"This is a terrific book, a history of basketball through the culture and racial politics of the dunk -- revelatory and full of surprises. It's a connection of dots that nobody's ever made in just this way. I highly recommend this unique history of America's great and now universal game." - Ron Shelton, director of White Men Can't Jump and Bull Durham and author of The Church of Baseball
"I never would have thought I'd be interested in a book about ... dunking ... until I picked up
Magic in the Air. I was more than interested. I ate this book up. You don't have to know anything about basketball to relish Mike Sielski's graceful and often funny writing, the depth of his research, and his ability to tell a great story." -- Abbott Kahler,
New York Times bestselling author of
Eden Undone, Where you End, and
The Ghosts of Eden Park
"Mike Sielski expertly traces the evolution of elevation: the origins, innovations, controversy and artistry of the singular spectacle known as the dunk. They're all here -- the streetball pioneers and modern masters, the rule makers and rule breakers, names you only thought you knew, and others you never did. With Sielski's dogged reporting, lyrical prose and infectious enthusiasm for the subject,
Magic in the Air is a soaring 10.0."
-- Tyler Kepner,
New York Times bestselling author of
The Grandest Stage and
K: A History of Baseball in Ten Pitches "From Dr. J. To M.J.,
Magic in the Air is the definitive history of the greatest way to finish in sports. Once you know how it started, how it evolved and how it became what it became, you will never see basketball with the same eyes. I hate to do this, but just have to: this is a helicoptering windmill of a book, an absolute slam dunk." -- Rich Cohen, author of
When the Game Was War: The NBA's Greatest Season
