| |  | Author: H. G. Bissinger
Publisher: Topeka Bindery
Category: Book
List Price: $26.20
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Avg. Customer Rating:  284 reviews
Sales Rank: 5534148
Media: Library Binding
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 371
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.3
Dimensions (in): 8 x 5.3 x 1.1
ISBN: 1417666072
Dewey Decimal Number: 796.3326209764862
EAN: 9781417666072
ASIN: 1417666072
Publication Date: August 2004
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| Customer Reviews:
 Book provides "Hoop-Dreams" insights for the gridiron set February 22, 2008
Bissinger, the author, came to Odessa to follow the Permian Panthers thru their entire 1988 season, attending practices as well as games, spending time with several of the key players and their families, reading the newspapers, interviewing the movers and shakers in the desolate, tapped-out landscape in the middle of Nowhere, Texas.
Most of us have heard that Texans regard their high school football with the reverence of a born-again religion--remember the story about the mother of a cheerleader who sought to have her daughter's rival on the cheerleading squad wasted? As a one-time resident and frequent soul mate, I can vouch for its high-school football mania, in East Texas as well as in West.
...
For my complete review of this book and for other book and movie
reviews, please visit my site [...]
Brian Wright
Copyright 2008
 Well-written, but flawed, look at Texas high school football February 19, 2008
First, let me say I've enjoyed "Friday Night Lights." Mr. Bissinger is a talented writer, and this is a very interesting take on football at a large Texas high school (although there's a lot of sociological analyses of the city and people of Odessa). I do recommend it.
This is a good read that shows the effects of overblown boosterism towards high school sports. I'm not sure the case of the Permian Panthers is entirely realistic because they are an extreme case used to illustrate Mr. Bissinger's overall point (this is not some backwoods small school prep team as in "Eagle Blue" or "Counting Coups," which I consider better books), but there's enough reality that you'll recognize the athletes, cheerleaders, coaches and boosters from your own high school days.
Mr. Bissinger is not shy about putting his personal politics on center stage at various points, so be prepared for your share of conservative bashing. This is not to say I disagree with all his points, but I don't need simplistic knee-jerk reactions from either Democrats or Republicans to complex social problems that require more than a one-sided approach, including books about prep sports. Just be aware of its presence.
I can understand why so many people in Odessa had such a virulent reaction to "Friday Night Lights," but there's truth to what Bissinger wrote about turning teenagers into throwaway heroes. It makes no sense to blame the mirror for what is reflected.
Really showed what football did for the community January 29, 2008
I liked the book. The author has a great writing style. The author lived in Odessa for a year during the 1988 season, and spent his time with town folks and Permian Panther players and coaches. He really had a first-hand account of what was happening. It's amazing how seriously the Permian supporters and players valued their team and the game of football. It reached an almost religious level! The author delved into the topic and showed how other things that are more important than football, such as academics, took a backseat to the game they loved. The town put a lot of pressure on these high school kids to perform, as did the coaches and the players themselves. In a small town like Odessa, football was what brought the community together. The Permian Panthers were their pride and joy!
My only criticism is that at times, the author would focus too deeply on certain characters that really didn't have that much bearing or importance to the story...too deeply to the point of being too much irrelevant information.
American commentary and excellent read January 3, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
H.D. Bissinger's one-year sabbatical with the Permian Panthers turned out to be much more than a year studying a high school football team.
Having grown up in a town that, at best, turns out 100 fans for its high school football games, I was utterly astounded to learn that there are areas of the country where crowds upwards of 20,000 come out to support the home team. I thought stuff like that only happened in big-time football programs at major universities.
Having grown up in the 80s, I was also astounded to learn that there were sections of the country, even then (the book covers the 1988 season), that still accepted racism and still had segregated school systems (the school had only desegregated a few years before the book takes place). I've always thought of the Civil Rights era as a time long ago in history, because to me it took place 20 years before I was born. But apparently it was still taking place while I was growing up, in places like Odessa, Texas.
This book is eye-opening, to say the least. I'm not at all surprised that many Permian fans felt utterly betrayed by Bissinger's book. After all, they had let him into their lives and the book he produced did not paint them in a flattering light. He painted them as fanatical, depressive, impulsive, backward and racist. He made it seem like the community lauded its football stars, made them immune to the rules and laws of regular society and placed all their hopes and dreams on their shoulders, only to discard them and forget them (unless they won State!) by the next season. That's a lot to take for an 18-year-old kid. Odessa, as Bissinger describes it, is a sad, sad place--residents and landscape included, and in many ways a sad reflection on America.
My version of the book had a nice afterward at the end, which included Bissinger's reflections on the book 10 years later, as well as some extended updates about the players Bissinger focused on (for example, Boobie Miles and Brian Chavez). If you have a choice, definitely pick up this version.
If you're expecting a book that's going to illustrate a year in the life of a high school football program, this may not be the book for you. While this book does focus on the team, it's not really about football, per sei. It's more of a commentary on America. One scene that perfectly illustrates this is when the courtrooms of Texas are packed with angry, near-riotous parents and football fans, because potential Permian opponent Carter High School might be disqualified from the playoffs because a teammate may have failed algebra and been ineligible to play the last four games of the regular season. The late 80s was a time when, internationally, the U.S. was taking a whomping from, well, pretty much everyone else in the developed world when it came to test scores. Educationally, the perception in America was that we were all failing, and yet, people were packing courtrooms and writing newspapers and raising thousands upon thousands of dollars to save...a high school football team's chances in the playoffs. They weren't battling to improve education, they were battling to preserve a winning season. Somehow, the point reminds me of today, when Americans sit glued to their TV screens for news about the latest Britney Spears scandal, while across the world our troops continue to die in a seemingly never-ending war. In that way, no matter what happens to the glory of high school football, in Odessa or anywhere else, this book can always serve as an important lesson for readers, and hopefully make them reflect on their own lives and the priorities in them.
 Hold on till the end October 24, 2007
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Not being a football fan, it took me awhile to get into this book. But I grew to care about the characters, and the last chapter and epilogue were excellent. Too bad it took so long to get there.
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