The Redskins Encyclopedia by Michael Richman
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Book Reviews of The Redskins Encyclopedia
Book Review: The Bible
Summary: 4 Stars
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
I personally am not a huge football guy, but I can only imagine if I were this book would tell me everything I wanted to know about the Washington Redskins. This book has it all including detailed year by year looks at the history of the team dating all the way from 1932 up to today. You'll see detailed statistics & individual profiles about players, coaches & fans through out the years such as George Allen, Larry Brown, Joe Gibbs, Gus Frerotte, Norv Turner, John Riggins & Doug Williams (The 1st starting black quarterback to win a Super Bowl) only to name a few. You'll also learn about their 4 Super Bowl games, & their rivalry with the famed Dallas Cowboys. You'll see all of their records, rosters, results, draft picks. You'll get year by year results, & learn all abuot the Ring Of Fame, Monday Night Lights, & their Pro Bowl players. This book really has it all including team records like "Most Consecutive Games Won" (14 1942-1943, 11 1991, 11 1983), & "Most Consecutive Games Lost" (17 1960-1961, 8 1935, 8 1950).
There's really is just an absolute wealth of information here for any fan looking to up their knowledge about the famous Washington Redskins. The only reason I gave this a 4 rather than a 5 star rating is due to all of the many pics featured throughout the book being in black & white. It would have been nice to see some brilliantly vibrant color in the many pictures featured in the book to help bring the pictures & book itself to life, but that's just a minor personal complaint. I would strongly suggest this book to any Football fan out there. I'm not the worlds biggest fan & I still really enjoyed it. Also a great gift for the Holidays for any Football fan out there.
HAIL TO THE REDSKINS baby!!!
Book Review: For the Washington football fanatic
Summary: 4 Stars
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
This tome weighs in at around 400 pages or so and is absolutely a must for the devotee of the Washington NFL franchise.
The book features a detailed history of the franchise, dating from it's very early seasons in Boston before the relocation. There are player bios of stars and other notables. There is plenty of information and a host of stories relayed from first and second hand accounts.
The stat junkie will also find plenty to salivate over, as there are in depth records for statistical leaders, game by game scores (going all the way back), listings of franchise record holders, pro-bowl appearances, and on and on, even a listing of every player to ever put on the uniform.
There are also plenty of pictures to go along, all black and white. You also get some historical and at times political context on what was going on around the team, including discussion of the franchise's past anti-black racism, and being the last team to integrate. But there is no clear discussion of the team's controversial nickname, which this book is named after, "the Redskins." However, it was never likely that a book like this would tackle that topic. This book is for the dedicated fan, and it should very well give the long time fan what they are looking for, with plenty of nostalgia. The new fan, looking to get some background and grow their knowledge may also be excited, because this book leaves them with plenty to ingest. You'll never be left out on franchise trivia again!
Really, it's a great gift for the fans. I think any longstanding franchise deserves a book like this, even if some aspects are a bit obscure to be of general interest, that is also the beauty of the project.
Book Review: This is simultaneously MORE and LESS.
Summary: 4 Stars
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
This book has all the Historical Redskins records that any fan could ever want, much like a sports team's media guide would. Pages and pages and pages of statistics to prepare for any odd occurrence in a game; but they are all Redskins' (and opponents)-only records. If you want to know if any Redskin ever scored five TDs in a game, it's here -- but when you want to ask the same question league-wide, it's not here. So in that sense, it is less info than you might want.
But, at the same time, it is MORE Redskins -- which really tunes it in for Redskins' fans. It really has a lot of esoteric stuff that nobody might thing to compile, until someone comes up with the bizarre question. All the records and stuff makes up about one-third of the book.
As for the text (the non-statistics & records part of the book), it is two parts. First is the team history -- a year by year tale of the team. I'm not sure if it's good or bad, but this all reads like a newspaper. Each season is boiled down to one newspaper-length article; plus maybe a sidebar or two on any special people or topics. Then, each playoff game gets it's own newspaper-type article.
And then there is the other part -- the list of the Redskin greats. Listed alphabetically (I think by time period might have been better), each player who made this cut gets about a half page of their history told.
All in all, "Encyclopedia" is the proper title for this -- it is NOT something a person just reads. It's great for reference material, or even an article or two at a time, but not more than that.
Book Review: Hail to the Redskins ...
Summary: 4 Stars
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
The Redskins Encyclopedia looks to be the ultimate reference for Our Nation's Capitol's most turbulent team. The big book weighs in at 450 pages and covers the last 75 years of Redskin history.
Some of the high points of this book are the collection of old photos that might be otherwise hard-to-impossible to be seen elsewhere. There are some great sports photographs that will take you back to games that you've seen and others that you haven't.
And of course, no Redskins tome would be complete without a bio on Jack Kent Cook, the legendary financier and owner of the team for much during its much fabled history.
As a footnote, even with the prolific range of the internet, wikipedia and google searches, this book still has relevance because it isolates the information any historian might need without having to comb through unreliable sources, unknown data and various pay-for-info services. The Redskins Encyclopedia is a great book for Redskins fans and all football fanatics alike.
Book Review: What Weighs Over Three Pounds and Is Clearly a Labor of Love?
Summary: 4 Stars
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
When I ordered this book I thought-- hah! coffee table book. Lots of professional photographs of football players in action with a thin string of text to bring it all together. Boy, was I wrong. Weighing in at about the weight of an organic chemistry text book, this book does need a good solid support to hold it up, but it's crammed with all kinds of fascinating information relating to the Redskins. It is certainly encyclopedic in its scope.
My interest in the 'Skins dates back to 1980's visits to DC to see a friend who was a devoted fan. What I thought was fanatical devotion pales before that of Michael Richman, the author. Richman was not just a fan, but also worked for the AP as a journalist frequently assigned to cover the Redskins and later contributed to the Redskins magazine.
This book covers the first 75 years of the franchise with over 200 photographs and a numerous player and coach biographies. It would make a fabulous holiday gift for any Redskins fan.