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Here are some customer reviews of Playing for Keeps: Michael Jordan and the World He Made : The story about The Dream Team, and Michael's Team v. Magic's team was fantastic. It is a major inspiration This is a well researched, well written book on sports and the "Jordan" era. I don't feel Halberstam missed anything in the way of information and commentary on the game. Not being an avid basketball fan, I learned a great deal about professional sports and the pursuit of excellence. Too bad for those who came away from this read without gaining any insight into what it takes to be great. The author is a true investigative reporter, intelligent and thorough. Unfortunately, today all it takes to be thought of as great is the right "look" and a flare for writing tabloid type articles. This is an enjoyable book. Mr. Halberstam uses MJ as the centerpoint around which he portrays America today. Sports, media, race and labor relations are written about in an enlightening way. There are brilliant partial portraits of the people in MJ's life- Basketball Commissioner David Stern, Spike Lee and the people from Nike, Bull GM Jerry Krause, the coaching staff at North Carolina, Phil Jackson and many more. There are many 'I wish I was there moments,' like the pre-Barcelona Olympic tune up game in Monte Carlo-MJ's team versus Magic Johnson's team- perhaps the greatest basketball game ever. There's a scene before the 1998 playoffs where the Bulls have a team meeting where players just express how they feel about their time on the team. It's a wonderful book, as good as any of Halberstam's books and he's written many excellent books. If you are a basketball fan and simply want some some more information into to the life and times of Jordan, enjoy this breezy read. But if you expecting Halberstam's usually articulate and excellent insights into American life as seen through Jordan's life, you will probably be disappointed. As much as I admire Halberstam, his efforts here belong in the ABA. I've avoided previous biographical accounts of Michael Jordan for the fact that few credible and unbiased (to the extent it's possible!) authors have devoted their creative energies to capturing the true Jordan mystique and its wide-ranging effects. I'm glad I waited for Halberstam's. The Pulitzer-Prize Winner provides not only a rich, investigative, and intriguing account of the greatest team sports player in history, but a hearty analysis of the numerous influences upon and caused by His Airness. Halberstam accomplishes the rare and sumptuous feat of blending both variety and depth to draw the reader into what is essentially a story of characters: Phil Jackson, Dean Smith, Jerrys Reinsdorf and Krause, Scottie Pippen, Dennis Rodman, David Falk, and David Stern - all integral components of the author's well-woven tale. Interestingly, there is almost a sadness, if not a cynical tone, to the words Halberstam is admiringly careful in choosing to convey the Pyrrhic nature of Jordan's quest. A message to the reader here seems to be that while we late-20th centurions will count ourselves blessed to have witnessed such greatness, the costs might be even greater - the potentially pre-mature re-retirement of Jordan, damaged fan, player, and management relations (occuring in nearly all professional sports, for that matter), astronomical salaries and waning commitment, especially from new players, and for me as a Chicagolander, the dismantling of the Bulls, and the years ahead of sub-par Bulls teams. Ultimately, though, soaring above it all, is Michael Jordan, and Halberstam certainly reinforces that, as Scottie Pippen indicated at the Bulls' farewell dinner (per Halberstam's sources), 'Michael is the man who has made all of this possible'. At times Halberstam writes like a sports reporter recounting the events of a game, at other times he is a beat writer who knows the insights as to why things happen, or even still he writes as king of prose, a novelist with the natural ability to make the reader a part of the story. Even if someone had not heard of one Michael Jordan and picked up this book for a read, he or she would certainly appreciate the accomplishments of this man and how he earned them. "Playing for Keeps" is artistically special; I'm left thankful not only for the protagonist who fought the good fight, but also for the author who wrote the good write, if you will. High fives for MJ and DH, masters of their crafts.

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