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How Football Explains America | 
 enlarge | Author: Sal Paolantonio
Publisher: Triumph Books (IL)
Category: Book
List Price: $24.95
Buy New: $16.47
You Save: $8.48 (34%)
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Rating:  10 reviews
Sales Rank: 3461
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 211
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 8 x 5.3 x 1
ISBN: 1600780466
Dewey Decimal Number: 796.332
EAN: 9781600780462
ASIN: 1600780466
Publication Date: September 10, 2008
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Pre-Order (0-0 Business Days)
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Product Description
Here at last is the first book to fully explain how and why the game of football became America's most powerful and financially successful entertainment phenomenon--and how this country's pioneers of sports, games, industry, and politics helped transform a sleepy game inherited from Europe into one that would explain what America wanted to become and who we are as a people. In How Football Explains America, Sal Paolantonio, ESPN football reporter and a former national political reporter, takes you all the way back to 1876, when the United States was celebrating its 100th birthday, and explains how and why the stodgy and low-scoring games of soccer and rugby were rejected for a game that reflected America's lust to control--Manifest Destiny!--an entire continent. How Football Explains America takes you through how and why President Teddy Roosevelt saved football, how and why Jim Thorpe and Bill Walsh changed the game, and how and why it was influenced by Hollywood and West Point. How Football Explains America explains how football was influenced by Davy Crockett, John Coltrane, Jackie Robinson, and Douglas MacArthur. How Football Explains America shows how at the heart of this country's real pastime is an insatiable need for storytelling and mythmaking, how Johnny Unitas is like John Wayne and Joe Montana is like Luke Skywalker, how the game grew up when pioneers and cowboys set out to write America's story across the West, and how football was a game that perfectly explained that march across the continent. "Football explains America," says NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, "because the game is about teamwork and camaraderie, competition and passion, strategy and energy, strength and emotion. You can look at football and see the heart of America." How Football Explains America takes you through a fascinating historical and cultural journey, using the intrigue, skullduggery, and drama of the 2007 NFL season--the quest for perfection and triumph of an underdog against all odds--to tell the story of a game and a nation that have been sewn together and explain how we live, work, and play.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 5 more reviews...
 Good, quick read January 3, 2009
Robert Cowper (NJ, USA)
"How Football..." is, so far, an entertaining and pretty quick read. The stories and analogies that Sal brings up are interesting and pretty darn cool (the deaf quarterback who invented the huddle, for example).
I just have one complaint. In some parts, it feels as if the narrative and the stories are being forced together. I can't quote his actual words, but at the end of the Davy Crockett chapter, the author quotes Eli Manning after winning the Super Bowl and says something to the effect of "doesn't that sound just like John Wayne?" Being a young reader, no it doesn't, but I can make my own connections and still would have gotten his point. Anyway, like I said, it just feels forced at some points.
I'm not done yet, but I can't wait to pick the book back up! I would recommend it to any football fan.
Good Read but a Glaring Factual Error January 2, 2009
Lisa A. Lamdin (Larkspur, CO)
"SalPal", as he's known amongst his peers and NFL coaches at all levels, has put together a "good historical read" ... the best chapter being Chapter 5's "West Point". However, as a former USMC officer, I'm extremely disappointed that a former USNA graduate and subsequently a USN officer states on page 104 of his book that General Douglas MacArthur accepted the Japanese surrender aboard the aircraft carrier USS Yorktown in 1945. Jeez, last time I checked, MacArthur accepted the Japanese surrender aboard the battleship USS Missouri ... guess you missed that USN history class while at the USNA "SalPal" !!!!!!! Oh by the way "SalPal", maybe you know or don't know this one being from the Eastern Seaboard ... the USMC is the only branch of the military founded in a bar/pub ... USMC recruiters recruited out of Tun's Tavern in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1775.
Randy Lamdin
 Excellent Read December 24, 2008
Mark Jensen (Omaha, NE USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
How Football Explains America is an excellent book for fans of both football and American history. Highly recommended. I especially enjoyed the chapter "How Football Explains the '60's," which referenced both Bart Starr and Joe Namath, two of my boyhood heroes. My only criticism is that I found two spelling errors (homophones) in the text, but what do you want? Sal's a sports guy, not an English teacher, and the editing staff should have corrected them. Anyway, an excellent read prior to the NFL playoffs.
You'll Never Watch A Football Game the Same Way Again October 6, 2008
Andreas Schneider
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
This is an entertaining and enlightening book that will change the way you think about football. You'll learn about the introduction of the quarterback position. You'll learn how the early pioneers in the game changed the rules of the rugby-soccer hybrid they inherited from Europe in order to better reflect the hardscrabble reality of the American frontier. You'll learn about the intricate connections between an American war hero, the football program at West Point, and some of the most successful coaches in football history. Most of all, you'll learn why this is a uniquely American game, and will be prompted to reflect on those values and experiences that make America unique.
The book is a fast-paced read uncommon among history books. It is entertaining and informative for football fans and non-sports fans alike. Highly recommended. For another useful review, make sure to check out: (http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/giants/2008/09/free-giants-tickets.html)
A New Classic For History Courses October 3, 2008
John Fitzgerald (Denver, Colorado)
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
A great new book. An excellent new book. A magnificent theme.
This book should be used in history classes throughout the United States. Sal Paolantonio shows how the best qualities and leaders in the course of our country's history have impacted football -- and how the structure of football has benefitted therefrom. Teddy Roosevelt and Bill Parcels; General MacArthur and Bill Walsh; John Coltrane and Johnny Unitas -- all in one book (and rightly so).
Sal Paolantonio deserves acclaim. He crystallizes for us how shared commitment, shared sacrifice, and shared determination are the hallmarks of football, just as they have in other major episodes throughout course of U.S. history.
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