Steve Rushin is a writer for Sports Illustrated and the 2006 National Sportswriter of the Year. He is the author of four nonfiction books and a novel. His work has been collected in The Best American Sports Writing, The Best American Travel Writing, and The Best American Magazine Writing anthologies. He lives in Connecticut.
"[Rushin's] childhood, from the ages of 3 to 13, was perfectly
encapsulated in the 1970s, and he celebrates the excesses and
excitement of the decade with ardor.... Rushin's everykid
upbringing and the touchstones of childhood he recounts make
Sting-Ray Afternoons a fun-filled and charming trip."--Booklist
"A humorous and poignant account of growing up in the
1970s."--Carole Goldberg, Hartford Courant
"A warm-yet-bittersweet fun-loving-yet-elegiac look at life.... A
hell of a good spin in the wayback machine."--Signature Reads
"A wild ride through [Rushin's] '70s boyhood in fast-growing
Bloomington, Minnesota.... Fiercely funny memoir about family,
sports, music, food and fads."--Priscilla Kipp, BookPage
"Charming and heartfelt, hilarious and touching, Rushin's Sting-Ray
Afternoons is a pitch-perfect portrait of growing up in middle
America during the Brady Bunch era. A gem of a memoir, a tribute to
family, and a delectable slice of American history."--Nina
Sankovitch, author of Tolstoy and the Purple Chair and The Lowells
of Massachusetts
"Crisply written.... A moving account."--Douglas J. Johnston,
Winnipeg Free Press
"He has an amazing way with words... Reading it made me nostalgic
for a special time in my life."--Eddie Gossage, President of Texas
Motor Speedway on Dallas News' "Read Any Good Books Lately?"
"If you existed in the 1970s and had any awareness of the world
around you, Steve Rushin's Sting-Ray Afternoons is going to hit you
like the smell of Clairol Herbal Essence Shampoo. Smart as heck,
laugh out loud funny and warm, Steve Rushin does for 1970s
childhoods what Jean Shepherd did for 1940s Christmas. This book is
nothing short of a Nadia Comenici Perfect 10."--Julie Klam, author
of The Stars in Our Eyes and the New York Times bestseller You Had
Me at Woof
"In his funny, elegiac memoir Sting-Ray Afternoons, Rushin
mines...ineffably familiar terrain with a sense of irony and deep
affection, working hard to capture the look and feel of the
1970s...Much of what Rushin writes about - the Sears Christmas Wish
Book, leaded gasoline, Johnny Carson's many vacations - will strike
a chord with anyone who, like me, grew up in that era. What makes
the book more than just late-baby-boomer nostalgia is the writing,
which is knowing and funny."--Jim Zarroli, NPR
"Magnificent... You will not read a better book this summer - and
maybe well into the fall and winter, too."-- New York Post
"Rushin may not have been able to compete with his athletic older
brothers for glory on the playing field, but he pleased his parents
with a talent for puns and other wordplay... The nostalgic
sweetness of his memories...provides convincing evidence that life
in the '70s wasn't as chaotic as it's often made out to
be."--Kirkus Reviews
"Rushin uses his family as the book's focal point, capturing the
nonstop zaniness of growing up with four siblings.... But it's
Rushin's dad, a child of the Depression, who steals the show.
Whether quoting his father as he describes his five kids...or
retelling stories about him being drunk on what was the then new
Boeing 747, it's through his father that Rushin captures the
mystery and magic of childhood."--Publishers Weekly
"Rushin's takes on artificially colored culture are laced equally
with humor and affection, and he captures both the wonder and fear
at the tipping point between childhood and adolescence. Sting-Ray
Afternoons is the best kind of nostalgia: celebratory yet
clear-eyed, wistful but not overly sentimental."--Amazon's
Omnivoracious Blog
"Rushin's use of the English language not only paints a complete
picture of what it was like to score a touchdown in a game of
football in the front yard or get that strikeout in garage but
connects those who grew up in a different time."--Jason Olson, Sun
Current
"Steve Rushin's Sting Ray Afternoons is a fun and often hilarious
account of growing up in the midwest in the 1970s. Throughout the
book I was pleasantly reminded of things from my own past-Rushin
revisits the TV shows, the toys, the games of the era while telling
his family's own story. Sting Ray Afternoon captures both the
freedom of youth and the universal longing for experience in a
bigger, more adult world. If you grew up in the 1970s, prepare to
have your memory triggered."--Craig Finn, songwriter and guitarist,
The Hold Steady
"Sting-Ray Afternoons is [Rushin's] story of growing up in
Bloomington in the 1970s. It's a lighthearted, sentimental look
back at a Minnesota childhood with a twist of wryness... Rushin's
told-with-a-smile stories of childhood are worth the trip: bundling
into a snowmobile suit in winter, piling into the Ford LTD Country
Squire for a cross-country summer vacation, making mild mischief
with neighborhood friends, and one memorable disaster when nature
called and wouldn't be kept waiting. All seen through that gauzy,
yellowish filter that blurs memory with Dad's Super 8
movies."--Casey Common, Minneapolis Star Tribune
A "touching nostalgic memoir.... A vivid and comedic approach to
[Rushin's] personal touchstones for the era."--CBC Radio's "Day
Six"
Praise for Sting-Ray Afternoons One of the Best Books of the Year:
Amazon, Gold Digest, Minnesota Public Radio
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