The Last Protest, Lee Evans in Mexico City, tells the story of the proposed boycott of the 1968 Olympic games by America's black athletes. The narrative is directed to the experience of Lee Evans of San Jose, California, one of two athletes, along with Tommie Smith, most closely associated with the movement.
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With his third book, Frank Murphy must be counted with the most perceptive observers of the sport. The literary quality of much writing about track and field is repetitious and cold, but Murphy elevates the competition from the banal to the lyrical....It is Evans, the athletic force, that Murphy captures in The Last Protest. --Cross-Country Journal
This is the story of all-time 400 great Lee Evans and his quest for gold in Mexico City amidst the political and social upheaval of the late '60s. Frank Murphy is one of the best sociohistorians of our sport and his telling of the Lee Evans tale brings the era and the quest of an indomitable athlete to life once again... A book that will inspire and enlighten you. --Track and Field News
Heroes and villains stride through Murphy's story, but better still, there are people captured in time, making choices without certainty as to their impact, only as to the justness of their cause. The race sequences alone are worth the price of the book. Murphy writes with a novelist's voice, drawing you along with Evans as he runs through the duties he accepts and the distractions he endures. --Courier Times
This is the story of all-time 400 great Lee Evans and his quest for gold in Mexico City amidst the political and social upheaval of the late '60s. Frank Murphy is one of the best sociohistorians of our sport and his telling of the Lee Evans tale brings the era and the quest of an indomitable athlete to life once again... A book that will inspire and enlighten you. --Track and Field News
Heroes and villains stride through Murphy's story, but better still, there are people captured in time, making choices without certainty as to their impact, only as to the justness of their cause. The race sequences alone are worth the price of the book. Murphy writes with a novelist's voice, drawing you along with Evans as he runs through the duties he accepts and the distractions he endures. --Courier Times
From the Publisher
As the Olympic year 1968 opened, Lee Evans was the top 400-meter man in the world, and an early favorite for a gold medal in his event.
But that was before the Olympic Project for Human Rights, before the proposed boycott of the games by America's black athletes, before the building pressure settled on Lee Evans and San Jose State University teammmate Tommmie Smith; before Smith won his own gold medal at 200-meters and before Smith and John Carlos struck their clenched, gloved fists into the Mexico City evening air. Lee Evans was favorite before the world fell in on him.
That Evans thereafter won an Olympic gold medal is part of the story; that he set a world record for 400-meters that would endure for two decades is another part of the story.
The entire story is deeper still; it is the man himself, an American hero at high noon.
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A page turner about track and field? Even better. A page turner about one man's trials and triumph,
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This review is from: The Last Protest: Lee Evans in Mexico City (Paperback)
Circle a track once. Fast as you can. Faster than anyone. Do that as your country asks'What are you?' 'Who are you with?'
If the 400 meter run is magic, Frank Murphy is a magician of a writer. He tells the story of Lee Evans, a quarter miler running for the U.S. at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics. The Olympics where raised fists caused fits. Heroes and villians stride through Murphy's story, but better still, there are people captured in time, making choices without certainty as to their impact, only as to the justness of their cause. For those who lived in that era, The Last Protest is a fresh look at men America asked to bring home gold medals, display them when asked, but not ask too much for themselves. For those who only remember seeing a photo of two men, gloved hands clenched above them, the book is a way to understand them by understanding one man that circled that track. The race sequences alone are worth the price of the book. Murphy writes with a novelist's voice, drawing you along with Evans as he runs through the duties he accepts and the distractions he endures. He places those battles in the context of this era "There was a time when a black man driving from one end of a southern state to the other, Alabama for example or Louisiana, would pack a lunch and carry his drink in a thermos." This is history writ well.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Greatest Track Book of All Time,
By
This review is from: The Last Protest: Lee Evans in Mexico City (Paperback)
The Last Protest: Lee Evans in Mexico City is the best running-related book I have ever read. Frank Murphy does a masterful job weaving running, race relations, and olympic politics into a seamless narrative. I recommend this book to anyone interested in running, track and field, civil rights, race relations, or 1960s America. Just a truly fabulous book by a gifted author.
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Inside This Book
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First Sentence:
It is 1859 and a man is in the house, and a man is in the field. Read the first page Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Lee Evans, Tommie Smith, Larry James, San Jose State, Mexico City, Harry Edwards, United States, John Carlos, Bud Winter, New York, Avery Brundage, Vince Matthews, Olympic Games, Ron Freeman, Los Angeles, Jim Kemp, Theron Lewis, South Africa, Jesse Owens, Jim Hines, Coach Winter, Stan Dowell, Stan Wright, Arthur Wint, John Smith New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
It is 1859 and a man is in the house, and a man is in the field. Read the first page Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Lee Evans, Tommie Smith, Larry James, San Jose State, Mexico City, Harry Edwards, United States, John Carlos, Bud Winter, New York, Avery Brundage, Vince Matthews, Olympic Games, Ron Freeman, Los Angeles, Jim Kemp, Theron Lewis, South Africa, Jesse Owens, Jim Hines, Coach Winter, Stan Dowell, Stan Wright, Arthur Wint, John Smith New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 18
books:
See all 18 books this book cites
- The Revolt of the Black Athlete by Harry Edwards on 4 pages
- Human Rights: A Dialogue Between the First and Third Worlds by Robert A. Evans on page 13, and page 196
- Track and Field by Jesse Owens in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
- Essays in Understanding by Hannah Arendt in Back Matter
- Jesse Owens: An American Life (Sport and Society (SPS)) by William J. Baker in Back Matter
See all 18 books this book cites
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