On Her Game - by Christine Brennan (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

New York Times Bestseller! An electrifying portrait of sports phenomenon Caitlin Clark, whose record-breaking rise from NCAA women's basketball to the WNBA has captivated the nation--by award-winning journalist Christine Brennan, one of the most respected voices in women's sports.

America has never seen an athlete like Caitlin Clark. With her famous logo threes, viral highlights, and massive fan following, she has redefined women's basketball and inspired a generation of fans. In On Her Game, Brennan delivers an intimate and deeply reported Caitlin Clark biography, drawn from dozens of interviews and behind-the-scenes access.

Tracing her journey from the University of Iowa to the Indiana Fever, Brennan explores Clark's formative years, her record-setting college career--where she scored more points than any woman or man in major college basketball history--and her controversial Olympic snub by USA Basketball. Along the way, Brennan covers key moments shaping the landscape: charter flights for WNBA players amid security concerns, national media pressure, and the tensions Clark's success stirred in a league still reckoning with issues of race, equity, and visibility.

The 2024 WNBA season was a turning point. One of the league's most talented rookies, Clark packed arenas coast to coast, signing autographs for girls, speaking with poise under pressure, and igniting a new era of attention for women athletes. Her arrival has drawn comparisons to sports legends like Serena Williams, Sue Bird, and Diana Taurasi--but Clark is writing her own chapter.

Coming just over fifty years after Title IX, On Her Game is more than a sports biography. It's a celebration of female athlete role models, a look at the GOAT debate in women's basketball, and an inspiring story about how one woman changed the game--and how a country fell in love with her.

Review Quotes

"A slam dunk."
--Los Angeles Times

"[An] energetic account."
--New York Times

"Top-notch... a triumphant account of a game-changer."
--Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)

"A fascinating read."
--Katie Couric

"Interesting...speaks to the divisive 'us vs. them' moment the world finds itself in."
--Associated Press

"Riveting...Brennan takes us behind the scenes with captivating in-depth reporting, revealing not only who Caitlin Clark is and why she is so good, but also why she is beloved by so many. This biography is a wonderful portrait of an athlete and a time in America, capturing in rich detail Clark's unprecedented rise to superstardom. It's a story about an athlete who appreciates every moment while breaking records, signing autographs, and living her dreams. In other words, it's about the magic of sports."
--Jackie MacMullan, formerly, Senior Writer at Sports Illustrated and columnist for The Boston Globe and ESPN

"Long one of America's most accomplished and respected sportswriters, Christine Brennan has covered just about every sport. As part of that impressive body of work, she has consistently brought insightful attention to women's sports. So she brings to the Caitlin Clark Moment deep knowledge and perspective about the history that led to it. Caitlin Clark's story is already one of the biggest and most compelling in sports. On these pages, it's a story well told."
--Bob Costas, 29-time Emmy Award-winning broadcaster

"In On Her Game, Christine Brennan exhibits her typically extraordinary insight into the often controversial and complicated issues arising in modern sports. All the while, she maintains a standard of journalistic professionalism and clarity that renders her analysis and reporting not only exceedingly thought-provoking and informative, but also engrossing."
--Harry Edwards, Ph.D., professor emeritus at UC Berkeley

"Christine Brennan is the right journalist, Caitlin Clark is the right topic, and this is the right time. For decades, Brennan has been at the forefront of what's happening in women's sports, and here's another example of her immersive research and clear writing. No one has a more valuable sense of time and place."
--Hall of Fame Journalist Lesley Visser

"There's no better person than Christine Brennan, who has spent her life chronicling the great stories in American sports, to take us inside the uniquely complex and compelling story of Caitlin Clark."
--Michael Wilbon, cohost of ESPN's Pardon the Interruption

About the Author

Christine Brennan is an award-winning national sports columnist for USA TODAY; a commentator for ABC, CNN, and PBS NewsHour; and the bestselling author of Inside Edge, named one of the top 100 sports books of all time by Sports Illustrated. She has been selected as one of the country's top ten sports columnists multiple times by the Associated Press Sports Editors and has covered the last twenty-one Olympic Games, summer and winter. A trailblazer, she was the first woman sportswriter at The Miami Herald, the first woman to cover Washington's NFL team for The Washington Post, and the first president of the Association for Women in Sports Media.