Evel

Veteran sports columnist and best-selling author Montville (Ted Williams; At the Altar of Speed; The Big Bam) here chronicles the spectacular personality and career of 1970s stuntman Evel Knievel. Montville spares no sordid detail in Knievel's life of drinking, adultery, thievery, and brawling, as he rises to become one of America's best-known performers, thanks to TV's Wide World of Sports promotion of his death-defying motorcycle jumps—as well as the spectacular crashes that often sent him to the hospital. Millions watched as he crashed while attempting to jump the fountains at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas and Idaho's Snake River Canyon. Danny Campbell narrates with a touch of bravado when portraying Knievel, adding authenticity. While this carefully researched biography will appeal to sports and nostalgia fans, many listeners may be put off by the excessive detail and Knievel's immoral behavior. [The review of the Doubleday hc declared the book "very readable,"LJ Xpress Reviews, 5/20/11.—Ed.]—Nancy R. Ives, SUNY at Geneseo