" Going the Distance is that rare book where a gem of an idea leads to the kind of detail-driven reporting that yields a book so entertaining and elegantly written that the only issue you'll have is roaring through it too quickly. Like a great meal, you'll want to savor it and linger over it. This is the kind of book we all aspire to write." --Mike Vaccaro, New York Times bestselling author of The Bosses of the Bronx: The Endless Drama of the Yankees Under the House of Steinbrenner "Mike Sielski's fascinating book is many things: a Sylvester Stallone bio, a modern history of Philadelphia sports culture, and a close-up of screenplay writing under pressure. But above all it is a a myth-puncturing account of how Stallone created Rocky, turned himself into a movie star, and became an icon. Solidly reported, crisply and thoughtfully written, Going the Distance shows how a failing actor, like his character in the film, took a wild, desperate swing at success and created an enduring masterpiece." -- Mark Bowden, New York Times bestselling author of Blackhawk Down and Killing Pablo "A delightful mix of histories--a history of film, of sport, of economics, of urban development, and most especially of an extraordinary collection of individuals who came together to create an iconic cultural experience. Mike Sielski has given us a quintessential American story.

" --Tracy Daugherty, author of Larry McMurtry: A Life "In a time when nostalgia is leveraged to shine a rose-colored light on the darker parts of history, Mike Sielski's Going the Distance is a clear-eyed and exhaustively researched work, eschewing sentimentality in favor of truth, demythologizing a fictional boxer, and elevating the flesh-and-blood figures whose lives and careers made this story possible." --John Vercher, author of After the Lights Go Out and Devil Is Fine.