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Author Michael Sokolove to Give the Fishback Lecture at W&L

Author Michael Sokolove will give the Fishback Lecture at Washington and Lee University on Tuesday, March 4, at 5 p.m. in Stackhouse Theater.

The title of the talk, which is free and open to the public, is “You CAN Go Home Again: A journalist’s discoveries–personal, political, sociological–after returning to the once-model suburb of his childhood.”

Sokolove is the author of four books, his most recent being “Drama High: The Incredible True Story of a Brilliant Teacher, a Struggling Town and the Magic of Theater” (2013).

“Drama High” was chosen by USA Today as one of its top 10 books of 2013, and made end-of-year lists in several other publications and web sites, including The Observer (London) and the website Salon. “Drama High” has been optioned and is being developed by Sony Pictures Television.

Sokolove’s other books are “Warrior Girls: Protecting Our Daughters Against the Injury Epidemic in Women’s Sports” (2008); “The Ticket Out: Darryl Strawberry and the Boys of Crenshaw” (2004); and “Hustle: The Myth, Life, and Lies of Pete Rose” (1990).

Since 2001, Sokolove has been a contributing writer for the New York Times Magazine, where he has written about the science, culture and sociology of sports. He has also written for the Times Magazine about politics and a broad range of other topics.

His stories have included profiles of athletes Michael Phelps and Oscar Pistorius, football coach Pete Carroll and politicians Rick Santorum and Dick Armey; an examination of how elite athletes age; and an exploration of how the nation’s largest casino, Foxwoods in Connecticut, reached the brink of bankruptcy. His work has been included in the Best American Sportswriting and Best American Medical Writing anthologies.

Before joining the New York Times Magazine, Sokolove worked as a newspaper reporter-first at the Trenton Times, followed by the Philadelphia Daily News and Philadelphia Inquirer.