Jim Lester is an award winning multi-genre writer who has written young adult novels, sports histories, biographies, coffee table books and institutional histories. He holds a Ph.D. in history and has taught American history and Western Civilization at both the high school and college levels. His courses have included “The History of Sports in America,” “The History of Rock ‘n Roll,” and “Popular Culture in the 20th Century.”
Books
Hoop Crazy: College Basketball in the 1950s (eBook Only)
What do Wilt Chamberlain, Adolph Rupp, the fictional character Chip Hilton, the CCNY Beavers, the future director of Monday Night Football and a coach who won the national championship and ended his career driving a school bus have in common? The answer is they were all part of the wonderful tapestry of college basketball in the 1950s. Set against a backdrop of the Korean War, McCarthyism, hoola-hoops and Elvis Presley, Hoop Crazy is the inspiring story of how college basketball overcame the disastrous gambling scandals of 1951 and emerged a decade later as a major component of the American sports scene.
Fallout
Kenny Francis has four fathers. His real father was killed in Vietnam before he was born. His other three fathers were marine buddies of his dad’s and they’ve pitched in to raise him. Only it hasn’t worked. Kenny is a world champion screwup. He’s been sent to Bedford Academy to get straightened out but as Kenny tries to turn his life around he must face some painful truths about his father—and himself. Shortlisted –International Reading Association Young Adults Choices Award.
Atlas 5
In “Atlas 5,” we meet John Coffman, a man who believed he was moving to a serene Florida retirement after leaving his home in Colorado. Little did he know that life was far from over. The quiet hamlet of Bay St. Edwards transforms into a battleground when a powerful hurricane strikes, and John’s tranquil life takes an unexpected turn.
But amidst the storm-ravaged chaos, John finds more than survival. He encounters a wonderful woman who kindles new love in his heart. He gets entwined in a murder mystery that challenges his intellect and courage. The catastrophe becomes an unexpected blessing as it reunites him with his estranged family, bringing them closer in these trying times.
As the plot thickens, John must save his grandchildren from a horrifying threat – a pair of psychotic killers on the loose. In this riveting tale of survival, love, and family, Jim Lester takes you on an unforgettable ride filled with suspense and human resilience.
The People’s College: Little Rock Junior College and Little Rock University, 1927-1969
The People’s College presents the history of one of Little Rock’s premier institutions. The book shows how the school started as an extension of the local high school and eventually became a major university and includes a behind the scenes look at a national championship junior college football team, political intrigue at the state capital and stories of the hundreds of students whose lives were changed by the school.
Call to a Nightmare: A Dr. Gabriel and Miss Bishop Thriller
It was the Roaring Twenties, the Jazz Age. The era of Model T Fords and flappers, bootleggers and G-men. Spiritualism was all the rage and everybody wanted to talk to the dead. Except Dr. Alex Gabriel, who thought talking to dead people was ridiculous. Until he met Savannah Bishop, the country’s most unique medium. Using Savannah’s contacts with the World Beyond, Dr. Gabriel and Miss Bishop set out to solve a series of brutal murders that range from the glitz of Hollywood to the backwoods of Arkansas and eventually to the bohemian Left Bank of Paris and finally to pre-Nazi Berlin.
Shadow Games
Danny McCall loves basketball more than anything in the world. So why would he risk his basketball scholarship, his relationship with his girlfriend, and his entire future to fix the point spread in a series of college basketball games? These questions haunt Danny as he sits with his beloved coach’s dead body waiting for the police. While journeying back with Danny and his peers to find the answers, we witness the difficult and dangerous choices Danny makes that leads him to this untenable position. We witness his friendship with his team’s amoral star and his involvement with a pair of sleazy gamblers. We witness the struggling relationship between Danny and the girl he loves. And finally, we witness the demise of an upstanding coach who always tried to inspire his players to do the right thing. Set in the early 1990s, Shadow Games is an exciting page-turner, filled with realistic basketball action and characters wrestling with dark underworld influences. In light of the recent scandals in college basketball, Shadow Games is a topical novel for readers of all ages. Above all else, the book is a powerful portrayal of the loss of youthful innocence.
Greater Little Rock: A Pictorial History
GREATER LITTLE ROCK tells the exciting and intriguing history of the cities of Little Rock and North Little Rock. It’s the story of memorable people, places, things, and events beginning with the age of the Native Americans and the explorations of Hernando de Soto. Popular history is combined with nostalgia and a large collection of photographs to present the flavor that makes Little Rock a unique community. Available on Amazon.com and also at the official Clinton Presidential Library Book Store, Little Rock, Arkansas.
The Blue Riders
The book is set in the 1890s and involves the newspaper war between William Randolph Hearst’s New York Journal and Joseph Pulitzer’s New York World. After a plucky female reporter learns about a plot to murder President William McKinley, she is kidnapped by agents of the Spanish government and taken to Cuba. Two other reporters travel to Cuba and rescue her and then return to Washington, D.C. to stop the assassination of the president.
Deadline: New York
The cheap paperback PI novel was about a dark conspiracy inside the U.S. government. The novel was great fun. But what if it was true? Set in the summer of 1952, Deadline: New York centers on the emerging paperback book industry in New York City. The protagonist is a former Naval intelligence officer and best-selling writer of paperback adventure novels who is asked by a secretary at his publishing house to investigate the suicide of her boyfriend. At the heart of the investigation is a state senate hearing on obscenity in the paperback industry and, as the story progresses, the protagonist uncovers a widespread conspiracy inside the government, law enforcement and America’s major corporations.
The Blind Boxer
Set in the real American dystopia of the Great Depression, The Blind Boxer is the story of a prison inmate known as Harvard, who is offered his freedom if he will participate in a mysterious boxing match. Harvard, who is a former professional fighter but suffers from failing eyesight, is joined by two other fighters. But when the Big Fight begins Harvard and his friends quickly learn that the rules of prize fighting and fair play no longer count and survival is the name of the game.
Four stars . . . a wonderful book for anyone who looks back at the golden age of America . . .
Lester’s powerful coming-of-age novel looks with frankness and hard headed humor at the tangled webs that lies can weave and at the turbulent legacy of the Vietnam War.
A fast paced, clever coming-of-age story . . . Salingeresque in spirit.
a powerful message concerning courage and the nature of true heroism.