Synopses & Reviews
For three perfect seasons (1954-1956), the Oklahoma Sooners won every football game they played - home or away - and over the course of five years they won 47 straight games. This awesome record was the product of a genius and masterful coach named Bud Wilkinson and the spirited young men he led.
The Undefeated will detail all the thrilling action on the field during this record winning streak, but it will also reveal all the behind-the-scenes tumult and pressure swirling around it. Dent presents an absorbing character study of the brilliant, complex coach who engineered it all - Bud Wilkinson, the on-field genius whoses starched-shirt public persona hid a man of many secrets and an in-depth look at a state and its people still suffering from a Depression hangover and an identity crisis, who took up the Sooners football banner almost as a religious cause. Through it all, the young men who accomplished this amazing feat shine in vivid life.
Jim Dent is the author of the bestselling The Junction Boys. He is an award-winning journalist who covered the Dallas Cowboys for eleven years and worked in the sports media for more than two decades. He is a graduate of Southern Methodist University and lives in Oklahoma.
For three perfect seasons (1954-1956), the Oklahoma Sooners won every football game they playedhome or awayand over the course of five years they won 47 straight games. This awesome record was the product of a genius and masterful coach named Bud Wilkinson and the spirited young men he led.
The Undefeated details all the thrilling action on the field during this record winning streak, but it also reveals the behind-the-scenes tumult and pressure that accompanied these many victories. Dent presents an absorbing character study of the brilliant, complex coach who engineered it allthe on-field genius whose starched-shirt public persona hid a man of many secrets. The book also provides an in-depth look at a state and its citizens still suffering from a Depression hangover and an identity crisis, a people who took up the Sooners football banner almost as a religious cause. Through it all, the young men who accomplished this amazing feat shine in Dent's able and vivid account.
"Dent is an oral historian of the first rank, capturing the voices and writing great pictures."
USA Today
"[Dent] delivers compelling portraits of the tough and wild farmboy players who kept the wins coming. Wilkinson was certainly a winner. So is this book."Sports Illustrated
"Dent has captured a bygone era with great skill in a book that gets very close to the American bone."American Way magazine
"[Dent] has written another fine book, if not a great one."Wall Street Journal
"Make some shelf space . . . [The Undefeated] ranks with George Lynn Cross' Presidents Can't Punt, Barry Switzer's Bootlegger's Boy, and J. Brent Clark's biography of Joe Don Looney as the best books about the Sooner football phenomenon."Berry Tramel, The Daily Oklahoman
"Like eavesdropping on the team bus, sports enthusiasts will enjoy reliving a time when college football was top national news."Kirkus Reviews
"Dent vividly invokes time, place, and personality in order to bring his story to life . . . A fascinating account of an extraordinary athletic achievement that is unlikely to be approached, let alone equaled."Booklist
"Dent, an award-winning journalist and author of the New York Times bestseller The Junction Boys, effectively captures the character of Wilkinson and describes how the team evoked the passion of a state that was still haunted by the Depression."Library Journal
"Dent's book goes far beyond college football. He has crafted a work that is a classic piece of Americana, for the book joins together such things as friendship, America in the 50s, the hopes and dreams of these men and the driving passion of one coach."Norman Transcript (Norman, OK)
Synopsis
For three perfect seasons (1954-1956), the Oklahoma Sooners won every football game they played - home or away - and over the course of five years they won 47 straight games. This awesome record was the product of a genius and masterful coach named Bud Wilkinson and the spirited young men he led.
The Undefeated will detail all the thrilling action on the field during this record winning streak, but it will also reveal all the behind-the-scenes tumult and pressure swirling around it. Dent presents an absorbing character study of the brilliant, complex coach who engineered it all - Bud Wilkinson, the on-field genius whoses starched-shirt public persona hid a man of many secrets and an in-depth look at a state and its people still suffering from a Depression hangover and an identity crisis, who took up the Sooners football banner almost as a religious cause. Through it all, the young men who accomplished this amazing feat shine in vivid life.
About the Author
Jim Dent is the author of the bestselling
The Junction Boys. He is an award-winning journalist who covered the Dallas Cowboys for eleven years and worked in the sports media for more than two decades. He is a graduate of Southern Methodist University and lives in Oklahoma.