Books : Confessions of a Hero-Worshiper (P.S.)
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 920
EAN: 9780061132988
ISBN: 0061132985
Label: Harper Perennial
Manufacturer: Harper Perennial
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 304
Publication Date: July 01, 2007
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Release Date: July 03, 2007
Sales Rank: 1309397
Studio: Harper Perennial
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Product Description:
As a boy, Stephen J. Dubner's hero was Franco Harris, the famed and mysterious running back for the Pittsburgh Steelers. When Dubner's father died, he became obsessed—he dreamed of his hero every night; he signed his school papers "Franco Dubner." Though they never met, it was Franco Harris who shepherded Dubner through a fatherless boyhood. Years later, Dubner journeys to meet his hero, certain that Harris will embrace him. And he is . . . well, wrong.
Told with the grit of a journalist and the grace of a memoirist, Confessions of a Hero-Worshiper is a breathtaking, heartbreaking, and often humorous story of astonishing developments. It is also a sparkling meditation on the nature of hero worship—which, like religion and love, tells us as much about ourselves as about the object of our desire.
Average Rating: 
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I was a little predisposed to enjoying this book for a number of reasons, and I think I should describe them before getting too much into the review.
I am nearly the same age as the author, lost my Dad in 1974 and am a lifelong Steelers fan, who grew up well outside Pittsburgh, but followed the team religiously. My Mother was a religious and caring woman, and we were raised in relative poverty. I idolized Jack Lambert (another Steeler) and my own Mother passed away around the same time in life as the authors. In short, the similarities between the author's life and mine are much the same, so that might be relevant in knowing my thoughts on this book.
"Confessions of a Hero Worshipper" takes the reader through the author's childhood and his early search for identity. It gives a vivid description of his Father's death and his attempt at identifying with the star running back of the Pittsburgh Steelers, Franco Harris. Dubner arranges to meet Harris and the book gives a narrative of his frustrations- sometimes comical- at understanding Franco, when in truth, the author was really searching himself. As the book develops, Dubner skillfully explores why people choose to worship heroes and what heroes are. He also discusses the religious aspects of hero worship and concludes that they are a necessity. In a surprise twist, Dubner finds heroic qualities in Mr. Harris' mother, whom he befriends late in the book. He finally breaks free of his need to see Harris ... Read More
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It's easy to get caught up in the little details of our lives, getting kids off to school, getting the car (or dog) fixed, paying the mortgage, raking the leaves, and doing the thousand other things that we do, so much that we forget or never get the big picture.
But it's impossible to get through even a chapter of Confessions of a Hero Worshipper, by Stephen J. Dubner, without stepping back taking a longer look at our own trajectories.
In fact, the book, which details a psychic journey of mythic proportions conducted by shuttle between New York and Pittsburgh, is nothing but a long look back at the childhood of the author, carefree until his father's unexpected death at 57 years of age. Dubner proceeded to do what any 10 year old kid would have done, set about to replace that figure, and he promptly selected a football player, Franco Harris of the Pittsburgh Steelers, who in very unlikely fashion proceeded to fill the gap in a profound way. For a time Dubner signed his school work, "Franco Dubner."
Dubner grew up, went off to college, got a job and pretty much forgot Franco, until a chance sighting of the former football star on a magazine cover ignited a fool's errand, for the author to actually meet his childhood hero and establish a connection.
In the process Dubner is forced to re-examine the loss of his father, look long and hard at how he filled that void and, more importantly, take stock of the remaining sense of loss ... Read More
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Dubner's book had a special meaning to me when I read it. I had just come back from a trip where I met a childhood idol of mine. While the meeting was great, somehow I came home feeling a bit of emptiness.
Dubner's tale eventually delves into this emptiness. First, he relates the story of his childhood fascination with Franco Harris, a great running back with the Pittsburgh Steelers in the 1970's. It is the tale of a typical boy's love of a sports hero. Then, Dubner goes through school and leaves most of this behind. Later, as an adult when he has the chance to meet Harris, the book really hits a high note.
Dubner explores his feelings and Franco's feelings as the two meet several times. In the end, it is nothing like he expected or wanted, yet in the end it is exactly that.
Anyone who ever called himself a fan of a celebrity should read Dubner's story.
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This book compares the Jewish view to that of Christians. With the Jewish ban on idolatry, there are no people -- only things and places in pictures. That's strange, as my photos are full of views, beautiful or unusual scenes and things of the past, but very few people. In the Bible, there are prophets in abundance, but in the New Testament, the pictures are most always a glorified Jesus and his apostles. A messiah is less a person than an idea, a hope, and the yearning for the world to have a happy ending.
Thomas Carlyle, a pious Scottish Presbyterian, who died in 1881, wrote that hero worship is a human condition that "cannot cease till man himself ceases." I've had many heroes in my time. One of them is listed below.
A hero is someone we admire for who he is, but not so much because he is someone special to us when we need someone to love, a person who can take the place of a busy family, someone you don't come home to and have to listen to their complaints. A hero is perfect, he's an image we conjure up in our minds as being the person we would like to be.
Lincoln was shot five days after Lee's surrender at Appomattox on Good Friday; Booth was a crazed hero-worshipper and had to die for his mistake. Each era in America has its hero. Charles Lindbergh in 1927 because he did what no one else had done. General MacArthur in WWII because of his determination and defiance to do what his heart dictated. A Civil War hero, Abner Doubleday, ... Read More
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After reading Stephen Dubner's first book, Turbulent Souls, I couldn't wait to read his latest work. I thoroughly enjoyed Confessions of a Hero Worshiper. It is a poignant, beautifully-written story about Dubner, who as a ten-year-old boy, grasped on to his football hero to help him survive his loneliness and insecurity after his father died. Dubner's childhood hero was Franco Harris of the Pittsburgh Steelers and the "man of steel" becomes much more to the young, fatherless boy than anyone would ever imagine. In school Dubner even wrote his name as "Franco Dubner" on his papers. For the next 4 years, Dubner has the same dream every night of meeting Franco Harris, inviting him over to his house for dinner, and playing a game of football in the backyard with him afterwards. Every night in the dream, Franco breaks his ankle just as he's about to score a touchdown. He hands the ball to Dubner and tells him, "You gotta take it from here yourself, kid." The words end up being prophetic.
Fast forward about twenty-five years. Dubner is now a successful writer and former editor of the NY Times Magazine. When he spies a magazine cover sporting Franco Harris's picture, his long-buried feelings are rekindled. Dubner is overcome by a deep desire to meet his hero and let him know what an important part he played in Dubner's young life.
When Dubner finally gets to rubs elbows with Franco Harris, the time spent with him and his athlete buddies is both exhilerating and frustrating. ... Read More
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