That's the approach of the latest of the many books to be written around the golf celeb, and it's by a writer whose previous subject was singer Bob Dylan in the same pop role. He is Howard Sounes, and after finishing his Dylan study, Down the Highway, for Grove/ Atlantic, he became convinced the young black golfer was the most influential figure in pop culture today. He will focus on the rise of golf to a popular sport enjoyed by millions by exploring the role and personalities of three players from different eras who helped it to happen--Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and now Woods--and Morrow's Henry Ferris preempted his proposal. He made a strong six-figure deal for North American rights, plus first serial and audio, with agent Russell Galen at Scovil Chichak & Galen.
Another recent buy by Ferris was of a book about the manhunt for the conspirators who assassinated Abraham Lincoln. It's called, simply, Manhunt, and is by James Swanson, a lifelong student of Lincoln and collector of Lincolniana, who last year published Lincoln's Assassins. It was a major world rights deal, negotiated with Richard Abate at ICM, and Ferris plans publication in 2004.
