{"product_id":"9781625343055","title":"Bricklayer Bill: The Untold Story of the Workingman's Boston Marathon","description":"\u003cp\u003eTwo weeks after the United States officially entered World War I, Irish American \"Bricklayer Bill\" Kennedy won the Boston Marathon wearing his stars-and-stripes bandana, rallying the crowd of patriotic spectators. Kennedy became an American hero and, with outrageous stories of his riding the rails and sleeping on pool tables, a racing legend whose name has since appeared in almost every book written on the Boston Marathon.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhen journalist Patrick Kennedy and historian Lawrence Kennedy unearthed their uncle's unpublished memoir, they discovered a colorful character who lived a tumultuous life, beyond his multiple marathons. The bricklayer survived typhoid fever, a five-story fall, auto and train accidents, World War action, Depression-era bankruptcy, decades of back-breaking work, and his own tendency to tipple. In many ways, Bill typified the colorful, newly emerging culture and working-class ethic of competitive long-distance running before it became a professionalized sport. Bricklayer Bill takes us back to another time, when bricklayers, plumbers, and printers could take the stage as star athletes.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"University of Massachusetts Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47038233018608,"sku":"9781625343055","price":90.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9781625343055_p0.jpg?v=1763864965","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9781625343055","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}