A newly released biography, “Path Lit By Lightning, ‘Simon & Schuster,’ follows Thorpe from his birth on a Sac and Fox reservation on the Great Plains, present-day Oklahoma, to his formative years as a collegiate football star at the notorious Carlisle (Pa.) Indian Industrial School, his stunning victories at the 1912 Olympics, and beyond.
Written by a non-Indigenous, acclaimed author David Maraniss illustrates Thorpe’s story.
Maraniss delves into the controversies of Thorpe’s life, including the stripping of Olympic medals and the highlights such as Thorpe’s key role in the formation of the nascent National Football League, and his even lesser-known career later in life as an activist for Indigenous rights in Hollywood.
