
Golden Days
West's Lakers, Steph's Warriors, and the California Dreamers Who Reinvented Basketball
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
$0.99/mo for the first 3 months

Buy for $20.25
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Jack McCallum
-
By:
-
Jack McCallum
About this listen
The best-selling author of Dream Team tells the interconnected stories of the NBA champion Golden State Warriors and the early 1970s Los Angeles Lakers, two extraordinary teams playing in extraordinary times and linked by one extraordinary man: Jerry West.
During their 1971-72 championship season, the LA Lakers won 33 games in a row, a streak that still stands as the longest and greatest in the history of American professional sports. It was a run of uninterrupted dominance that predated by decades the overwhelming firepower of today's Warriors, a revolutionary team whose recent seasons include some record-threatening win streaks of their own.
In Golden Days, acclaimed sports journalist Jack McCallum uses these two teams - the Jerry West/Wilt Chamberlain/Elgin Baylor Lakers and the Stephen Curry/Kevin Durant/Draymond Green Warriors - to trace the dynamic history of the National Basketball Association, which for much of the last half century has marched memorably through the state of California.
Tying together the two strands of McCallum's story is Hall of Famer West, the ferociously competitive Laker guard who later became one of the key architects of the Warriors. With "the Logo" as his guide, McCallum takes us deep into the locker rooms and front offices of these two era-defining teams, leveraging the access and authority he has amassed over his 40-year career to create a picture of the cultural juggernaut that the NBA has become.
Featuring up-close-and-personal portraits of some of the biggest names in basketball history, from the larger-than-life Wilt Chamberlain to the innovative Warriors coach Steve Kerr to the transcendent duo of Curry and Durant, Golden Days is a history not just of a changing sport but of a changing America, as seen through the prism of two teams that ruled the league during times of violence and political turmoil - the Charles Manson murders and the athlete-activist in the age of Trump among the narrative backdrops.
In the end, McCallum's book leaves an indelible portrait of West, the man who lived, played, and worked through it all - and who remains, on the cusp of his 80th birthday, one of the most vital, complicated, and compelling figures in all of sports.
©2017 Jack McCallum (P)2017 Random House AudioListeners also enjoyed...
-
Dream Team
- How Michael, Magic, Larry, Charles, and the Greatest Team of All Time Changed the Game of Basketball Forever
- By: Jack McCallum
- Narrated by: Dick Hill
- Length: 12 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Dream Team, acclaimed sports journalist Jack McCallum delivers the untold story of the greatest team ever assembled: the 1992 U.S. Olympic men's basketball team that captivated the world, kindled the hoop dreams of countless children around the planet, and remade the NBA into a global sensation. As a senior staff writer for Sports Illustrated, McCallum enjoyed a courtside seat for the most exciting basketball spectacle on earth, covering the Dream Team from its inception to the gold medal ceremony in Barcelona.
-
-
Great insight into the great basketball team ever.
- By James O'Brien on 09-04-12
By: Jack McCallum
-
Blood in the Garden
- The Flagrant History of the 1990s New York Knicks
- By: Chris Herring
- Narrated by: Brian Hutchison
- Length: 11 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The definitive history of the 1990s New York Knicks, illustrating how Pat Riley, Patrick Ewing, John Starks, Charles Oakley, and Anthony Mason resurrected the iconic franchise through oppressive physicality and unmatched grit. Blood in the Garden is a portrait filled with eye-opening details that have never been shared before, revealing the full story of the franchise in the midst of the NBA’s golden era. And rest assured, no punches will be pulled. Which is just how those rough-and-tumble Knicks would like it.
-
-
Great book, horrible performance.
- By Sean Conway on 07-21-22
By: Chris Herring
-
Seven Seconds or Less
- My Season on the Bench with the Runnin' and Gunnin' Phoenix Suns
- By: Jack McCallum
- Narrated by: B. Jay Kaplan
- Length: 8 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sports Illustrated's chief NBA writer, Jack McCallum, only planned to spend the preseason with the Phoenix Suns as an "assistant coach" - and then write a story about his experiences. Instead, he stayed on with the Suns throughout their exciting and controversial 2005-2006 season. Gaining access to everything from locker-room chats with superstar point guard Steve Nash, to coaches' meetings with maverick coach Mike D'Antoni, McCallum learned what makes this wildly popular, innovative, and international assemblage of talented players and brilliant coaches tick.
-
-
Robot Narration with Clueless Word Emphasis
- By Pick and Papi on 05-15-17
By: Jack McCallum
-
Wish It Lasted Forever
- Life with the Larry Bird Celtics
- By: Dan Shaughnessy
- Narrated by: Dan Shaughnessy
- Length: 6 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Before primetime ESPN coverage, lucrative branding deals like Air Jordans, and $40 million annual player salaries, there was the NBA of the 1970s and 1980s. Enter Dan Shaughnessy, then the beat reporter for The Boston Globe who covered the Boston Celtics every day from 1982 to1986. It was a time when reporters travelled with professional teams—flying the same commercial airlines, riding the same buses, and staying in the same hotels. Drawing on unprecedented access and personal experiences, Shaughnessy takes us inside the legendary Larry Bird-led Celtics teams.
-
-
Enjoyable Read
- By Donna Daily on 12-03-21
By: Dan Shaughnessy
-
Showtime
- Magic, Kareem, Riley, and the Los Angeles Lakers Dynasty of the 1980s
- By: Jeff Pearlman
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
- Length: 18 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Best-selling sportswriter Jeff Pearlman draws from almost 300 interviews to take the first full measure of the Lakers’ epic Showtime era. A dazzling account of one of America’s greatest sports sagas, Showtime is packed with indelible characters, vicious rivalries, and jaw-dropping, behind-the-scenes stories of the players’ decadent Hollywood lifestyles. From the Showtime era’s remarkable rise to its tragic end - marked by Magic Johnson’s 1991 announcement that he had contracted HIV - Showtime is a gripping narrative of sports, celebrity, and 1980s-style excess.
-
-
Offended at the style used to voice black characters.
- By NP on 01-15-22
By: Jeff Pearlman
-
The Last Folk Hero
- The Life and Myth of Bo Jackson
- By: Jeff Pearlman
- Narrated by: JD Jackson
- Length: 22 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the mid-1980s into the early 1990s, the greatest athlete of all time streaked across American sports and popular culture. Stadiums struggled to contain him. Clocks failed to capture his speed. His strength was legendary. His power unmatched. Video game makers turned him into an invincible character—and they were dead-on. He climbed (and walked across) walls, splintered baseball bats over his knee, turned oncoming tacklers into ground meat.
-
-
If you are a sports fan and over 35 years old, you have to listen/read this. Awesome!
- By betty sammons on 06-29-23
By: Jeff Pearlman
-
Dream Team
- How Michael, Magic, Larry, Charles, and the Greatest Team of All Time Changed the Game of Basketball Forever
- By: Jack McCallum
- Narrated by: Dick Hill
- Length: 12 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Dream Team, acclaimed sports journalist Jack McCallum delivers the untold story of the greatest team ever assembled: the 1992 U.S. Olympic men's basketball team that captivated the world, kindled the hoop dreams of countless children around the planet, and remade the NBA into a global sensation. As a senior staff writer for Sports Illustrated, McCallum enjoyed a courtside seat for the most exciting basketball spectacle on earth, covering the Dream Team from its inception to the gold medal ceremony in Barcelona.
-
-
Great insight into the great basketball team ever.
- By James O'Brien on 09-04-12
By: Jack McCallum
-
Blood in the Garden
- The Flagrant History of the 1990s New York Knicks
- By: Chris Herring
- Narrated by: Brian Hutchison
- Length: 11 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The definitive history of the 1990s New York Knicks, illustrating how Pat Riley, Patrick Ewing, John Starks, Charles Oakley, and Anthony Mason resurrected the iconic franchise through oppressive physicality and unmatched grit. Blood in the Garden is a portrait filled with eye-opening details that have never been shared before, revealing the full story of the franchise in the midst of the NBA’s golden era. And rest assured, no punches will be pulled. Which is just how those rough-and-tumble Knicks would like it.
-
-
Great book, horrible performance.
- By Sean Conway on 07-21-22
By: Chris Herring
-
Seven Seconds or Less
- My Season on the Bench with the Runnin' and Gunnin' Phoenix Suns
- By: Jack McCallum
- Narrated by: B. Jay Kaplan
- Length: 8 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sports Illustrated's chief NBA writer, Jack McCallum, only planned to spend the preseason with the Phoenix Suns as an "assistant coach" - and then write a story about his experiences. Instead, he stayed on with the Suns throughout their exciting and controversial 2005-2006 season. Gaining access to everything from locker-room chats with superstar point guard Steve Nash, to coaches' meetings with maverick coach Mike D'Antoni, McCallum learned what makes this wildly popular, innovative, and international assemblage of talented players and brilliant coaches tick.
-
-
Robot Narration with Clueless Word Emphasis
- By Pick and Papi on 05-15-17
By: Jack McCallum
-
Wish It Lasted Forever
- Life with the Larry Bird Celtics
- By: Dan Shaughnessy
- Narrated by: Dan Shaughnessy
- Length: 6 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Before primetime ESPN coverage, lucrative branding deals like Air Jordans, and $40 million annual player salaries, there was the NBA of the 1970s and 1980s. Enter Dan Shaughnessy, then the beat reporter for The Boston Globe who covered the Boston Celtics every day from 1982 to1986. It was a time when reporters travelled with professional teams—flying the same commercial airlines, riding the same buses, and staying in the same hotels. Drawing on unprecedented access and personal experiences, Shaughnessy takes us inside the legendary Larry Bird-led Celtics teams.
-
-
Enjoyable Read
- By Donna Daily on 12-03-21
By: Dan Shaughnessy
-
Showtime
- Magic, Kareem, Riley, and the Los Angeles Lakers Dynasty of the 1980s
- By: Jeff Pearlman
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
- Length: 18 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Best-selling sportswriter Jeff Pearlman draws from almost 300 interviews to take the first full measure of the Lakers’ epic Showtime era. A dazzling account of one of America’s greatest sports sagas, Showtime is packed with indelible characters, vicious rivalries, and jaw-dropping, behind-the-scenes stories of the players’ decadent Hollywood lifestyles. From the Showtime era’s remarkable rise to its tragic end - marked by Magic Johnson’s 1991 announcement that he had contracted HIV - Showtime is a gripping narrative of sports, celebrity, and 1980s-style excess.
-
-
Offended at the style used to voice black characters.
- By NP on 01-15-22
By: Jeff Pearlman
-
The Last Folk Hero
- The Life and Myth of Bo Jackson
- By: Jeff Pearlman
- Narrated by: JD Jackson
- Length: 22 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the mid-1980s into the early 1990s, the greatest athlete of all time streaked across American sports and popular culture. Stadiums struggled to contain him. Clocks failed to capture his speed. His strength was legendary. His power unmatched. Video game makers turned him into an invincible character—and they were dead-on. He climbed (and walked across) walls, splintered baseball bats over his knee, turned oncoming tacklers into ground meat.
-
-
If you are a sports fan and over 35 years old, you have to listen/read this. Awesome!
- By betty sammons on 06-29-23
By: Jeff Pearlman
-
Boys Will Be Boys
- The Glory Days and Party Nights of the Dallas Cowboys Dynasty
- By: Jeff Pearlman
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 13 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
They were America's Team - the high-priced, high-glamour, high-flying Dallas Cowboys of the 1990s, who won three Super Bowls and made as many headlines off the field as on it. Led by Emmitt Smith, the charismatic Deion "Prime Time" Sanders, and Hall of Famers Troy Aikman and Michael Irvin, the Cowboys rank among the greatest of all NFL dynasties.
-
-
This is a football book right?
- By Aaron on 12-07-09
By: Jeff Pearlman
-
Barkley
- A Biography
- By: Timothy Bella
- Narrated by: Korey Jackson
- Length: 16 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
He's one of the most interesting American athletes in the past fifty years. Passionate, candid, iconoclastic, and gifted both on and off the court, Charles Barkley has made a lasting impact on not only the world of basketball but pop culture at large. Yet few people know the real Charles. Informed by over 370 original interviews and painstaking research, Timothy Bella's Barkley is the most comprehensive biography to date of one of the most talked about icons in the world of sports.
-
-
Great insight to the big man’s life.
- By marci rodee on 07-03-23
By: Timothy Bella
-
Three Ring Circus
- Kobe, Shaq, Phil and the Crazy Years of the Lakers Dynasty
- By: Jeff Pearlman
- Narrated by: Brian Hutchison
- Length: 16 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the history of modern sport, there have never been two high-level teammates who loathed each other the way Shaquille O’Neal loathed Kobe Bryant and Kobe Bryant loathed Shaquille O’Neal. From public sniping and sparring, to physical altercations and the repeated threats of trade, it was warfare. And yet, despite eight years of infighting and hostility, by turns mediated and encouraged by coach Phil Jackson, the Shaq-Kobe duo resulted in one of the greatest dynasties in NBA history.
-
-
Ok I've finished it and have more thoughts
- By Bobby S on 09-24-20
By: Jeff Pearlman
-
Playing for Keeps
- Michael Jordan and the World He Made
- By: David Halberstam
- Narrated by: JD Jackson
- Length: 20 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Playing for Keeps, David Halberstam takes the first full measure of Michael Jordan's epic career, one of the great American stories of our time. A narrative of astonishing power and human drama, brimming with revealing anecdotes and penetrating insights, the audiobook chronicles the forces in Jordan's life that have shaped him into history's greatest basketball player and the larger forces that have converged to make him the most famous living human being in the world.
-
-
If You Liked "The Last Dance," You Will Love This
- By John on 06-13-20
By: David Halberstam
-
Michael Jordan
- The Life
- By: Roland Lazenby
- Narrated by: Bob Souer
- Length: 21 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The definitive biography of a legendary athlete. The Shrug. The Shot. The Flu Game. When most people think of him, they think of his beautiful shots with the game on the line, his body totally in sync with the ball - hitting nothing but net. But for all his greatness, this scion of a complex family from North Carolina's Coastal Plain has a darker side: He's a ruthless competitor and a lover of high stakes. There's never been a biography that encompassed the dual nature of his character and looked so deeply at Jordan on and off the court - until now.
-
-
horrible naration
- By Hiro on 03-27-18
By: Roland Lazenby
-
Basketball
- A Love Story
- By: Jackie MacMullan, Rafe Bartholomew, Dan Klores
- Narrated by: James Fouhey, Jim Frangione, Sullivan Jones, and others
- Length: 16 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A sweeping and revelatory history of basketball, drawing upon hundreds of hours of interviews with the greatest players, coaches, executives, and journalists in the history of the game. In an effort to tell the complete story of basketball in all its fascinating dimensions, acclaimed authors Jackie MacMullan, Rafe Bartholomew, and Dan Klores have compiled nearly a thousand hours' worth of interviews with a staggering number of basketball greats. The audiobook that grew out of those interviews is an extraordinary project and quite possibly the most ambitious basketball work ever made.
-
-
Underwhelming
- By Adam Kosberg on 12-02-18
By: Jackie MacMullan, and others
-
When the Game Was War
- The NBA's Greatest Season
- By: Rich Cohen
- Narrated by: Cary Hite
- Length: 8 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The 1980s were a transformative decade for the NBA. Since its founding in 1946, the league had evolved from a bruising, earthbound game of mostly nameless, underpaid players to one in which athletes became household names for their thrilling, physics-defying play. The 1987–88 season was the peak of that golden era, a year of incredible drama that featured a pantheon of superstars in their prime—the most future Hall of Famers competing at one time in any given season—battling for the title, and for their respective legacies.
-
-
Phil Jackson accuses Red Auerbach of cheap tactics
- By Sean on 01-03-24
By: Rich Cohen
-
The Franchise
- Building a Winner with the World Champion Detroit Pistons, Basketball's Bad Boys
- By: Cameron Stauth
- Narrated by: Matt Martucci, Jeff Martin
- Length: 13 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In January of 1989, Cameron Stauth became a fly on the office wall of Pistons General Manager Jack McCloskey. He watched day by day, crisis by crisis, as McCloskey, Coach Chuck Daly, and a handful of immensely talented and ambitious basketball players—the Bad Boys of Detroit—won the NBA championship.
-
-
Bad Boys Risen
- By Jarvis Kolen on 09-04-22
By: Cameron Stauth
-
Eleven Rings
- The Soul of Success
- By: Phil Jackson, Hugh Delehanty
- Narrated by: Matt Walton
- Length: 10 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
During his storied career as head coach of the Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Lakers, Phil Jackson won more championships than any coach in the history of professional sports. This is the story of a preacher's kid from North Dakota who grew up to be one of the most innovative leaders of our time. Eleven times, Jackson led his teams to the ultimate goal: the NBA championship - six times with the Chicago Bulls and five times with the Los Angeles Lakers. This book is full of revelations.
-
-
Listener Beware
- By Robert S. Wegener on 07-12-13
By: Phil Jackson, and others
-
Loose Balls
- By: Terry Pluto
- Narrated by: Bo Foxworth, Jack Garrett, William Harper, and others
- Length: 20 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Loose Balls is, after all these years, the definitive and most widely respected history of the ABA. It's a wild ride through some of the wackiest, funniest, strangest times ever to hit pro sports -- told entirely through the (often incredible) words of those who played, wrote and connived their way through the league's nine seasons.
-
-
Memories for the middle aged male
- By Lifeisshort on 06-20-13
By: Terry Pluto
-
The Breaks of the Game
- By: David Halberstam
- Narrated by: Brian Troxell
- Length: 17 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A New York Times best seller, David Halberstam's The Breaks of the Game focuses on one grim season (1979-80) in the life of the Bill Walton-led Portland Trail Blazers, a team that only three years before had been NBA champions. The tactile authenticity of Halberstam's knowledge of the basketball world is unrivaled. Yet he is writing here about far more than just basketball. This is a story about a place in our society where power, money, and talent collide and sometimes corrupt, a place where both national obsessions and naked greed are exposed.
-
-
Truly one of the all time great sports books
- By Ed on 03-11-16
By: David Halberstam
-
Showboat
- The Life of Kobe Bryant
- By: Roland Lazenby
- Narrated by: Ron Butler
- Length: 21 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The definitive portrait of Kobe Bryant, from the author of Michael Jordan. Eighteen-time All-Star, scorer of 81 points in a single game, MVP, and one of the best shooting guards in NBA league history: Kobe Bryant is among basketball's absolute greatest players, and his importance to the sport is undeniable. Third on the NBA career scoring list and owner of five championship rings, he is an undisputed all-time great, one deserving of this deep and definitive biography.
-
-
KOBE BEAN BRYANT
- By Allaeldien Abdelrahman on 12-14-18
By: Roland Lazenby
Critic reviews
What listeners say about Golden Days
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Kothel
- 09-07-24
Pretty good
I’ve liked McCallum’s other books better, but this one was still interesting. He’s a good writer and I enjoy his witty asides. My main critique is that if you’ve read West’s autobiography, a lot of this is familiar (though there were definitely new wrinkles and insights). The secondary critique is that it doesn’t feel like you get to know Curry, Thomson, or Durant anywhere near as well as West and Steve Kerr. However, I suspect that might have something to do with this generation of players being steered away from writers. Overall, it was still worth reading.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Anonymous User
- 09-02-18
awesome
one of the most educating and at the same time easy books that i've listened to
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- DLG
- 03-10-18
For bball fans, but well done
Any additional comments?
An insight comparison between Legend Jerry West as a player and Executive with the Warriors and Steph. Well done
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Michael D. Morris
- 12-27-23
Jack McCallum strikes again
As a reader of some of his other gems about the dream team and my suns, this one is a great back and forth between two distinct eras and teams. If you enjoyed his other books, I’d highly recommend this one as well.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Joe
- 06-12-18
Very interesting and fun to read
Amazing how Jerry West has been such a great influence to so many organizations, teams and players. am a Worriors fan so this fit right in with the last few years in basketball. yars ago I read a book about Jerry West and this was like an update on his life. I hope he continues to help develope teams like Golden State and the Celtics. Team is the main word hear. Less isolation ball makes the game much more interesting to follow.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful