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Lessons I've learned from Life and the Battle of the Sexes is a remarkable book in as much as Billie Jean King reveals never before discussed, behind the scenes thoughts, events, preparations and the enormous pressures she endured to represent her gender in the legendary 1973 Battle of the Sexes against Bobby Riggs that changed the world.
Barack Obama's debate with John McCain in September of 2008 was a top world TV event registering a whopping 40 million viewers. The Riggs-King Battle of the Sexes, 35 years ago drew over 50 million and helped launch the gender-equal process around the globe.
While the book is only a 190 page read, King shares with the reader her dreams, actions and now her legacy. This is a very personal diary of one of the most important women of our time. It is really life on our planet as we know it to date and a good look into the future regarding what we need to strive for now.
Here is just a little girl from Long Beach, California whose father was a fireman and all she wanted to do was play softball with the boys. But along the way she found a magic wand in a tennis racquet.
In 1976, Time Magazine voted her "Woman of the Year".
In 1990, Life Magazine voted her one of the Top 100 Most Important Americans of the 20th Century.
She changed college scholarship opportunities for women (TitleIX)
She got equal prize money for women in all the Grand Slams events.
Along the way she merely won six Wimbledon singles titles, four U.S. Open singles titles, and was ranked number one in the world for five years.
In 2007, the site of the U.S.OpenTennis Championship in Flushing Meadows, New York was officially renamed "Billie Jean King National Tennis Center."
And with this book it is obvious that she's still going strong!
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