The Girls of Summer: The U.S. Women's Soccer Team and How They Changed the World

I thought that this was a great book. I enjoyed reading it because my favorite female athletes were the subjects in this book. This book shows the stroggle that athletes go through and the publicity that is always there no matter what.This was probably the best book that i ever read because i play soccer and i like to seee wha goes around on the proffesional level. The us womens soccer team has gone trough their ups and downs and this book went through it step by step. I felt as though i know what they were going through because it was so real.Mia Hamm is right now the best womens soccer play in the world. She is well know in any ste and country. She has been on adds and verious things to promote the womens soccer team. Others team mates have done the same but none to the level of Mia Hamm. This book shows what she has been through and her own personal struggle to make it as a proffesional athlete.Now that i have read this book i have even more respect for the womens national soccer team and all proffesional athletes because i am aware of what they have gone through. I have been able to read about my favorite female athletes and know about their past. I recomend this book to anyone who is a female athlete or loves the game of soccer. It's not just for girls it is great for men to learn about proffesiional athletes. alex rothemich

Jere Longman does an incredible job of grabbing your attention right from the start. This book gave me goosebumps all over again. This book may not be as enjoyable to people who did not attend a WWC game or see one on TV, but it still offers great pictures, and a retelling of July 10, 1999 that is second to none. Having attended one of the WWC games myself, I can totally relate to when he talks about the atmosphere surrounding the event. He is a very gifted writer, and I would recommend this book to anyone, soccer fan or not. It tells of the American experience, and this event brought together people from all walks of life. This book is a must have.

Have you ever read a book and dreaded coming to the end? You can't stop reading it, but you try and pace yourself because you don't want it to ever stop. Well, obviously, I feel this way about The Girls of Summer, by Jere Longman. I was at the 1999 Women's World Cup Final, and reading this book brought back all the memories of that day: the sweltering heat, the anxiety, and the pure joy. Longman describes every important play in wonderful slow motion, and poetic imagery. The player profiles are seamless and beautifully intertwined throughout the book. It might seem as though I am bias towards Longman's effort, but being a huge US Team supporter, wouldn't I have higher expectations than the normal, everyday reader? I wish everyone could read The Girls of Summer.To make a long story short, The Girls of Summer is a triumphant first effort by Jere Longman. The player profiles, history, and raw emotion in these 300 plus pages is a marvel. Thank you, Mr. Longman!

Good things come to those who wait; that's what we're always told. The NY Times' chief Olympics writer comes through with a book that delivers what it promises - a description of every facet of the women's world cup tournament. It shows just how much the national governing body of soccer disrespected them, from the coach on down, in the months after their win. The reservations which were expressed when Brandi Chastain posed for Gear Magazine with a strategically placed soccer ball. And the debunking once and for all of her "orchestrated" shirt-doffing at the end of the final by conspiracy theorists who've watched one too many Oliver Stone movies.It also lets us in on just how much people in the U.S. news media were staggeringly asleep at the switch, when reporters had to to cover the tournament and only later were refunded by their sports editors. But first and foremost it comes back to 20 women who became the warm-weather version of the 1980 US men's Olympic hockey team; a team which an entire nation closed ranks behind. They are brought to vivid life by Longman here.Reading it also harkens back to a time when you could pick up a newspaper's sports section and not have it resemble a police blotter. Or a litany of overpaid, underachieving athletes who, no matter how much they stink out their sports, always want to get paid even more. Of a time when American sport used to be pretty nice, unlike what it is now. That the same people who moan about the success of women's sports are the same ones who complain about no role models in sport. Longman presents 20 compelling ones here.He puts you smack dab in the center of the maelstrom that was July 10, 1999 at the Rose Bowl and you won't even have to pay a scalper's ticket. It's a book that can be read over and over again, and you'll never get tired of it. A wonderful achievement and certainly worthy of any non-fiction awards at the end of the year.

This book gives you an inside view of the recent US Women's World Cup Victory. It tells the story of the women who played in front of the largest crowd every in women's sports history. The first chapter alone puts you on the field just minutes before the historical tie breaking shot. Even if you don't like the sport of soccer, this book is worth reading. It tell of victory as a team! Great Book!