Meticulous, elegant and sensitive, Kings of the Mountains works both as a panegyric to the sporting heroes of a troubled land and as a more general meditation on motifs key to sport and to nationalism: politics, religion, pride, pain and glory.
The Times.Thrilling reading... cleanly written, meticulously researched... This book unearths a fascinating national sporting history.
Times Literary Supplement.
Wonderfully evocative.
The Independent.
In turns funny, reflective and passionate, Kings of the Mountains is part cycling history, part travelogue and part social analysis... Essential reading.
Official Guide to the Tour de France.
A fascinating work of admirable scope and depth.
Cycle Sport.
Some story, worthy of the magical realism of Gabriel Garcia Marques or Mario Vargas Llosa in its intricate layering of sport, social history and the vagaries of human nature.
Cycling Plus.
Matt Rendell was voted New Sports Writer 2003 by the National Sporting Club for "Kings of the Mountains."
