The Redskins Encyclopedia by Michael Richman
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Book Reviews of The Redskins Encyclopedia
Book Review: Redskin book
Summary: 5 Stars
Very pleased with the book. Plan to give several for presents at Christmas.
Service was excellent.
Norma Brandenburg
Book Review: Redskins Encyclopedia
Summary: 5 Stars
I scored high with this one as my boyfriends and his dad's Christmas gifts. Great for any Redskin Fan!Book Review: Perfect book for Skins fans
Summary: 4 Stars
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
Nowadays, there are a lot of coffee-table books about the NFL. These books are short of info but contain pages and pages of great photos. "The Redskins Encyclopedia" is the opposite: It's packed with information and only contains black-and-white photos that amplify or illustrate the text.
"The Redskins Encyclopedia" is just over 400 pages, but the page-length count is deceiving. First, it's an over-sized book, larger than your normal hardcover. Second, it runs in a double column format like a normal encyclopedia. So if this were printed at a normal size, it would probably run around 800 pages.
The tone of the book is just right. It provides enough information that you feel you're really getting the low-down on any particular Skins-related topic without feeling you're drowning in an undifferentiated cascade of stat facts. Seasoned Skins fans will not be bored reading the same stuff they already know and Washington newbies won't be lost. This is really a hard thing to pull off, but Richman does it with ease.
Speaking of Richman, he's a reporter by trade so the book's better-written than you might expect. There are a lot of sports books written by non-writers (e.g., diehard fans, sportscasters, people connected to a franchise) that aren't particularly reader-friendly in terms of research and style. Richman makes his living as a writer, and it shows. He has a classic journalist's style: to-the-point, non-showy and easy-to-digest.
The entries are written and arranged in the form of an encyclopedia. To break things up, there are sidebar boxes containing trivia and the odd anecdote, the sort of stuff that's interesting but that doesn't justify an entire entry of its own.
I really liked this book. It reminded me of the sports books I used to pore over when I was a kid, the kind filled with info and history and trivia. Oftentimes written by a fan or a local reporter for a small press, the text in these tomes was more important than the photos. It's the same with "The Redskins Encyclopedia." (Although none of the book's copy is stylistically over the head of the average middle-schooler or high-schooler, I wonder if kids today turn to books like these or if they would find the format dull compared to DVDs, CD-ROMs or Web presentations.)
I have one small complaint. Players that are still active have their stats and records listed with an end date, the year of publication. For instance, Clinton Portis is listed as having had a five-year NFL career with three seasons as a Skins RB -- which is true, up to this year. But Portis has (we hope) many more years ahead of him as an NFLer and as a Redskin. It isn't made clear that Portis is currently in the middle of his career. This is not a problem if you're reading now, but in a few years when you pick up this book the stats on current players and coaches will technically be incorrect or incomplete; I wish they would've put something in the book to warn you about this problem, e.g., putting a question mark in the place of a year (2001-?) to indicate a career was ongoing at the time of the book's publication. This is a small complaint, though, compared to what you get with this book.
If you want a one-stop solution that fills in the gaps of your Redskins knowledge, this book is ideal. Its history of the franchise is exhaustive and the back of the book contains all the stats you'll ever want. Again, keep in mind that this is not one of those Sports Illustrated-style coffee table books (which I like, too, by the way). It's not overly designed and it's not loaded up with color pictures. It's a serious book for the serious fan. If that describes you or someone you know, this book is more than worth the price.
Book Review: A Reference Book for Redskins Fans
Summary: 4 Stars
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
This encyclopedia of 418 pages with a forward by Dexter Manley must be treasured by a Redskins fan. Redskins have a rich history that spans eight decades. This team from the nation's capital has millions of loyal fans across the country and abroad. The fan-list includes many presidents. This is one of the NFL's original teams, and this book recreates many historical moments, and statistics that are of high value of a true fan. The 1936 game against New York Giants in which Redskins won is truly historic and significant. The Redskins 1937 team photo and coach Otto Graham (1966-1968) praying during a game are rear treasures. Redskins were once coached by the celebrated coach Vince Lombardi whose motto was to win, win and win. His militaristic approach to coaching was essentially playing with the psyche of his players to motivate them, and put 100 percent of everything they got. Once receiver, Bobby Mitchell said, "if I get a club, I'll kill the old man."
Although Super bowl VII and XVIII are not redskins fans favorite but the pictures and statistics are well worth looking at. The Super bowl XXII and XXVI are more interesting and the author could have considered printing more pictures and expanded commentary about these two games. The moment when Coach Joe Gibbs retired in 1993 is very well recalled. Team manger Charley Casserly recalls that he would have recommended Bill Parcells if Gibbs had resigned after Skins loss to San Francesco that season: History could have been truly different.
There is a chapter about one hundred Redskins players who deserve special recognition. It is interesting to read statistical figures and facts about these players. The book also has an appendix which serves as useful reference material for statistics. This chapter lists All Time records, roaster, coaches, draft picks, Pro-ball players, and year by year results. Several books are available on Redskins and with a wide range of materials and statistics available on the web, this book has reliable data and some photos that must be treasured. The author could have printed color pictures where possible instead of black and white photos: Highly recommended.
Note: This copy was made available under the Amazon Vine program.
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4. Stadium Stories: Washington Redskins (Stadium Stories Series)
5. Hail to RFK! 36 Seasons of Redskins Memories
6. The New Updated Edition Redskins: A History of Washington's Team
Book Review: A Book Every Redskins Fan Should Own
Summary: 4 Stars
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
Washington area journalist Michael Richman has written a rare book about a pro sports franchise, one that's worthy of a purchase by every Redskins fan. Ordinarily, books about a pro sports franchise don't excite me, but this one did.
Richman devides the book into ten different chapters, eight illustrating the different "eras" the Redskins franchise has gone through since its inception in Boston in 1932, one on the rivalry between the Redskins and Dallas Cowboys, and the final chapter which features biographies of the "top 100" Redskins, as defined by the author.
Each of the chapters on the different decades of Redskins history is broken up into sections dedicated to each season and the notable games within that season. This is pretty standard fare for an encyclopedia, but it is written in a very engaging style and includes many quotes from newspaper and other stories from those years. Another great aspect of these chapters is the photography. There are several photos in this book I have never seen before anywhere else, and I've been a Redskins fan for 30 years. The only way these photographs could have been better is if those that were originally in color were presented in the book in full color. Unfortunately, the book is purely in black and white. However, there are enough photographs on almost every page to break up the text, so it doesn't really look like a monotonous encyclopedia.
The chapter I enjoyed best is on the rivalry between the Redskins and Dallas Cowboys. Michael Richman I think does a good job of explaining how the rivalry came to be, and intensified with Redskins coach George Allen and the Cowboys being in the same division in the NFL as the Redskins. Richman also does a good job using a quote from former Dallas QB Danny White to explain how much the teams liked to beat each other if for no other reason than to shut up the opposing team's fans.
Other than the lack of color photography, the one complaint I have with this book is that it does not include information on each and every Redskins player throughout the team's history, and the book does not really explain that at the outset. However, Richman can be excused for that somewhat because in order to include the over 1,400 players that have suited up for the Redskins the book would have had to have been significantly larger than its 418 pages. Any Redskins trivia or statistics buff will love this book as well because Richman does include a wealth of statistics and records in an appendix.
Overall, a great effort by Michael Richman and a book every Redskins fan should own.