million in tickets and cash during a crazed and dangerous week with high-flying ticket hustlers. As for Barry Bonds, I made myself a fixture at the federal courthouse for years as his case wound its way through the criminal justice system. The characters and stories were wonderful, and I'd always dreamed I could bring them together in a book."
The stories, at times, seem so far-fetched that you'll think you're reading fiction. But I have been fortunate (or unfortunate) enough to have been along with Jon when he's met up with some of these characters and have enough surreal experiences on my own that I could write a book about them. Fortunately, I don't have to — Jon has done a smashing job of pulling these stories together into an engaging, rollicking, and sometimes sobering insider's perspective into some of the world's most compelling figures.
Get Crashing Augusta — it's a great read!
— Marc Hershon
