John Feinstein
Fans of Yale-Harvard--or, for that matter, of Tennessee State-Grambling--may disagree with sports author John Feinstein's subtitle, but this look inside the Cadet-Midshipmen wars backs up the idea of the annual Army-Navy game as a purer expression of the ideal of college athletics than your basic Poulan Weed-Eater Bowl. Feinstein focuses on the defensive captains from each 1995 squad, young men whose football careers end with the final gun of the big game. In a year when the service academies are enjoying their biggest gridiron success in many seasons, Feinstein's ruminations on the game seem particularly timely.
1 A fun journey
I really enjoyed reading this book. It was a magnificant journey through the 1995 season with 2 of the most prestigious football programs in the country. We get a first hand view of what it is like to go to a military school first of all, but to also play football while at that military school. We also get a glimpse of what it was like when the 2 programs were in their hayday and people actually wanted to play at these schools. There was once a time where they dominated and all of the great players went to the military academies. Today, with high salaries and mandatory service, it is unlikely for an all american to attend one of these schools. The cadets know that the end of their football career comes with the end of their college schooling, and that makes the losses hurt that much more. Follow the players through their push through the season against some of the nation's powerhouses. You won't be sorry.
2 This is what college football should be
After reading this book, I will never miss another Army-Navy game. The book gave me a great appreciation for the kids who play in these games, the rivalry and all the tradition that goes with it. It's filled with great stories that give you a good look at what it's like to be a student at one of these acadamies, and to play for these football teams. These are not a bunch of pampered jocks who are going to school so they can go play at the next level. The schools are not in the sports business to make a lot of money. This is what college sports should be: No grades or money under the table, no BCS nonsense, no scandals, no agents. Next time you pick up the sports section of a newspaper and read about another player who's been arrested for rape, assault or whatever, put down the paper and pick up this book. No matter how you feel about West Point or the Naval Academy now, you'll gain a lot of respect for the institutions and especially for the kids who go there.
I picked up the book, thinking it would be a history of the rivalry, but instead found that it looks at one season, ending with the Army-Navy game at the end of that season. Of course, you get a little bit of the history of the game, but the closer look at this one contest is much more interesting.
3 Good but out of subject
With this book,I expect to have a complete coverage of the games between Army & Navy in the last hundred years.In place I have the complete story of both colleges with some highlights of Army-Navy games.The book is divise in two part,one chapter on Army story the next on Navy story.You have one chapter about Army-Navy games and the two or three next chapters talk about games against Notre Dame or Boston college or the problems with players discipline at West Point,etc.That a very good book,I recomend it to everyone who want to learn about Army or Navy story but if like me you want a complete coverage of Army-Navy games tradition it's better for you to look somewhere else.I don't give only three stars cause the book is bad,that a very good book but they pass too much time to talk about things that have nothing to see with Army-Navy games.
4 A great insight into traditional college football
I really have enjoyed John Feinstein's writings, & commentaries on NPR, & this was no exception. It made me sorry I didn't go harder after a USNA appointment 30+ years ago. My only bone I must pick: I happen to be very familiar one of the teams Army played during the 1995 season, and except for my local team's quarterback, Feinstein got the first name of every player from my team wrong. Not misspelled, but flat out wrong. He also got the first name of Boston College's QB wrong. It makes me wonder, what else could he have erred on? Still, this takes me back to those "boys own" books I read when I was young, about plebes and yearlings winning the big game for the Middies or the Black Knights, and to the hours I spent pouring over my Grandfather's Naval Institute Proceedings. It makes me sorry that I've never been to a Navy-Army game, but like the hopes of these two schools, there's always next year, and damn, I wish the Middies could have held off Notre Dame this season!
5 Something missing
Good book,you find yourself rooting for the coaches and, to a lesser extent, the cadets and middies. There is something off about the description of the players and their interactions with their classmates. USMA and USNA are hallowed institutions with a venerable history and well defined mission. That mission being the production of professional military officers. The whole of the enrollees existence, at least for the non-atheletes, is geared to that. While the author makes clear that these football players are doing far more in the classroom and having far more interaction with the "civilians" that occurs at a Florida, Florida State or even, to be fair, a real school like N'western or Michigan. The students profiled seem to be concerned and wrapped up in football and, traditionally, they either aren't, or, if they are, there has been a change in the ethos at these places.
The author doesn't really tell us which it is. Reading this book, you get the feeling that there is strong social segregation from the rest of the students. Part of this is understandable. Reviewing the academic accomplishments and route to the academies taken by most of the profiled players, they are vastly different from thos of the usual cadet. Heck, read the "essay" from the commendable WR whose brother was KIA in a "friendly fire" (I and the essay writer despise that positively Orwellian term.) incident. The points raised are valid and this young man's social history is compelling. But, the writing in this "analytical" piece barely rises to the level of a Jr. high "Why the lunchroom should have pizza" column.
One other minor gripe about Feinstein. He is one of my guilty pleasures, I read everything he publishes and always come away ticked about something. He usually will take cheap knocks at people by belittling their foibles without explanation of the reason for his disdain. My guess is not giving him access. You will note that the above critiques are somewhat inchoate, however, Lou Holtz is mocked sneeringly for refering to "the University of Navel Academy". Of course that's goofy. But he then refers to the players as recieving "scholarships" to the academies. USNA is a university and the players, and everyone else gets a scholarship, but, they are called appointments and everyone there knows it.
I don't know, maybe this use of language highlights the segegation between the athletes and the rest of the students.
Lastly, I hope Jack Nicholson ordered Dr. Carter to give a Code Red to Ryan Bucchianeri.
Not reviewed for typos, solecisms are likely intentional.
6 One of the best
This beook is one of the best books about one of the oldest sports rivalies in the history of sports itself. As a long time fan of Navy football and a future midshipman at the naval academy all I have to say is GO NAVY!!!!!! BEAT ARMY!!!!!!!!
7 A link to the past
Well, I am a cadet, and a starter on the football team. I first read the book when I was at the prep school a few years ago. This is an excellent book for more than just good writing. It is a good book because it is a great link to the past I met JD otherwise know as Joel Davis at the prep school. He is huge. I talk to Ed Stover every now and then as well. My roomate, also a ball player came here because of his relationship with Ron Leshinski. I have met one of the other players wives interviewed in the book. The 1995 season is so pivitol to me because it is a large part of the reason that I came to the point. I saw the Notre Dame game when I was on JV for my HS and all I could think was how great it would be to play for a school like that. Seeing the cadets rushing out of the stands to do pushups on every score and the foot from glory Leshinski suffered is forever etched in my mind. This book puts me in their shoes for a while. It is a must read.
8 Great Read
What a wonderful book. As the son of a USMA '59 grad, I've been to quite a few A/N games. I vivdly remember the season Army had that year, even reading the book 2 years after the events took place. He captures the essence of the game so well, but with such great detail. I wish he could cover the A/N game every year, since what he wrote about is by no means unique. the stories like those he tells are there EVERY YEAR. John does such a wonderful job, I can't wait for his next book on the Patriot League Basketball season. One last thing...
Go ARMY!! Beat Navy!!
9 Inspiring...
Forget Tennessee, FSU, Nebraska and Florida...forget the Orange, the Sugar, and the rest of the BCS. This game is the one game that I look forward to year in and year out. Feinstein captures the the essence of football's greatest rivalry. He takes you from the historic grounds of West Point and Annapolis to the emotionally explosive huddle on the field at the Vet. This is a must read to fully appreciate what this game means to our country and those who have fought and died protecting her.
10 Top honors!
This book is one of the best from a legend in sports writing. If you are interested in the military academies or are simply a fan of the traditional Army-Navy game then this book will be time well spent. Gives the reader a view of what the season is like for the servicemen during the season and building up to the big game. Not to mention the sheer emotional highs and lows hit by the teams during the year, and the heartbreaking story of Navy kicker Ryan Buccianeri whose infamous missed kick (as a plebe) cost Navy the game the previous year.
Few rivalries compare with the Army-Navy game. In fact, "game" doesn't really do the event justice. Feinstein does.
11 AN OUTSTANDING FOOTBALL BOOK
John Feinstein's chronicle of the 1995 college football season for the teams of the US Army and Navy Academies offers an arresting and unmissable insight into America's most unique and historic inter-school rivalry. The insular military subculture of the academies at West Point and Annapolis amplifies grid-iron's oblique detachment from the mainstream social model, with the result that the annual Army-Navy game becomes an almost religious experience in its intensity and significance. Unlike other heated college rivalries, which are based on mutual enmity, Army-Navy stems instead from mutual understanding: the players involved are brothers-in-arms in their dedication both to the nation's defence and to the "duty, honor and victory" of representing their school on the football field. For both teams as well, but especially for the Senior students whose last game ever is the Army-Navy clash, the passage of the season marks one more step towards the end of their football careers and the start of their military ones. This sense of inevitability and tragic predestination dominates Feinstein's nerve-jangling account of the final game. If the players and coaches of both teams lapse one time too many into clichˇd rhetoric, then it is only because each and every game represents so much for them emotionally. At the same time, the fast-paced and vivid style with which Feinstein recalls the season captures perfectly the importance of the rivalry and football in general to the young men who play the game. Overall, A Civil War is an outstanding book from a first-rate sports writer that provides a valuable and inspiring perspective upon the athletic phenomenon of self-expression through competition.
12 One of Feinstein's Best
I have read all of John Feinstein's books on sports and this is one of his best, perhaps only second to "Season On The Brink." Personally, I had no interest in the Army-Navy battle before I read this book. But Feinstein takes you inside both schools to show why this game means so much to these students. These are not necessarily the blue chip athletes we hear about all the time, they are young men playing for pride and leaving it all on the line when they step on the football field. I'm hooked to this rivalry now, as much as Alabama-Auburn and Ohio State-Michigan. If you're a fan of any sport, especially college football, you will love this book and won't be able to put it down.
13 More than just a sports story
John Feinstein is, with the possible exception of George Plimpton, the most pompous sportwriter in America. Having said that, he has written the best sports book of the late 1990s. "A Civil War," is about much more than just the Army-Navy game. It is about life in the service academies and how a special group of recruits truly do play just for the love of the game. Feinstein lucked out a chose a (very) rare season in which both Army and Navy made it to bowl games. The Army-Navy game itself that year was also a heartbreaker. There are so many good individual stories among the players that you will swear he made some of them up. This is sportswriting at its absolute best.
14 A must for any football fan.
I had no idea what the Cadets and Midshipmen endured to play football and attend these fine military colleges. The book captures the spirit of these fine young men. The stories on the individual players were excellent. I was pulling for both teams and the players throughout the book. I will be watching the Army-Navy game for years to come.
15 Should have been a best-seller!
I have never read a book so detailed of college athletics. I am not an avid reader, but I just couldn't seem to put the book down. It started out as a school project but then i read it any time I got the chance. I'm in eighth grade and to me it was a large book, but I liked it so much I finished it in just over a week! If you're looking for a book about college football this is the one to read!
16 Duty... Honor... Country... Sport... IN THAT ORDER
If you are looking for a story of selfish, maladjusted, spoiled, law-bending athletes... this isn't it. No Lawrence Philips or Peter Warwicks here. No chest-thumping, trash-talking, pampered delinquents. No BCS hype, big-time budgets, or recruiting violations. Feinstein reveals dedicated young men -- many of whom are overachievers -- who accept sport in its broader context. While not perfect, we read the story of young men dedicated to an end that is greater than the sum of its parts. I will never watch Army, Navy (and, yes, Air Force) play again without honoring in my thoughts what these young men give day in and day out. Every high school and college athlete should read this book. Beyond football's "purest rivalry," Army-Navy is football (sport) like it ought to be.
17 EXCELLENT BOOK DESPITE MAJOR FLAW
Having served active duty in the Navy for five years and in the reserves for over four years, I was anxious to read John Feinstein's book. The book offers a terrific in-depth look behind the gates of the two service academies. It highlights and explains the extra duties football players go through while trying to maintain their academic and athletic challenges. Despite the overall excellent I gave the book, Feinstein committed a major blunder toward the end of the book while discussing the Air Force Academy. Feinstein references the movie, "Top Gun" and what a terrific tool the movie was for Air Force recruiting. However, "Top Gun" is based on Navy fighter pilots; not Air Force.
Overall, great book.
18 True sport
Fresh air in the current realm of criminal sports -- should be required reading for all high school jocks and coaches, as law.
19 Exceptional Read - Very Inspiring
As a former Division I-AA player who played against Army, I was always in awe of the effort the Cadets gave, leaving everything they had on the field. I could not put this book down. It explains the inner workings of the service academies, not just in a football context, and the incredible hardships players at these schools must endure just to get on the field. This book has inspired me to rethink many of my philosophies on hard work and perseverence, because compared to these guys, most of us have it easy.
20 If you want to understand the Army/Navy mystique, read this.
If you want to understand a big part of the midshipman/cadet experience, you need to understand the A/N football game and Feinstein does a great job explaining it. As he tells you about two teams of dedicated athletes who play for the love of the game and the pride of their school, with little hope of going on in the athletic world, he also goes into the traditions of two great schools and the bond that the men and women there have with each other and their schools. My daughter Lisa, a '94 midshipman, is mentioned in the book and would have been proud to read it. I don't usually like to read about football; I prefer to watch it. However, not only was this book an exception, it was also one of the best books about the Army/Navy experience that I've ever read.
21 an excellent book about a subject in which I have no interes
This will be very short. I am a 49 year-old, female, English teacher with NO interest in sports! I began this book because there was nothing else to read. After the first few pages I was completely taken in. I could not put it down. Yes, it was about football, but it was more a study in determination, in the hopes of youth, in the foolishness of old men and in heartbreak. Friends and relatives were constantly surprised that I was not only reading this book, but enjoying it so much! Couch potatoes, get a work-out without leaving your chair! Read this book!
22 A real gem, you will have a new respect for Army and Navy
This book takes you inside the heart and soul of two teams, their players, and the schools. A touching story of death, honor, and redemption. It will bring you to tears. This book is so much more than football. It clearly shows the honor and commitment these two schools display during the season and long after they leave the gridiron.
23 Best Football Book I Have Read
NFL Players- This one is for you. Read about how players who play the game because they love it, and not just for the money act. Marvel at their integrity. Realize that for these kids, this is the only shot that they would ever get at D-1 ball, and take a look at how they use this chance. This is a great book for anyone, not mattering if you are a football fan or not, if you care about Navy-Army or not. This shows the game in its purest form at the college level
24 Another excellent Feinstein book
I am a minimal fan of Army-Navy football. However, Feinstein really drew me in, like he always does, and towards the end, I couldn't stop reading his account of the Army-Navy game. Packed with all kinds of insight into life at a military academy. A great glimpse into a special tradition.
25 Refreshing for those discouraged about loss of honor in US.
There is hope for those of us who look at the National Mess in Washington, and want to despair! There are still great young people who will rise in the future to restore this country to greatness. They may not all come from West Point or Navy, but they are here among us! This book does a great job of telling it like it is, not how we would like it to be. Five star
26 Should be required reading for every athelete.
Maybe if the pampered pros were to read this book and find out what REAL players go through for the love of the game (and not the next endorsement deal,) there would be fewer stories about them driving drunk, snorting coke, or hitting their wives/girlfriends. Anyone who loves sports or the military should read this book. For those of us who love both, it's even better. Kudos to Mr. Feinstein and the boys at Army and Navy. Our country is in good hands.
27 Feinstein hit the nail on the head
As a Navy grad (80), I can tell you with certainty that Feinsteins story very accurately captures much of the essence of Academy life. While I did not play football, the student bodies live and die based on the football season, and the season lives and dies on that one game. Any plebe, from induction day on, can on any day tell you how many days there are 'till the next Army-Navy game. The amount of pressure on the players to win is awesome. Feinstein does an excellent job of capturing the intensity.
28 A treat-- a thriller--loved it-- and I hate football!!!
As a kid, I fell in love with Joe Bellino and the Naval Academy. As a boomer, I travel often to Annapolis to pick up, drop off, visit my mids-- class of '96 and '00. Although my sons play(ed)Navy baseball, I felt intimately familiar with the players on the '95 football team as my eldest was a classmate and friend of many of them. What a thrill to read about the trials, tribulations and sucesses of the kids who serve out of our academies. Feinstein eloquently describes the heartbreak and exuberance felt by the kids who play the game as well as those who never set foot on the field, but live and die for their school with every game. A fond memory for me, as described in the book, is Shaun Stephenson on graduation day, May 24, 1996, lofting his diploma skyward in honor and memory of his brother, Dion, a Persian Gulf casualty. This is a must read for anyone who has lost faith in the integrity of college football and for anyone wondering what has happened to "old fas! ! hioned" kids..... They are still out there. BEAT ARMY!!!
29 Feinstein has done it again!
This book does justice to one of America's best rivalries in sport. I grew up a short distance from West Point, but I had lost interest Army sports and the Army/Navy game...until reading this. It is amazing the way Feinstein makes you feel as if you are close friends and teammates with the players. He brings the players to life and THAT is what makes sports so engaging. I found myself rooting madly for both teams. This book makes you realize how wonderful college sports can be. It shows you the hard work and dedication that go into playing them, especially at the academies. I repeatedly found myself thinking, THIS is what college football is supposed to be. The love of the game, the love of teammates, the passion for competition. It is all here and it is all very well told. Even if you don't love sports you will be caught up in drama of Army/Navy. You can bet I will be watching the game this fall!
30 One of the best sports books ever
Typical Feinstein: Thorough, insightful, touching and engrossing. Even if you've never seen an Army-Navy game or know nothing about the rivalry, he'll draw you in with a touch that not only sports writers, but writers in general, should envy. Follow the season to its thrilling conclusion as America's most dedicated football players put it all on the line
31 Written by a man who cares about the story being told.
Thoroughly researched, and concisely written with care and accuracy. It's been years since I read a book I couldn't put down. This is one of those books. Even knowing the outcome of the games, I found myself in suspense as I read about those eleven games of 1995. Feinstein tells this story with the same emotion with which the games are played. I loved it.
32 I loved this book.
While I am not a big fan of Feinstein, primarily based on the way he has written about the ACC over the past several years, I was enthralled with his book about the Army and Navy football programs. I read it in one sitting. I don't think I have ever read an account of a football game quite as good as what Feinstein wrote in the book's chapter describing the 1995 Army-Navy game. While I had always been impressed with the quality of the young men and women who attend our nation's military academies, I came away from this book with even more admiration for the student-athletes who manage to juggle football and academics in an environment that is as a tough as any for people their age. While it is easy to be disappointed and frustrated with the antics of so much of the teenage and young adult population in today's society, it is heartening to know that there still are young people such as those depicted in the book who are not at all afraid of discipline and hard work. I can only hope that we as a nation will have the good sense to turn to them as leaders in the 21st century.
33 OK, it's a cliche, but this book: A MUST READ!
I am a retired army colonel (not an academy grad) and love college football...but, except for once a year when they play each other, don't follow the teams as I am a HUGE Notre Dame fan. This book is about so much more than football. It is about the young men at the academies who--after you read this book--will truly give you a sense of what college football should be. And you'll feel like the opponent Feinstein quotes who after defeating one of the academy teams says that he's glad the national security is in the hands of young men like these. In fact, I was so moved by this book that during last week's Notre Dame-Navy game, I wanted Navy to win. Read this book...and then give it to a teenager you love.
34 feinstein brings you inside and you belive in these people
john feinstein makes you feel like your in the locker room, like his other books he makes you feel like your in the middle of the action,feeling the emotions of the players ans coaches
35 A truly amazing saga of truly amazing men.
This is, by far, my favorite book of all time. I am 19 and have never played football before, but I enjoy watching the sport and love the Naval Academy. My family has not read the book and they do not need to--I have read almost every passage to them. The ones that made me laugh (the Fat Men?!), the ones that made me cry (Andrew Thompson 'taking' Joe Speed on the field by exchanging mouth pieces), and the parts that moved me (Ryan Buchiannieri--'nuf said.). It is a complete account of the hottest, best, and unmatched rivalry in college football during a roller coaster of a season. I am so thrilled that I have this opportunity to recommend this book and only wish I had read it sooner. Congratulations, Mr. Feinstein. This is an instant classic for one of the nation's finest schools. I thank you for writing it, and admire each individual whose story I was honored to share
36 An exhilarating adventure of what sports are supposed to be.
This book truly gets to the heart of what athletics are all about. John takes us on an exhilarating adventure through the great Army-Navy rivalry. This book defines the very essence of guts, determination, and the passion for excellence. Upon completion of this book, I felt as though I had lived the awesome adventure of this pure rivalry. I marveled at the awesome will displayed by each team in thier effort to prove to the country that they were worthy of playing college football at its highest level. These men did not ask for the easy way out, but rather asked for the next challenge. They did not ask to take on the small schools, but rather Notre Dame. As a former football player and current coach, these athletes gave me a new enthusiasm for striving to attain the highest level of excellence
37 The essence of what "playing for glory" is all about.
Want to know what big-time college football "should be" all
about? John Feinstein captures in a few hundred pages what
many cannot hope to learn in a lifetime - that playing for
the sheer thrill of winning is the purest form of athletic
achievement; where dedication and self-sacrifice are the
norm, not the exception; where glory is the ultimate prize;
and where sportsmanship and competition are much, much more
than hackneyed, overused cliches but are, instead, a way of
life. His depiction of Academy life is not only accurate,
but provides the only appropriate framework within which
to describe how an Army or Navy player's phyche is
developed. And unlike many other novels which take their
readers on an emotional rollercoaster of defeat and victory,
the story in this one is absolutely real. You'll carry the
ball for a four yard gain, punctuated by a helmet-rattling
tackle. You'll leap into the air in the end-zone, the ball
grazing your fingertips, but falling to the ground as an
incomplete pass. You'll feel the anguish of missing the
game-winning field goal, and the adrenalin rush of making
a game-saving tackle. It's a story worth every penny, and
fifty extra points of blood pressure to boot. And even
though I am a West Point graduate, I almost found myself
pulling for Navy to win....almost....
