I'm going to nominate a sports book -
The Glory of Their Times by
Lawrence Ritter.
When baseball great Ty Cobb died in 1961, Ritter got the idea to interview the few remaining contemporaries of Cobb before they too all died. The result was a highly respected best seller, an oral history.
"Almost perfect . . . a vivid, gentle, and humorous narrative, accompanied by marvelous photographs." - The New Yorker
"Easily the best baseball book ever produced by anyone." -- -- Cleveland Plain Dealer
"I could happily reread every summer for the rest of my life that greatest of all baseball books..." -- -- Stephen Jay Gould, The New York Times Book Review
"Quite simply the best sports book in recent memory." -- -- Wilfrid Sheed, The New York Times Book Review
"The single best baseball book of all time." -- -- Red Barber
"There's not a dull moment in the whole book." -- The Raleigh (N.C.) News and Observer
"The Glory of Their Times will be around as long as baseball." -- -- Nelson Algren
http://www.amazon.com/The-Glory-Thei...283155&s=books
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/glor...=9780061994715