...he was collecting wrestlers. We were his newest trophies. If you didn't want to be displayed on his wall, he threatened to ruin you.
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Foxcatcher: The True Story of My Brother's Murder,
John du Pont's Madness,
and the Quest for Olympic Gold
by Mark Schultz
with David Thomas
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Foxcatcher is part sports-story, part true crime -- the book opens with a killing and closes with trial-- but ultimately, it's an angry, shake-your-fist-at-the-sky, push-your-papers-off-your-desk-and-scream autobiography. Mark Schultz's brother, Dave, is shot and killed by John E du Pont, the mad, rich philanthropic Pennsylvania heir to the du Pont family fortune. To date, he's the wealthiest man ever convicted of murder in the United States.
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| Foxcatcher (2014) |
You've probably heard of the title: Steve Carrell donned a prosthetic nose as du Pont and earned an Oscar nod back in 2014; Netflix released a documentary in 2016. The people who hear this story can't get enough of it. And why not? It's about a promising athletic career cut short, it's about a money-starved athletic organization putting sponsorships over the well-being of their athletes, and it's about an ever-increasing willingness to dismiss erratic behaviors as the usual eccentricities afforded to the wealthy. These events take place in Philadelphia, but there's nothing stopping these events from going down as true American folklore.
Though the portraits of amiable Dave Schultz and especially du Pont are absolutely electric, Foxcatcher is really Mark Schultz's story. Even as he occasionally comes across a touch too defensive about his career match losses, there's still plenty of plaintive honesty in his account. His final understated victory-- one earned far from du Point-- is well-deserved, and I hope he has a lasting peace.
Foxcatcher is available for checkout at Central Library; the e-book is available for free through Calcasieu Parish Public Library digital partners OverDrive.