The Someone You're Not: True Stories of Sports, Celebrity, Politics & Pornography

Bestselling author Mike Sager’s fourth collection, The Someone You’re Not, showcases Sager’s deftly-written journalism at its best and most mature, a riveting marriage of crime reportage and you-are-there literary anthropology.

The book’s centerpiece examines the rise and fall of football RoboQuarterback Todd Marinovich—a previously unpublished, thirty-plus thousand word “nonvella” version of his ASME-award winning Esquire story, the inspiration for ESPN’s acclaimed documentary. Other true stories include up-close and personal visits with super-celebrity Paris Hilton, South Asian Republican hopeful Gov. Piyush “Bobby” Jindal, Ultimate Fighting Championship impresario Dana White, and coaching phenom Pete Carroll.

Plus: A man who spent twenty-nine years in prison for a crime he did not commit. A Muslim immigrant who worked to save the life of the white supremacist who tried to kill him. The best-dressed man in America. An ugly guy in a town that worships beauty. A farm in the mountains where wounded marine veterans are taking care of their own. And “The Porn Identity,” where a divorced dad takes to the road to find former starlets and to rediscover his mojo.

“Mike Sager writes with uncommon grace and, always, with respect for those who
give him their time. His stories cut to the bone of our common humanity.”
--Paul Hendrickson, author, Hemingway's Boat and Sons of Mississippi, on The
Someone You’re Not.

"You know those engrossing books that keep you up all night? Don't pick this one up
if you have somewhere to be the next morning."
--E Online.com on Scary Monsters and Super Freaks

“Like his journalistic precursors Tom Wolfe and Hunter S. Thompson, Sager writes
frenetic, off-kilter pop-sociological profiles of Americans in all their vulgarity and
vitality. He writes with flair, but only in the service of an omnivorous curiosity. He defies
expectations in pieces that lesser writers would play for satire or sensationalism… a
Whitmanesque ode to teeming humanity’s mystical unity.”
--The New York Times Book Review on Revenge of the Donut Boys

“I can recognize the truth in these stories—tales about the darkest possible side of
wretched humanity.”
--Hunter S. Thompson, author, on Scary Monsters and Super Freaks.

"Sager plays Virgil in the modern American inferno...Compelling and stylish
magazine journalism, rich in novelistic detail."
--Kirkus Reviews, on Revenge of the Donut Boys

"Mike Sager is the beat poet of American journalism, that rare reporter who can make literature out of shabby reality. Equal parts reporter, ethnographer, stylist and cultural critic, Sager has for 20 years carried the tradition of Tom Wolfe on his broad shoulders, chronicling the American scene and psyche. Nobody does it sharper, smarter,or with more style."
--Walt Harrington, dean emeritus, College of Media, the University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign

1113573343
The Someone You're Not: True Stories of Sports, Celebrity, Politics & Pornography

Bestselling author Mike Sager’s fourth collection, The Someone You’re Not, showcases Sager’s deftly-written journalism at its best and most mature, a riveting marriage of crime reportage and you-are-there literary anthropology.

The book’s centerpiece examines the rise and fall of football RoboQuarterback Todd Marinovich—a previously unpublished, thirty-plus thousand word “nonvella” version of his ASME-award winning Esquire story, the inspiration for ESPN’s acclaimed documentary. Other true stories include up-close and personal visits with super-celebrity Paris Hilton, South Asian Republican hopeful Gov. Piyush “Bobby” Jindal, Ultimate Fighting Championship impresario Dana White, and coaching phenom Pete Carroll.

Plus: A man who spent twenty-nine years in prison for a crime he did not commit. A Muslim immigrant who worked to save the life of the white supremacist who tried to kill him. The best-dressed man in America. An ugly guy in a town that worships beauty. A farm in the mountains where wounded marine veterans are taking care of their own. And “The Porn Identity,” where a divorced dad takes to the road to find former starlets and to rediscover his mojo.

“Mike Sager writes with uncommon grace and, always, with respect for those who
give him their time. His stories cut to the bone of our common humanity.”
--Paul Hendrickson, author, Hemingway's Boat and Sons of Mississippi, on The
Someone You’re Not.

"You know those engrossing books that keep you up all night? Don't pick this one up
if you have somewhere to be the next morning."
--E Online.com on Scary Monsters and Super Freaks

“Like his journalistic precursors Tom Wolfe and Hunter S. Thompson, Sager writes
frenetic, off-kilter pop-sociological profiles of Americans in all their vulgarity and
vitality. He writes with flair, but only in the service of an omnivorous curiosity. He defies
expectations in pieces that lesser writers would play for satire or sensationalism… a
Whitmanesque ode to teeming humanity’s mystical unity.”
--The New York Times Book Review on Revenge of the Donut Boys

“I can recognize the truth in these stories—tales about the darkest possible side of
wretched humanity.”
--Hunter S. Thompson, author, on Scary Monsters and Super Freaks.

"Sager plays Virgil in the modern American inferno...Compelling and stylish
magazine journalism, rich in novelistic detail."
--Kirkus Reviews, on Revenge of the Donut Boys

"Mike Sager is the beat poet of American journalism, that rare reporter who can make literature out of shabby reality. Equal parts reporter, ethnographer, stylist and cultural critic, Sager has for 20 years carried the tradition of Tom Wolfe on his broad shoulders, chronicling the American scene and psyche. Nobody does it sharper, smarter,or with more style."
--Walt Harrington, dean emeritus, College of Media, the University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign

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The Someone You're Not: True Stories of Sports, Celebrity, Politics & Pornography

The Someone You're Not: True Stories of Sports, Celebrity, Politics & Pornography

by Mike Sager
The Someone You're Not: True Stories of Sports, Celebrity, Politics & Pornography

The Someone You're Not: True Stories of Sports, Celebrity, Politics & Pornography

by Mike Sager

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Overview

Bestselling author Mike Sager’s fourth collection, The Someone You’re Not, showcases Sager’s deftly-written journalism at its best and most mature, a riveting marriage of crime reportage and you-are-there literary anthropology.

The book’s centerpiece examines the rise and fall of football RoboQuarterback Todd Marinovich—a previously unpublished, thirty-plus thousand word “nonvella” version of his ASME-award winning Esquire story, the inspiration for ESPN’s acclaimed documentary. Other true stories include up-close and personal visits with super-celebrity Paris Hilton, South Asian Republican hopeful Gov. Piyush “Bobby” Jindal, Ultimate Fighting Championship impresario Dana White, and coaching phenom Pete Carroll.

Plus: A man who spent twenty-nine years in prison for a crime he did not commit. A Muslim immigrant who worked to save the life of the white supremacist who tried to kill him. The best-dressed man in America. An ugly guy in a town that worships beauty. A farm in the mountains where wounded marine veterans are taking care of their own. And “The Porn Identity,” where a divorced dad takes to the road to find former starlets and to rediscover his mojo.

“Mike Sager writes with uncommon grace and, always, with respect for those who
give him their time. His stories cut to the bone of our common humanity.”
--Paul Hendrickson, author, Hemingway's Boat and Sons of Mississippi, on The
Someone You’re Not.

"You know those engrossing books that keep you up all night? Don't pick this one up
if you have somewhere to be the next morning."
--E Online.com on Scary Monsters and Super Freaks

“Like his journalistic precursors Tom Wolfe and Hunter S. Thompson, Sager writes
frenetic, off-kilter pop-sociological profiles of Americans in all their vulgarity and
vitality. He writes with flair, but only in the service of an omnivorous curiosity. He defies
expectations in pieces that lesser writers would play for satire or sensationalism… a
Whitmanesque ode to teeming humanity’s mystical unity.”
--The New York Times Book Review on Revenge of the Donut Boys

“I can recognize the truth in these stories—tales about the darkest possible side of
wretched humanity.”
--Hunter S. Thompson, author, on Scary Monsters and Super Freaks.

"Sager plays Virgil in the modern American inferno...Compelling and stylish
magazine journalism, rich in novelistic detail."
--Kirkus Reviews, on Revenge of the Donut Boys

"Mike Sager is the beat poet of American journalism, that rare reporter who can make literature out of shabby reality. Equal parts reporter, ethnographer, stylist and cultural critic, Sager has for 20 years carried the tradition of Tom Wolfe on his broad shoulders, chronicling the American scene and psyche. Nobody does it sharper, smarter,or with more style."
--Walt Harrington, dean emeritus, College of Media, the University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign


Product Details

BN ID: 2940045001786
Publisher: The Sager Group
Publication date: 09/14/2012
Sold by: Smashwords
Format: eBook
File size: 3 MB

About the Author

Mike Sager is a best-selling author and award-winning reporter. A former Washington Post staff writer under Watergate investigator Bob Woodward, he worked closely, during his years as a contributing editor to Rolling Stone, with gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson. Sager is the author of more than a dozen books, including anthologies, novels, e-singles, a biography, and university textbooks. He has served for more than three decades as a writer for Esquire. In 2010 he won the National Magazine Award for profile writing. Several of his stories have inspired films and documentaries, including Boogie Nights, with Mark Wahlberg, Wonderland with Val Kilmer and Lisa Kudrow, and Veronica Guerin, with Cate Blanchette. He is the founder and CEO of The Sager Group LLC, which publishes books, makes films and videos, and provides modest grants to creatives. For more information, please see www.mikesager.com. [Show Less]

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