It's the birthday of George Plimpton (books by this author), born in New York City (1927). He was the original editor-in-chief of the literary journal The Paris Review and remained there for 50 years. He was also a writer of what he called "participatory journalism," immersing himself in whatever his subject may be - usually sports - and recounting his experiences from his viewpoint as an amateur insider. Hemingway read Plimpton's 1961 baseball adventure Out of My League, and declared it "beautifully observed and incredibly conceived, his account of a self-imposed ordeal that has the chilling quality of a true nightmare."
Plimpton died in 2003. In 2008, his ex-wife and his widow approved the publication of George, Being George, an oral biography whose lengthy subtitle reads George Plimpton's Life as Told, Admired, Deplored, and Envied by 200 Friends, Relatives, Lovers, Acquaintances, and Rivals - and a Few Unappreciative Observers. His son, Taylor, reviewed the biography and called it "an invasive, gossipy, judgmental book" that, in spite of itself, portrays Plimpton in a favorable light.
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