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Title: How Football Explains America
ISBN: 1600780466
Author:
Sal Paolantonio
Publicate Date: 2008-09-10
Publish: 2008-09-10
List Price: $24.95
Average Customer Rating: 4.5
Format: Hardcover
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Amazon Lowest New Price: $15.24
Amazon Lowest Used Price: $15.56
Amazon Merchant Price: $16.47
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| Customer Review: |
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1: You'll Never Watch A Football Game the Same Way Again
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)
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2: A New Classic For History Courses
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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3: Great Title ... Too Bad it's Not Original
At least Sal Paolantonio didn't rip off the title of one of the great soccer books of recent memory. Oh, wait. What's next, Sal, Fever Pitch?
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4: A star-spangled, testosterone-soaked tribute to America's favorite pastime
How Football Explains America is a fast-paced highlight reel of the game's first two violent centuries. Narrator Sal Paolantonio pauses the action to explain the mental side of the game -- the pioneers, tacticians and innovators -- and what pro football derived from the military, show biz and most importantly, the American spirt.
You'll learn about the deaf quarterback who ran the first huddle, how John Wayne begat Johnny U and Eli Manning, and what Vince Lombardi and Bill Parcells owe to General Douglas MacArthur. It's a star-spangled testosterone-soaked tribute to America's favorite pastime. You can't understand ancient Rome without touring the Colliseum and you won't fully understand pro football's enduring grip on the American male psyche until you read Professor Paolantonio's little gem of a book.
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5: Answering the most important questions about America's biggest game...
It's easy to answer any number of questions about America's (real) national pasttime: What is it about the game that so captivates people every Sunday? Why do 100 million people watch the Super Bowl each year? How did the game get so...big? But Sal Paolantonio ups the ante by searching for -- and finding -- the answer to the most meaningful and revealing question of all: Why America is the only place in history football could be. "How Football Explains America" is at once a history of our game and a reflection on our country. It's a book born out a love for the sport that millions and millions of Americans have shared. But at its heart it's a patriotic work -- a glimpse at how football has become a perfect expression of the best the United States of America has to offer.
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