Football History

INSTANT NATIONAL BESTSELLER A Kirkus Reviews Most Anticipated Book of the Fall A moving celebration of the history of American football from the New York Times bestselling author of Why We Love Baseball After his bestselling home run books Why We Love Baseball and The Baseball 100, Joe Posnanski...

America's Game traces pro football's grand transformation, from the World War II years, when the NFL was fighting for its very existence, to the turbulent 1980s and 1990s, when labor disputes and off-field scandals shook the game to its core, and up to the sport's present-day preeminence. A thoroughly entertaining account of the entire universe of professional football, from locker room to boardroom, from playing field to press box, this is an essential book for any fan of America's favorite sport.

How Football Became Football traces football's evolution from a version of rugby played before a handful of friends to a spectacle played in packed stadiums before television audiences of 100 million or more. Organized by era, How Football Became Football shows how football’s rules, tactics, and equipment shifted over time, as did its coaching, officiating, and fan behavior. Richly illustrated and written in a fun, engaging manner, readers learn why maul-ins, puntouts and quarterback kicks disappeared from the game, as well as how helmets, end zones, hash marks, and penalty flags became ...

Ty Lewis is ecstatic when the school coach recruits him for the football team. Unfortunately, Ty's Uncle Gus has other plans for him - namely, scrubbing toilets for Gus's cleaning service. Ty's only relief from his oppressive uncle comes in the too-rare times he can spend with his big brother, Thane, a college football star who's headed for the NFL. But when Uncle Gus gets involved with the local mob boss, a man called "Lucy", and Lucy finds out how famous Thane is, things begin to spiral out of control.

From the former executive director of the Pro Football Hall of Fame comes a sweeping and lively history of the National Football League, timed to coincide with the NFL’s 100th anniversary season. “I can think of no one better qualified—or more enthusiastic—to chronicle the National...

A History of the Football is the first book to examine the history of the gridiron football; the evolutionary path it took from its rugby ball origins to today’s distinctive prolate spheroid. Richly illustrated with period images, the book examines how and why the football changed in shape, size, colors, added stripes, and gained inflation standards, all while describing these changes in the context of the game’s evolution.

The “deeply researched, surprise-on-every-page, and altogether marvelous” (Weekly Standard) tale of the five owners who shepherded the NFL through its tumultuous early decades and built the most popular sport in America The National Football League is a towering, distinctly American colossus...

The United States Football League was the last football league to not merely challenge the mighty NFL but also to cause it to collectively shudder. It spanned three seasons, featured as many as 18 teams, secured multiple television deals, drew millions of fans, and launched the careers of legends - but then it died beneath the weight of a particularly egotistical and bombastic owner, a New York businessman named Donald Trump. Jeff Pearlman draws on more than 400 interviews to unearth all the salty, untold stories of one of the craziest sports entities to have ever captivated America.

For Rich Cohen and millions of other fans, the 1985 Chicago Bears were more than a football team: they were the greatest football team ever - a gang of colorful nuts, dancing and pounding their way to victory. They won a Super Bowl and saved a city. It was not just that the Monsters of the Midway won but how they did it....

An “excellent sports history” (Publishers Weekly) in the tradition of Michael Lewis’s Moneyball, award-winning historian S.C. Gwynne tells the incredible story of how two unknown coaches revolutionized American football at every level, from high school to the NFL. Hal Mumme spent fourteen...

From The Athletic, powerhouse of sports reporting, comes the definitive story of the greatest football players of all time. It is a question that has bedeviled football fans for generations: Who’s the best? Of the more than 25,000 men who have suited up during the NFL’s century of existence...

From the day Princeton played the first intercollegiate game in 1869, these major schools of the northeast - Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Pennsylvania, Princeton, and Yale - shaped football as we now know it. In this rich history, Bernstein shows that much of the culture that surrounds American football, both good and bad, has its roots in the Ivy League.

This newly updated edition captures the best stories ever told about "America's Team." Tales from the Dallas Cowboys Sideline is a fascinating, fun look at the inner workings of one of the most beloved teams of all time. From what really happened during Tony Dorsett’s TD run in Super Bowl XII to Coach Tom Landry’s suggestions on pre-game meals, this book is a hilarious and unique collection of stories. Cliff Harris and Charlie Waters never lost sight of how much fun it was to play in the NFL—especially for the Dallas Cowboys—and they share that fun with you in Tales from the Dallas Cowboys Sideline.

⭐ 2026 Updated & Illustrated Edition – A Football Story About Integrity, Teamwork & True Leadership ⭐ 🏈 One Team. One Dream. One Season That Will Test Every Ounce Of Courage 🏈 🔥 A High-Stakes Football Story Packed With Action, Strategy & The Toughest Choice A Young Athlete Can Make 🔥 🎯 Perfect For Readers Ages 8–12 Who Love Sports, Strategy & Underdog Heroes 🎯 Are You Ready To Step Onto The Gridiron… And Into A Moral Dilemma Bigger Than The Game? 💥 Dexter Carter Is Used To Being Invisible—QB2, The Kid Who Studies Coverages Like Puzzles And Notices Every “...

The pro football season of 1963 was dominated by the unexpected. In April, months prior to the beginning of play, it was revealed that two All-Star players, Paul Hornung and Alex Karras, were gambling on the sport and would be suspended from play for at least a year. Even worse, in May, one of the league’s bigger-than-life personalities, Big Daddy Lipscomb, was found dead, with police saying he perished from a heroin overdose, something those who knew him best still dispute.

Former NFL general manager and three-time Super Bowl winner Michael Lombardi takes readers on the ultimate journey through the NFL's history to present his calls on the greatest players and coaches the sport has ever seen. From Monday Night Football to Super Bowl Sunday, the NFL is a dominating...

Win one for The Gipper. Has there ever been a better-known and widely-used exhortative phrase in sports? Not likely. But who was the "Gipper", this mythical-like sports figure whose nickname has aroused, in turn, awe, wonderment, curiosity, and amusement since the second decade of the 20th century, and why is his story important? Answering those questions is the formidable task taken on here by veteran sportswriter Jack Cavanaugh.

The classic history of soccer tactics— “masterful” and “deliciously nerdy” (Time Out) In this modern classic, soccer journalist Jonathan Wilson pulls apart the finer details of the world’s game, tracing the global history of tactics from modern pioneers right back to the beginning...

Since the creation of the Minnesota Vikings in 1960, this football team has been more than just another franchise. To the fans who love them, and the haters who can’t help but admire them, the Minnesota Vikings are an unstoppable force in the NFL. In this heartwarming and inspirational book, Jim Bruton takes a look beyond the game and examines what the Minnesota Vikings have meant to fans and communities across the country.

Endzone tells the story of how college football's most successful and respected program nearly lost it all in less than a decade and entirely of its own doing. It is a story of hubris, greed, and betrayal, a tale more suited to Wall Street than the world's top public university.