How Football Explains America

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.

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.

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.

After writing The Paolantonio Report last year, Sal Paolantonio has done it again. I read 'How Football Explains America' and it is amazing to see how the creation of football and the concepts associated with football are truly American. This is a must read for ANY football fan! As a fan of American history and a football fanatic, I couldn't put it down.

This might very well be the most literate sports book I have ever read. If you like football, you will love it. If you like history, you will be fascinated. If you like politics, there is something there for you as well. How Football Explains America is the ONLY sports book I have ever brought into the house that my wife has enjoyed!