INSIDE EDGE: A Revealing Journey Into the Secret World of Figure Skating [Hardcover]

Christine Brennan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 8, 1996

Stating that figure skating is as brutal and competitive as any athletic discipline, a reporter examines today's big stars, from Oksana Baiul to Elvis Stojko, and reveals the dark side of the sport. 50,000 first printing. Tour.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Figure skating is emerging as a major force in worldwide professional sports. Get the inside edge on the events and personalities of the professional figure-skating circuit. Profiles on stars such as Nancy Kerrigan, Peggy Fleming, Scott Hamilton, and Oksana Baiul are interspersed with the author's impressions and research from a year on the tour, including analysis of the major competitions, the judging process, and the emotional and physical toll the sport takes on young athletes.

From Publishers Weekly

Washington Post sports reporter Brennan knows all the greats in figure skating?past, present and probably future. So she is superbly qualified to do a book about the sport. And, she counsels, make no mistake: despite all the talk of style and grace, it is nonetheless a competitive sport, but unique in that women are more important than men at the box office and in the officials' offices. Here she follows the season from October 1994 to the Nationals held the following February, concentrating largely on the likely stars of tomorrow. Of course she touches on the Tonya Harding-Nancy Kerrigan imbroglio and the arrest of U.S. champ Nicole Bobek on a burglary charge (later dismissed), but she is less interested in scandal than in showing how a year's work and tens of thousands in parental dollars can be lost by a couple of missteps in a single four-minute program. She demonstrates how the homosexuality of many?perhaps most?of the men in the sport is covered up, how quixotic the judging is and how the sport is becoming more like tennis as it attracts younger participants and more high-powered agents. In short, she covers every aspect thoroughly and candidly in this fine volume. Photos not seen by PW. Author tour.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Scribner (January 8, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0684801671
• ISBN-13: 978-0684801674
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,119,567 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Informative AND exciting, this book has it all!!!!, July 14, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Inside Edge: A Revealing Journey into the Secret World of Figure Skating (Paperback)

Christine Brennan is an exceptional writer, as this book is proof. As an avid figure skating fan, I expected 'Inside Edge' to be full of skating secrets and inside info, and it delivered. Wonderful tidbits from skating now and then. And the unusual scoring process of this sport was explained in full detail. I've read it twice, and I still want to read it more. Skating fans--this book is a MUST HAVE!!!!

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Harding Had It All", January 6, 2004

By 

Edward Saint-Ivan author of The Black Knights God (Tampa, Fl. USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Inside Edge: A Revealing Journey into the Secret World of Figure Skating (Paperback)

Christine Brennan put her Nothwestearn Journalism School education to good use. I was especially moved by the following passage:
"Tonya Harding possessed more raw jumping talent than almost any of them. More than Kerrigan, Oksana Baiul, Michelle Kwan, Nicole Bobek, Peggy Fleming, Dorothy Hamill, Kristi Yamaguchi, {or} Sonja Henie. Harding had it all."
I never heard such words applied to Tonya Harding before this book. I also didn't know before this book that Nancy Kerrigan wasn't well liked.
This book clearly shows that talent even unusual talent or skill doesn't compensate for hard work. If Tanya Harding had practiced and stayed in shape, she could have been famous instead of infamous!

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best skating book I have ever read!, July 12, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Inside Edge: A Revealing Journey into the Secret World of Figure Skating (Paperback)

When I first saw this book, I expected it to be a "Little Girls In Pretty Boxes" -type bashing of the sport. As I began to read I realized it was nothing of the sort. You can tell the author really knows and loves the sport. Reading "Inside Edge " is like being a fly on the shoulder of several top skaters. Christine Brennan writes like she was talking to you!