The Redskins Encyclopedia by Michael Richman
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Book Reviews of The Redskins Encyclopedia
Book Review: Hail Victory!
Summary: 5 Stars
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
Given the wide variety in terms of quality that one finds in sports books and encyclopedias, it was hard for me to have very high expectations for THE REDSKINS ENCYCLOPEDIA. But if I had gone in hoping for something impressive, well-written and absorbing, then my hopes would have been entirely realized. This book is not a hastily constructed collection of cut-n-paste jobs; this is a throughly researched, incredibly detailed tome that should be informative and insightful no matter your level of Redskins fanaticism.
The first half of the book is devoted to a year by year history of the organization. For each year, all important on and off field events are discussed. Important games are described. And if the team made the post-season that year, a section is dedicated to each playoff game. While this portion of the book is factual in nature, there is also analysis and discussion of what went right and wrong. Case in point, the chapter dealing with the years 1981-1992 are labeled, "An Icon Among The NFL Elite", while the years 1993-2006 are titled, "Mediocrity, Redskins Style".
The rest of the book is given over to discussing individuals. Players who have been enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame receive a chapter of their own and a second chapter is given over to those players and coaches who weren't recognized by the League, but made a large local impact to the team and its lore.
Dropped in at almost random intervals are short essays discussing a variety of topics: the Redskins-Cowboys rivalry, the coaching style of Vince Lombardi, the nicknames of player cliques, to name a few. The only minor problem I had with this book was that these essays aren't in the table of contents so locating them again can be difficult.
When I first received this book, my immediate attention was on those teams and players that I watched while growing up in the 1980s. It was a great nostalgic and fun time I had reliving those glory days and seeing all the old names again: Darrell Green, Art Monk, Joe Theismann, Gary Clark. I next moved on to reading about the era between Joe Gibbs' two coaching stints, which was a much less fun experience. But even in the slow times of the post-1992 era there were always great moments to relieve (Mark Brunell to Sanatana Moss -- twice -- on Monday Night in Dallas, to mention one).
However, I had almost as much fun flipping back to the earlier sections of the book. I knew a little bit about Redskins history simply from the natural osmosis that occurs from being a sports fan and reading contemporary articles which contain off-hand mentions of glories from long ago. But the information I learned from this book is an absolute treasure. For example, I knew that Sammy Baugh was one of the early Redskin heroes, but I hadn't fully appreciated what an dominant player he was. As fun as it was to once again read the anecdote about John Riggins telling Sandra Day O'Connor to "loosen up, Sandy Baby", it was great to read about stuff that was completely new to me.
I've spent quite some time browsing through this volume, and I'm sure I'll spend even more time in the future. There's a lot of history in the Redskins organization and a corresponding wealth of information to unpack from this encyclopedia. I'm willing to bet that the next time the Redskins score a glorious win over the Dallas Cowboys, I'll be pulling this book from the shelf to mentally compare and contrast the present with the storied games from the past.
Book Review: Excellent; great for every football fan
Summary: 5 Stars
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
"The Redskins Encyclopedia" lives up to its name. It's an excellent, thought-provoking work that talks about the team, its star players, the differing football eras in which the team has played, its coaches, and much, much more. The amount of information included heightens the appreciation of the Washington Redskins football team, one of the most stories franchises in National Football League history. Michael Richards is to be commended for his excellent writing and editorial skills; this is one of the best football team books I've ever had the pleasure of opening, and I know I will value it for a long, long time to come.
I especially appreciated the entries about Sammy Baugh, who revolutionized the quarterback position and was a great two-way football player (played offense, defense, and special teams -- some of his punting records continue to stand, though most if not all of his quarterback records have been broken since his time and the evolution of the NFL offensive scheme), and on Dexter Manley -- one of the best defensive ends ever to play in the NFL, but who short-circuited his own career by becoming addicted to cocaine.
These two portraits alone demonstrate the worth of this book; Manley is a more contemporary player, and he had contemporary player types of problems. He is an outspoken individual and doesn't shirk from his own weaknesses, admitting, for example, that he was illiterate until age 30 (and this couldn't have helped him). And Baugh was a legend who re-created the quarterback position in his own image; without him, it would be far, far less likely that we'd have had the excellent history of fine quarterbacks over the years -- Bart Starr, Dan Marino, John Elway, Joe Montana, Steve Young and Brett Favre all would never have been able to become great, had it not been for the revolutionary Sammy Baugh. (Who, by the way, had more interceptions than touchdowns throughout his career and held both records at the time of his retirement. Something present-day player Brett Favre may want to consider as he's about to break the current record for interceptions, held now jointly by Favre and George Blanda.)
There's a lot of information in this book, but it doesn't feel overdone whatsoever.
It also is an excellently-crafted book that has eye appeal as well as many interesting statistical facts, vignettes about the great Washington Redskins teams, players and coaches over the years, and even a feature about the various stadiums.
Five stars. Highly recommended.
Barb Caffrey
Book Review: More than a team history, a Valentine to the NFL...
Summary: 5 Stars
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
There are a multitude of books available on each team in the National Football League, but you'll never find a more entertaining, comprehensive, and fair assessment of a franchise, or the league it popularized, than you'll find in Michael Richman's "The Redskins Encyclopedia".
From it's humble beginnings as a seat-filler in Boston, with less-than-thrilled owner George Preston Marshall losing money year after year, the team would slowly build momentum, while gathering the elements that would establish it's distinctive character. Renamed the Redskins (not as an ethnic slur, but to imply an affiliation with Boston's baseball Red Sox), Marshall and Boston would never warm up to each other, and, on the advice of his then wife, silent star Corinne Griffith, he would move his team to Washington, D.C., in 1937...and the legend would truly begin.
There is so much to savor in this large volume...Marshall's innovations (lavish halftime shows, the first 'team band' and official song, beautiful team cheerleaders), his failings (being branded a racist for being the last owner to integrate his team...in fact, a decision made not out of antipathy toward blacks, but fear of losing southern revenue), and his legacy (the legendary Cowboys-Redskins rivalry began because he fought against allowing a franchise in Dallas, fearful of losing his southern fanbase...when, in 1961, Dallas finally joined the NFL, they remembered who worked the hardest to prevent their birth...and the bitterness against Marshall's team has only increased, over time, making the teams' annual confrontations major events).
Of course, the Redskin saga involves more than Marshall, and the volume lovingly reminisces about the players, from Cliff Battles and Sammy Baugh, to Eddie LeBaron, to the Sonny/Billy QB controversy, Huff, Theismann, Riggins, Taylor, Mitchell, Doug Williams, the Hogs, the 'Over-the-Hill' Gang, Portis, so many more; the coaches, from the earliest days through Otto Graham, Vince Lombardi, George Allen, and Joe Gibbs; and the unforgettable games that decided seasons and won and lost Super Bowls. And as befits an encyclopedia, there is a wealth of information on every aspect of the team...making this an invaluable reference tool.
Whether you're a Redskins fan or not, "The Redskin Encyclopedia" will provide hours of entertainment about a sport that has become the most popular in America, and a team whose emergence parallels the growth of the NFL.
It is a 'must' for every sports fan's bookshelf!
Book Review: Must Have Resource for Washington Redskins Fans
Summary: 5 Stars
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
The Redskins Encyclopedia is definitely a must have for Redskins fans. I am not even a Redskins fan and I found it thoroughly engaging and interesting, which is quite a feat for a text heavy encyclopedic history of a professional football team I don't even root for.
The bulk of the book is dedicated to a chronological history of the Washington Redskins' franchise from its origin in 1932 as the Boston Braves through 2006.
The book provides a review of each and every season in Redskins history, and what a history it has been. You have the 1940's with Slinging Sammy Baugh and a few World Championships. You get to relive the topsy-turvy 1970's under coach George Allen when the team lost Super Bowl VII to the undefeated Miami Dolphins. You can recapture the glory years under Joe Gibbs and the heyday of the team in the 1980's, winning three Super Bowls. And then you can lament, if you are a Redskins fan, the post-Gibbs era and the recent return of Gibbs to save a franchise mired in mediocrity that persists today (and will like to continue to do so under the meddlesome owner Dan Snyder).
During the journey you will meet the great players and characters throughout Redskins history and get an excellent feel for the deep history and historical ebbs and flows of this long tenured franchise.
One of the nice touches of this work is that it breaks Redskins history into eras. Before each era the book provides introductory insights into the franchise and where it was at and where it was headed before delving into season by season reviews. This provides context and continuity.
It also uses text boxes to provide greater detail about seminal Redskins owners, executives, and players. The text boxes provide some excellent information while nicely breaking up the text, making it more reader friendly.
One section of the book consists of mini-biographies of all the great Washington Redskins players, coaches, owners, and executives in the history of the franchise. I thought I would skim through this section quickly but it captured my attention so much I read through the entire section.
The last part of the book provides what most encyclopedias are supposed to provide, all-time team results, records, and other various statistics about the team.
Overall I found this to be a very through and engaging treatment of the history of the Washington Redskins.
Book Review: Great coverage
Summary: 5 Stars
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
This book is a keeper -- a coffee table book that will not just "Sit There", this is a great reference and a historical document as well.
The Redskins' Encyclopediea is divided into sections that give a foretaste of the Redskins' history and legends in rather descriptive terms "Born... Surviving.... Transforming... Ominous.... Sonny Days... Winning Flair... Redskins-Cowboy Rivalry... Elite... Mediocrity...").
It also singles out specific players throughout the Redskins' history in 2 special chapters "Washington Monuments" and "Best of the Rest", AND has a great Appendix of Records, Rosters, Coaches, Draft Picks and other very relevant stats... this book is a Redskins' history "play-by-play: a great reference, and also just FUN TO READ -- just open it to any chapter, and read on.
The dust-jacket is an attention getter. Too bad all the book's photos are black and white -- it could have used some half or full-page on-the-field action shots in color. And because of the exceptional wealth of information -- this book really needs an Index.
Some photos stand out more than others -- specifically: Redskins Spring Training -- 1940 style- on the Washington Monument grounds. Then contrast this with the aerial shot of the "State of the Art-Practice Facility: Redskin Park"
The "Washington Monuments" Section -- an alphabetical compendium of Redskin greats -- covered players as well as coaches, including the chapter on Sammy Baugh -- a great player, a true gentleman, a fan-pleaser -- and who woulda known that in addition to his stellar performance on the field, he also starred off the field as the "King of the Texas Rangers". (I also enjoyed the wry humor of that the photo of his uniform sitting by the fireplace.)
Of special note was "The Snap Seen Round the World" -- Joe Theisman's career-ending injury, and his first-person account of his painful rehabilitation period. I personally hope he makes it into the Hall of Fame.
The Redskins Encyclopedia would make a great gift for any Redskins (and other!) football fan.