Magic in the Air

“In Magic in the Air, Mike Sielski traces the evolution of the shot as well as its wide-ranging influence not just on the sports, but on culture in general. He goes deep on the usual suspects - like Erving and playground legend Earl “The Goat” Manigault - but also delves into the underlying truths behind Why White Men Can’t Jump as well as the impact the shot had on the women’s game. Sielski’s last book was an excellent look into what made Kobe Bryant become the Black Mamba. He has a gift for storytelling, and this tale is - much like a well-executed dunk - equal parts raucous, improvisational and powerful.” - Sports Illustrated

“Who doesn’t wanna read an entire book about the slam dunk? I love basketball.” - Ann Patchett

“The definitive dunking dissertation.” - Jack McCallum, Wall Street Journal“Such joy is easily found in Sielski’s book… a series of compelling chapter-by-chapter stories that could stand as exceptional long-form features on their own.” - The Boston Globe

“Mike Sielski is one of the great sportswriters of our time. Magic in the Air is the author using one of his strongest gifts: reminding us of the profundity of where something started. A great idea approached with Sielski’s typical rigor.” – Bomani Jones, Emmy Award-winning writer and producer, host of “The Right Time with Bomani Jones”

“Magic in the Air is a magnificent exploration of how the slam dunk transformed into a mechanism to measure power and progress in basketball and America. Mike Sielski has delivered another superb book.” – Adrian Wojnarowski, former ESPN NBA insider and author of The Miracle of St. Anthony

“This is a terrific book, a history of basketball through the culture and racial politics of the dunk – revelatory and full of surprises. It’s a connection of dots that nobody’s ever made in just this way. I highly recommend this unique history of America’s great and now universal game.” – Ron Shelton, director of White Men Can’t Jump and Bull Durham and author of The Church of Baseball

“I never would have thought I’d be interested in a book about … dunking … until I picked up Magic in the Air. I was more than interested. I ate this book up. You don’t have to know anything about basketball to relish Mike Sielski’s graceful and often funny writing, the depth of his research, and his ability to tell a great story.” – Abbott Kahler, New York Times bestselling author of Eden Undone, Where you End, and The Ghosts of Eden Park “Mike Sielski expertly traces the evolution of elevation: the origins, innovations, controversy and artistry of the singular spectacle known as the dunk. They’re all here – the streetball pioneers and modern masters, the rule makers and rule breakers, names you only thought you knew, and others you never did. With Sielski’s dogged reporting, lyrical prose and infectious enthusiasm for the subject, Magic in the Air is a soaring 10.0.” – Tyler Kepner, New York Times bestselling author of The Grandest Stage and K: A History of Baseball in Ten Pitches

“From Dr. J. To M.J., Magic in the Air is the definitive history of the greatest way to finish in sports. Once you know how it started, how it evolved and how it became what it became, you will never see basketball with the same eyes. I hate to do this, but just have to: this is a helicoptering windmill of a book, an absolute slam dunk.” – Rich Cohen, author of When the Game Was War: The NBA’s Greatest Season

“Who knew that there could be such a rich history of the dunk? Yet there is, and Mike Sielski, one of the most imaginative sportswriters working today, tells its story with intelligence and swing. By documenting the transformation of this magnificent staple of basketball–from the early days of the sport, when the dunk was considered a vulgar move, to the modern era, when it became one of the most prized assets of the giants in the NBA–Sielski delivers a narrative that is as much about race in America as it is about basketball. The book is sure to appeal to fans and non-fans alike.” – Jennifer Senior, staff writer at The Atlantic, winner of the 2022 Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing, and author of the New York Times bestseller All Joy and No Fun

“A suitably vibrant history of spectacular doings on–and above–the hardwood.” - Kirkus Reviews

MIKE SIELSKI is the author of The Rise: Kobe Bryant and the Pursuit of Immortality (2022) and a columnist for The Philadelphia Inquirer. The Associated Press Sports Editors voted him the country’s top sports columnist in 2015, and his previous book, Fading Echoes: A True Story of Rivalry and Brotherhood from the Football Field to the Fields of Honor, was published in 2009. Sielski lives in Bucks County, Pa., with his wife and two sons.