Michael Kranish

A portrait of the former governor of Massachusetts and 2008 presidential hopeful traces his Mormon roots and missionary service in France, his role in the 2002 Olympics, and his controversial time at a private investment firm.

"In the tradition of The Boys in the Boat and Seabiscuit, a fascinating portrait of a groundbreaking but forgotten figure--the remarkable Major Taylor, the black man who broke racial barriers by becoming the world's fastest and most famous bicyclist at the height of the Jim Crow era. In the 1890s, the nation's promise of equality had failed spectacularly. While slavery had ended with the Civil War, the Jim Crow laws still separated blacks from whites,...