Don Van Natta Jr. - Wonder Girl: The Magnificent Sporting Life of Babe Didrikson Zaharias

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Copyright 2011 by Don Van Natta Jr.

Cover design by Matt Tanner

Cover photograph of Zaharias by Corbis; golf course by Richard Goerg/Getty Images

Cover copyright 2011 Hachette Book Group, Inc.

All rights reserved. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the publisher constitute unlawful piracy and theft of the authors intellectual property. If you would like to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), prior written permission must be obtained by contacting the publisher at permissions@hbgusa.com. Thank you for your support of the authors rights.

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First ebook edition: June 2011

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ISBN 978-0-316-17591-3

E2-20200129-JV-PC-DPU

An engaging, often amazing book.

Colette Bancroft, St. Petersburg Times

Full-bodied and honest. Wonder Girl offers the definitive account of Babes life, ignoring the legend for the real storyone that needs no embellishment.

Colleen Kelly, Minneapolis Star Tribune

The Babe has largely been hailed as Americas preeminent female athlete, but as Don Van Natta Jr. makes clear in his wonderfully detailed and beautifully written account of her life, this was one gutsy, poetic, and ultimately endearing dame who rose from the heartland to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with any American sports legend. I havent enjoyed a sports biography this much in years.

Jim Dodson, bestselling author of Final Rounds: A Son of the Game and Ben Hogan: An American Life

Van Nattas meticulously researched book opens up this era the way Laura Hillenbrands wonderful Seabiscuit: An American Legend opened up the world of horseracing in the same period, and discusses that the reason fans feel less connected to Zahariass fame and accomplishments may be due to a lack of context: Her tournaments, however, were an odd collection of events, with varyingly deep fields, and thus forever asterisk-able. Zahariass accomplishments are even more extraordinary since she not only had to perform, but in many cases also establish the legitimacy of her performances.

John Paul Newport, Wall Street Journal

I didnt know a whole lot of things about Babe until I picked up Wonder Girl, a new biography by Don Van Natta Jr., about one of the most remarkable (and remarkably unappreciated) women who ever walked (and ran) the Earth. What I didnt know would fill a book. Luckily, it fills Van Nattas book. Van Natta tells Babes tale compellingly, warts and all, holding back nothing. The contradictions of Babe Didrikson Zaharias, loved and hated, immortalized and forgotten, are detailed by Van Natta in equal measure.

Mike Downey, Los Angeles Times

Talented, audacious, and full of pizzazz, Didrikson was one of a kind, a tower of sporting achievement. She was so Bunyanesque a character that its easy to overlook the reality. Like that other Babe, her life was just that, a lifeas fragile and flawed as it was fabulous. Van Natta rectifies the oversight. In his sweeping bio, her heart beats loudly on every page.

Jeff Silverman, Golf

Wonder Girl revives a nearly forgotten American superstar, and the reader gets a more complete and complex picture than the usually skimpy biographical portrait afforded this gifted trailblazer. Through the words of Don Van Natta Jr., Didrikson Zaharias becomes a real person, and more likeable than ever.

Bill Pennington, New York Times Golf Blog

Don Van Natta Jr. finds in Didriksons life all sorts of stories worth telling. Didrikson was a national figure when nearly all of the other athletes who achieved that level of prominence were men. Wonder Girl does an excellent job of celebrating her achievements while recognizing her shortcomings. It is a superb biography of a woman who was ahead of her time in lots of ways.

Bill Littlefield, host of NPRs Only a Game

A spirited biography about the courage and chutzpah of a tough, fun-loving Texan, who, as Van Natta says, once upon a time could do everything but fly. Van Natta doesnt just recount the Babes incredible life, career, and vicious personal attacks on her tomboy looks and behavior. He gives the 5 foot 6 but larger-than-life sports legend the lively treatment she deserves. He makes her dribble, shoot, run, jump, bat, pitch, drive, and putt off its 432 pages.

Jane Sumner, Dallas Morning News

Van Natta constructs a satisfying if bittersweet narrative. Its to his credit, and Babes, that we find ourselves caring not just for the great athlete, but for the person she was as well.

Kate Tuttle, Boston Sunday Globe

Babe Didrikson Zaharias had an outsized personality to go along with her outsized athletic gifts. That personality emerges loud and clear from Don Van Natta Jr.s Wonder Girl.

Bill Millsaps, Richmond Times-Dispatch

Van Natta has delivered a well-researched, readable book about a remarkable woman whose biggest hurdles werent on the track. It will help keep her memory alive.

Craig Smith, Seattle Times

Wonder Girl is a wonderful read about a woman who charged through life shattering stereotypes on the playing fields and off. As a boy I followed her amazing career in the sports pages as she changed the face of golf and the Olympics, but now, thanks to Don Van Natta, I have the complete story of this authentically American trailblazer who was so much more than just a gifted athlete.

Tom Brokaw, author of The Greatest Generation

Babe Didrikson Zahariasnamed by Sports Illustrated as one of the top ten athletes of the twentieth centuryhas long been shrouded in myth. Now, at long last, Don Van Natta Jr. brilliantly tells the real story behind the hubristic Olympic gold medalist who became the greatest female golfer in history. Wonder Girl is a deeply compelling and warmhearted biography about an evergreen American sports legend. A marvelous scholarly accomplishment and a page-turner to boot.

Douglas Brinkley, author of The Quiet World: Saving Alaskas Wilderness Kingdom

Van Natta marvelously narrates the forgotten life of the greatest all-around athlete of all time, a story that every American sports fan should relish.

Publishers Weekly

Finally, the definitive account of the extraordinary adventures of the one and only Babe Didrikson Zaharias, expertly and lovingly rendered by Don Van Natta. From the track to the tee to the stage, the greatest of all female athletesarguably the greatest of all athletes, periodstirs vividly to life. Comprehensively reported and elegantly told, funny and tragic,