On Friday, April 14, at 5:00 pm, A Literary Cocktail Hour will present Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and David Maraniss, author of "A Path Lit By Lightning: The Life of Jim Thorpe " in conversation with Bob Parks, President of the Board of the Brattleboro Literary Festival.

Jim Thorpe rose to world fame as a mythic talent who excelled at every sport. He won gold medals in the decathlon and pentathlon at the 1912 Stockholm Olympics, was an All-American football player at the Carlisle Indian School, the star of the first class of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and played major league baseball for John McGraw's New York Giants. Even in a golden age of sports celebrities, he was one of a kind.

But despite his colossal skills, Thorpe's life was a struggle against the odds. As a member of the Sac and Fox Nation, he encountered duplicitous authorities who turned away from him when their reputations were at risk. At Carlisle, he dealt with the racist assimilationist philosophy "Kill the Indian, Save the Man." His gold medals were unfairly rescinded because he had played minor league baseball. His later life was troubled by alcohol, broken marriages, and financial distress. He roamed from state to state and took bit parts in Hollywood, but even the film of his own life failed to improve his fortunes. Thorpe did not succumb. The man survived, complications and all, and so did the myth.

Event Info

Nov 12, 2024, 10:30 AM to 12 PM

Nov 15, 2024, 7 to 8:30 PM

Nov 15, 2024, 7:30 PM