English Football History

With the same emotional generosity and effortlessly compelling storytelling that made All Over But the Shoutin’ a beloved bestseller, Rick Bragg continues his personal history of the Deep South. This time he’s writing about his grandfather Charlie Bundrum, a man who died before Bragg was born but left an indelible imprint on the people who loved him. Drawing on their memories, Bragg reconstructs the life of an unlettered roofer who kept food on his family’s table through the worst of the Great Depression

New York Times best-selling, award-winning historian S. C. Gwynne tells the incredible story of how Hal Mumme and Mike Leach - two unknown coaches who revolutionized American football in the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s - changed the way the game is played at every level, from high school to the NFL. Hal Mumme is one of a handful of authentic offensive geniuses in the history of American football. In 2015 ESPN Magazine, the nation's leading sports magazine, called him the single most influential football coach in the last quarter century.

The authors of the New York Times best seller 50 Years, 50 Moments celebrate the first 100 years of the National Football League, interweaving history, personal stories, memories, and observations of some of its greatest players, coaches, and advocates to chronicle football’s amazing evolution from a fledgling regional fly-by-night operation into a multi-billion global brand and one of America’s leading franchises.

Super Strikers: Amazing Stories of Soccer's Greatest takes you right onto the pitch with Messi, Ronaldo, Neymar, Haaland, and Mbappe. Discover their most unforgettable moments, jaw-dropping skills, and the secrets to their incredible success. Then, flip the book to Icons of Sports: Legends Versus Rising Stars, where you’ll witness thrilling head-to-head comparisons between the greatest legends and today’s rising stars across five sports.

The NFL has come a long way from its founding in Canton, Ohio, in 1920. In the 100 years since that fateful day, football has become America’s most popular and lucrative professional sport. The former scrappy upstart league that struggled to stay afloat has survived a host of challenges to produce American icons like Vince Lombardi, Joe Montana, and Tom Brady. It is an extraordinary and entertaining history that could be told only by Joe Horrigan, former executive director of the Pro Football Hall of Fame and perhaps the greatest living historian of the NFL.

From Darkness to Dynasty tells the unlikely history of the New England Patriots as it has never been told before. From their humble beginnings as a team bought with rainy-day money by a man who had no idea what he was doing, to the fateful season that saw them win their first Super Bowl, Jerry Thornton shares the wild, humiliating, unbelievable, and wonderful stories that comprised the first 40 years of what would ultimately become the most dominant franchise in NFL history.

In the wake of the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the 1942 Rose Bowl was moved from Pasadena to Durham, North Carolina, out of fear of Japanese attacks on the West Coast. It remains the only Rose Bowl game to ever be played outside of Pasadena. Duke University, led by legendary coach Wallace Wade Sr., faced off against underdog Oregon State College, with both teams preparing for a grueling fight on the football field while their thoughts wandered to the battlefields they would soon be on.

Young people have the power to affect sweeping change, and the key to mending the racial divide in America lies in giving them the tools to ask honest questions and take in the difficult answers. Approaching every awkward, taboo, and uncomfortable question with openness and patience, Emmanuel Acho connects his own experience with race and racism - from attending majority-white prep schools to his time in the NFL playing on majority-black football teams - to insightful lessons in black history and black culture.

These exciting and informative books will turn any young listener into a sports fanatic! Learn all about the history of the world’s most entertaining sports like football, basketball, and soccer.

Few sports franchises can match the long, storied history of the New York Giants. Fewer still can match their rich legion of passionate, loyal fans. In Tales from the New York Giants Sideline, memories, anecdotes, names, faces, games, cheers, and tears come rushing back, along with new twists. Without a doubt, Tales from the New York Giants Sideline is a must-listen for any Giants fan.

In this newly revised edition of Tales from the New Orleans Saints Sideline, author Jeff Duncan chronicles the flamboyant history of the franchise, its highs and lows, the great coaches and players, and the colorful characters that have made it one of the most interesting clubs in NFL history. Primed and ready to achieve the glory that has thus far eluded them, the New Orleans Saints have hundreds of stories to be told, and thousands of moments to share.

Through all the pain, all the glory, and all the moments of absurdity, fans of the Atlanta Falcons have always had one thing in common - passion. Now those stalwart supporters will get to relive all the history of their favorite franchise in this newly updated edition of Tales from the Atlanta Falcons Sideline. Since their inauspicious beginnings in 1966, the Atlanta Falcons have risen to become one of the powerhouse teams of the NFC South. In this riveting collection of misbegotten woes and tireless efforts, Matt Winkeljohn captures an epic journey of athletic redemption.

No one knows Mountaineers football better than Don Nehlen, head coach of the Mountaineers from 1980 until 2001. Now fans of this dynamic collegiate powerhouse will relive the greatest moments in West Virginia football through the eyes of its most successful coach. When Coach Nehlen arrived in Morgantown in December 1979, he had a large task in front of him - turn a losing team into a force to be reckoned with. In this book, he shares how he made it happen. Nehlen explains his theories about coaching, the staff that supported him, and the strategies that he employed to create a stronger team.

For 33 years, Bobby Bowden was the heart and soul of Florida State football. Now Seminoles fans of every generation will get to relive the glory and passion of Florida’s winningest coach in this edition of Tales from the Florida Seminoles Sideline. In this gripping narrative, Bobby Bowden and Steve Ellis bring readers right up to the sideline to experience pivotal moments in Florida’s football history.

Since their founding in 1919, the Chicago Bears have carried the hearts and souls of football fans throughout the country. Now supporters of one of the NFL’s most storied franchises will go into the locker room and onto the turf with over 20 Bears legends in Game of My Life: Chicago Bears. In this newly revised edition, sportswriter Lew Freedman opens the doors to players’ private remembrances of how it was and how they reacted to the spotlight. Big touchdowns, career-making moments, and championship glory.

Relive the greatest Giants moments through the eyes of the players themselves - newly revised to include Super Bowl XLVI! The New York Giants have long been one of the NFL’s most popular and storied franchises. Now fans of this dynamic football powerhouse will relive all the greatest gridiron moments through the eyes of the players themselves in this newly updated edition of Game of My Life New York Giants.

A continuing and ongoing drama, LSU football has been marked by a string of improbable victories and sometimes valiant defeas. Game Of My Life LSU Tigers is the chronicle of over 30 of the greatest players as they tell the story of the game that meant it all. Marty Mul has compiled the vivid and poignant single-game stories from three dozen of the most remembered Tiger games of the last eight decades. Readers will relive the fingertip catches, the bone-crunching hits, and epic touchdowns through the eyes - and from the memories - of the LSU players themselves.

On March 21, 2015, Leicester City lost their sixth game in eight matches. Without a victory for two months, they were rock bottom of the English Premier League, heading for certain relegation to the lower division, and about to miss out on a once-in-a-lifetime financial bonanza of TV money and opportunity. As usual, London and Manchester would clean up, the rich would get richer, and the hopes of the small, overlooked, multicultural city would sink. But Leicester started to win. They stayed up; and in the new season they kept on winning.

When superstar athlete Jim Thorpe and football legend Pop Warner met in 1904 at the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania, they forged one of the winningest teams in American football history. Called "the team that invented football", they took on the best opponents of their day, defeating much more privileged schools such as Harvard and Army in a series of breathtakingly close calls, genius plays, and bone-crushing hard work.

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.