Long before Sam Peckinpah finished shooting his 1973 Western, Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, there was open warfare between him and the studio. In this scrupulously researched new book, Paul Seydor reconstructs the riveting history of a brilliant director fighting to preserve an artistic vision while wrestling with his own self-destructive demons. Meticulously comparing the five extant versions, Seydor documents why none is definitive, including the...

A coach at a major university is under intense pressure to come up with a winning team. That pressure eventually causes problems with the players and the program itself.