劳拉•希伦布兰德（Laura Hillenbrand）

《纽约时报》头号畅销书作者

不向命运屈服的正能量代言人

令两位布什总统大加赞赏的美国精神偶像

劳拉•希伦布兰德出生于1967年，大学就读于著名的“作家摇篮”凯尼恩学院。19岁时，她患上了“慢性疲劳综合征”，不得不中途退学，并在虚弱得无法出门的情况下断断续续地坚持阅读与写作。

《奔腾年代》是希伦布兰德的第一本书。搜集资料、采访当事人和构思写作花去她4年时间，几乎耗尽她的心力，但她仍认为这是令她一见倾心、倍受鼓舞并愿意为之付出一切的题材，她也从四位主人公身上汲取了与疾病和命运抗争的力量。

《奔腾年代》令希伦布兰德一跃成为美国家喻户晓的畅销书作家，两度问鼎美国鞍马赛事新闻界最高奖项“日蚀奖”。两位布什总统也是她的忠实读者，曾特地写信向她表达赞赏之情；第二本畅销大作《坚不可摧》更奠定了她在文学界的地位，上市仅半年即达百万销量，雄踞《纽约时报》《出版商周刊》排行榜长达40余周，至今仍排名亚马逊图书销量总榜百位之内。

Seabiscuit was one of the most electrifying and popular attractions in sports history and the single biggest newsmaker in the world in 1938, receiving more coverage than FDR, Hitler, or Mussolini. But his success was a surprise to the racing establishment, which had written off the crooked-legged racehorse with the sad tail. Three men changed Seabiscuit’s fortunes:

Charles Howard was a onetime bicycle repairman who introduced the automobile to the western United States and became an overnight millionaire. When he needed a trainer for his new racehorses, he hired Tom Smith, a mysterious mustang breaker from the Colorado plains. Smith urged Howard to buy Seabiscuit for a bargain-basement price, then hired as his jockey Red Pollard, a failed boxer who was blind in one eye, half-crippled, and prone to quoting passages from Ralph Waldo Emerson. Over four years, these unlikely partners survived a phenomenal run of bad fortune, conspiracy, and severe injury to transform Seabiscuit from a neurotic, pathologically indolent also-ran into an American sports icon.

Author Laura Hillenbrand brilliantly re-creates a universal underdog story, one that proves life is a horse race.

From the Hardcover edition.