Magic in the Air

The Myth, the Mystery, and the Soul of the Slam Dunk

By: Mike Sielski

Narrated by: Landon Woodson

“Narrator Landon Woodson’s clear diction, interested tone, and appropriate inflections enliven the biographical portraits of little-known and well-known athletes and others.” —AudioFile

From the author of the bestselling Kobe Bryant biography The Rise comes the legend of the most powerful shot in basketball: the slam dunk.

The evolution of basketball, and much of the social and cultural change in America, can be traced through one powerful act on the court: the slam dunk. The dunk's history is the story of a sport and a country changed by the most dominant act in basketball, and it makes Magic in the Air a rollicking and insightful piece of narrative history and a surefire classic of sports literature.

When basketball was the province of white men, the dunk acted as a revolutionary agent, a tool for players like Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell to transform the sport into a Black man’s game. The dunk has since been an expression of Black culture amid the righteous upheaval of the civil-rights movement, of the threat that Black people were considered to be to the establishment. It was banned from college basketball for nearly a decade—an attempt to squash the individual expression and athleticism that characterized the sport in America’s cities and on its playgrounds. The dunk nevertheless bubbled up to basketball’s highest levels. From Julius Erving to Michael Jordan to the high flyers of the 21st century, the dunk has been a key mechanism for growing the NBA into a global Goliath.

Drawing on deep reporting and dozens of interviews with players, coaches, and other hoops experts, Magic in the Air brings to life the tale of the dunk while balancing sharp socio-racial history and commentary with a romp through American sports and culture. There's never been a basketball audiobook quite like it.

A Macmillan Audio production from St. Martin’s Press.

Great reading!

Wonderfully researched and a fun survey of basketball history through the lens of the dunk. But it’s the narration that really pushes the work higher.

Disappointed

A book about dunking should grab your attention just like the dunk itself. Unfortunately, we get a chapter on Ja Morant. He doesn’t seem interested or interesting at all. The chapter on John McClendon should have been the first chapter because THAT was interesting. I want to know more about him because he is definitely interesting.

And mispronouncing words is a sin.