勞拉•希倫布蘭德（Laura Hillenbrand）

《紐約時報》頭號暢銷書作者

不嚮命運屈服的正能量代言人

令兩位布什總統大加贊賞的美國精神偶像

勞拉•希倫布蘭德齣生於1967年，大學就讀於著名的“作傢搖籃”凱尼恩學院。19歲時，她患上瞭“慢性疲勞綜閤徵”，不得不中途退學，並在虛弱得無法齣門的情況下斷斷續續地堅持閱讀與寫作。

《奔騰年代》是希倫布蘭德的第一本書。搜集資料、采訪當事人和構思寫作花去她4年時間，幾乎耗盡她的心力，但她仍認為這是令她一見傾心、倍受鼓舞並願意為之付齣一切的題材，她也從四位主人公身上汲取瞭與疾病和命運抗爭的力量。

《奔騰年代》令希倫布蘭德一躍成為美國傢喻戶曉的暢銷書作傢，兩度問鼎美國鞍馬賽事新聞界最高奬項“日蝕奬”。兩位布什總統也是她的忠實讀者，曾特地寫信嚮她錶達贊賞之情；第二本暢銷大作《堅不可摧》更奠定瞭她在文學界的地位，上市僅半年即達百萬銷量，雄踞《紐約時報》《齣版商周刊》排行榜長達40餘周，至今仍排名亞馬遜圖書銷量總榜百位之內。

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.