Book Review: Path Lit by Lightning by David Maraniss

Path Lit by Lightning: The Life of Jim Thorpe by David Maraniss
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

As sports became embedded within the American cultural zeitgeist at the turn of the 20th Century, one man’s raw athletic ability and accomplishments would make him a legend in his own time even while being described in disparaging language at the same time. Path Lit by Lightning: The Life of Jim Thorpe by David Maraniss follows the wandering life of the greatest athlete of the first half of the 20th Century who straddled the divide between White American culture and his Native roots that mirrored thousands of others who wasn’t as well known.

Maraniss, basing the book’s title on Thorpe’s given Sac-and-Fox name, gives a very detailed chronicle of Thorpe’s life from his childhood on the reservation to attending Carlisle Indian Industrial School where is athletic prowess in first track and field then football gained national attention before his Olympic triumph followed by ‘disgrace’ then sis long professional careers in baseball, football, and even a little basketball before wandering across the country looking to make a living and get by. Yet while Thorpe the man’s story is amazing, Maraniss uses him to highlight the plight of Native Americans within the larger text of mainstream White American culture from the military and government’s treatment of tribes over history to the benign sound but cultural devastating “Kill the Indian, save the man” philosophy of Carlisle and the casual racism that the press and organized sport’s white elitism who viewed amateurism as the ideal over professionalism thus causing a 110+ year injustice. This dual purpose was executed very well by Maraniss, though I will admit that he appeared to belabor some things like his critique on historical accuracy of the 1951 Hollywood biopic because at that point the reader was in 400 pages of a biography and could tell what the inaccuracies were already. And ironically mere weeks before it’s publication some information in the biography became dated when the IOC fully restored Thorpe as sole champion and his scores of his 1912 Olympic events.

Path Lit by Lightning is not only a revealing look into the man who was head and shoulders the best athlete of his time, but also of the difficulty Native Americans dealt within as they tried to remain true to their culture while attempt to live in White American society. David Maraniss writes in a very good narrative style though at times belabors inaccuracies as if the readers didn’t pay attention in early portions of the book. Overall, highly recommend for those interested in sports biographies or Native Americans in the United States.

I received a free copy of this book through Goodreads First Reads program in exchange for an honest review.  

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