Are You Ready For Some Football (Books)?!

Football fans, rejoice—a new season is here! If you prefer to read about athletes instead of watching them, check out these books hitting the shelves this fall:

STRIKING GRIDIRON: A Town’s Pride and a Team’s Shot at Glory During the Biggest Strike in American History by Greg Nichols
In 1959, the iconic mill town of Braddock, Pennsylvania was suffering from a steel strike that crippled the local economy, but the town was able to rally around their national record-setting high school football team. “Nichols captures the pace of life in a late-fifties, single-industry town, and also integrates the progress of the strike and its implications for the nation as well as Braddock. An excellent book on a number of levels.” — Booklist

BEATING GOLIATH: My Story of Football and Faith by Art Briles, with Don Yaeger
In this memoir from head coach of the top ranked Baylor Bears college football team, Briles recounts losing his parents at an early age and the important life lessons they taught him that he applied to coaching, turning struggling teams into winners.

THE KING OF SPORTS: Football’s Impact on America by Gregg Easterbrook
Now available in paperback! Easterbrook, author of the wildly popular ESPN.com column Tuesday Morning Quarterback, takes on football’s place in American society, explaining how the game became deeply ingrained in American culture and its impact on society.

MONSTERS: The 1985 Chicago Bears and the Wild Heart of Football by Rich Cohen
Now available in paperback! Cohen recounts the thrilling 1985 Chicago Bears championship season through interviews with Walter “Sweetness” Payton, the fleet-footed running back; Dan Hampton, the hard-charging defensive tackle known as the “Danimal”; Jim McMahon, the punky quarterback, changing plays on the fly; and Mike Ditka, the hotheaded, mustachioed head coach.

Ready? Break! (For reading.)

We’ve got three ARCs of STRIKING GRIDIRON to giveaway! The first three librarians to email library@macmillanusa.com (subject: Striking Gridiron) with their library’s info and mailing address win. Good luck!