Synopses & Reviews
andlt;Bandgt;With immersive reporting, respect, and honesty, Pomerantz tells the full story of the greatest dynasty in football history--the 1970s Pittsburgh Steelers.andlt;/Bandgt;andlt;pandgt;The Pittsburgh Steelers of the 1970s won an unprecedented and unmatched four Super Bowls in six years. A dozen of those Steelers players, coaches, and executives have been inducted into the Hall of Fame, and three decades later their names echo in popular memory: Mean Joe Greene, Terry Bradshaw, Franco Harris, Mike Webster, Jack Lambert, Lynn Swann, and John Stallworth. In ways exhilarating and heartbreaking, they define not only the brotherhood of sports but those elements of the game that engage tens of millions of Americans: its artistry and its brutality. In 1981, when the Steelers failed to make the playoffs for the first time in nine years, acclaimed author Gary M. Pomerantz, then a sportswriter for andlt;Iandgt;The Washington Postandlt;/Iandgt;, interviewed them in training camp. At that time, Pomerantz asked himself, "What will life be like for these guys when they're sixty?"
Review
andlt;iandgt;"Their Life's Workandlt;/iandgt; is a behind the scenes and revealing look at what I consider one of the three greatest NFL football teams since World War II. Having competed against the 1970s Pittsburgh Steelers, I didn't think it was possible to learn more about this team, but Gary Pomerantz has uncovered so many intriguing details on how this great ball club was masterfully put together, along with fascinating new insights into the great characters who played on these championship teams, I see them in a new light. This is one great football book."
Review
"What sets andlt;Iandgt;Their Life's Workandlt;/Iandgt; well above other books that tell us about teammates in their glory and their dotage, is that Gary Pomerantz not only brings such flair to the Steelers' glory days, but he also instructs us so vividly how, in football, teammates don't just grow old, they grow in pain and fear."
Review
"What has become of the best team ever? Pomerantz has the story, the lowdown and the afterglow. A wealth of prime Steeler stuff."
Review
andlt;iandgt;"Their Life's Workandlt;/iandgt; is that rare book that is brutally authentic, vigorously reported, smoothly written, and hauntingly sympathetic all at the same time. Sport , coach, team, city, sensibility all powerfully rendered."
Review
"I've been waiting for a book, written in an exhilarating and cogent and intelligent way, on the best football team of my adult life, and now it's here. I loved the Steelers way back when, and now that I know them in their middle age and beyond, I love their story. That's not just because Joe Greene and Terry Bradshaw and Jack Lambert are compelling figures. It's because Gary Pomerantz wrote it the way Roger Kahn wrote 'Boys of Summer.' This book will be 'Men of Fall' for my football generation.
Review
and#8220;This is a special book about a special moment in a special town. You cannot understand one of America's great cities today without understanding the special place the Steelers hold in Pittsburghand#8212;and, unless you have season tickets, you cannot fully understand Pittsburgh without andlt;iandgt;Their Life's Workandlt;/iandgt;.and#8221;
Review
"[Pomerantz] goes beyond straight-ahead sports writing to achieve intricate storytelling.... By describing the players' unique on-field and off-field relationships, Pomerantz reveals a brotherhood that transcends wins and losses." Publishers Weekly
Review
"andlt;iandgt;Their Lifeand#8217;s Workandlt;/iandgt; will be compared to Roger Kahnand#8217;s andlt;iandgt;The Boys of Summerandlt;/iandgt; (1972), a nostalgic look back at the 1950s Brooklyn Dodgers. As good as andlt;iandgt;Boysandlt;/iandgt; is, this is better. . . A wonderful book."
Review
and#8220;Gary Pomerantz's andlt;i andgt;Their Life's Work: The Brotherhood of the 1970s Pittsburgh Steelersandlt;/iandgt; is the vessel in which the current generation can travel back to those days and immerse itself in the history of this franchiseand#8230;. [A] dramatic, inspiring and wondrous tale of brotherhood, camaraderie and spiritand#8230;. It's the text book for Steelers 101. It's the Bible for Steelers Spirituality 201. It's the reading material necessary to pass a citizen's test for entry into Steeler Nation, and all residents should be issued it upon their arrival.and#8221;
Review
"What has become of the best team ever? Pomerantz has the story, the lowdown and the afterglow. A wealth of prime Steeler stuff." Roy Blount Jr., Author of About Three Bricks Shy of A Load
Review
"Pomerantz has written what may be the definitive book of the 1970s Steelers."
Review
"Pomerantz has just done a terrific job writing about the city, the Rooneys, everybody that mattered on that team. and#8230; It's just fascinating"
Review
"The author calls the Steelers of the late '70s the best team ever, and it's hard to argue. Four Super Bowls in six seasons, an 80-22-1 record, a dozen Hall of Famers, and a dozen more unforgettable characters. Pomerantz tracked them down the way Roger Kahn did in the baseball classic "The Boys of Summer" and lets them speak their peace. It's lively, moving and tragic."
Review
"andlt;iandgt;Their Life's Workandlt;/iandgt; is a thoroughly reported and clearly written account of the Steelers' sensational '70s, framed through the "brotherhood" of the players and their interplay with the owners."
Review
"[O]ne of the great sports books ever writtenand#8230;. [P]repare to be stunned by how fresh and compelling [Steelers history] looks with Mr. Pomerantz's near-maniacal research, searing interviews, and more of the highly polished writing for which he's become famous and esteemedand#8230;. By parts history, comedy, tragedy and sweeping 40-year epic, Pomerantz's is a loving work that somehow refrains from being romantic, never flinching from the brutal realities of both the game and too real brutalities of some of its greatest playersand#8230;. As with David Maraniss' "When Pride Still Mattered," a monumental work about Vince Lombardi, Mr. Pomerantz has taken a story way overtold and done it the way everyone wished they had.and#8221;
Review
andlt;divandgt;"Pomerantz has written what may be the definitive book of the 1970s Steelers."andlt;/divandgt;
Review
"There have been many books written about the 70's Steelers. But itand#8217;s hard to find one better than andlt;Iandgt;Their Lifeand#8217;s Work.andlt;/Iandgt;"
Review
and#8220;Pomerantz is a smooth story teller and the pages fly by like Lynn Swann in his prime.and#8221;
Review
and#8220;[An] excellent new book . . . A necessary read for anyone with an interest in the Steelers and professional football. There are many great pleasures to be had in the company of these men and#8211; in the tales of their youth and now in their later years. What may surprise you, as it did me, is just how moving the story of the 1970s Steelers remains.and#8221;
Review
and#8220;Here is a book as hard-hitting and powerful as the and#8216;Steel Curtainand#8217; dynasty that Pomerantz depicts so deftly. Itand#8217;s the NFLand#8217;s version of andlt;iandgt;The Boys of Summerandlt;/iandgt;, with equal parts triumph and melancholy. Pomerantzand#8217;s writing is strong, straightforward, funny, sentimental and blunt. Itand#8217;s as working class and gritty as the men he writes about.and#8221; (Top 10 Sports Books of 2013)
Synopsis
With immersive reporting, respect, and honesty, Pomerantz tells the full story of the greatest dynasty in football history--the 1970s Pittsburgh Steelers.
One team. Four Super Bowl championships. Twelve Hall of Famers. Two hundred interviews.
They were the best to ever play the game: the Pittsburgh Steelers of the 1970s. Three decades later their names echo in popular memory--Mean Joe, Bradshaw, Webster, Lambert, Ham, Blount, Franco, Swann, and Stallworth. They define not only the brother-hood and camaraderie of football, but what Americans love about their most popular sport: its artistry and its brutality. From the team's origins in a horseplayer's winnings to the young armored gods who immaculately beat the Raiders in 1972 to the grandfathers with hobbles in their gait, Their Life's Work tells the full, intimate story of the Steeler dynasty. But this book does much more than that: it tells football's story. What the game gives, what it takes, and why, to a man, every Steeler, full well knowing the costs, unhesitatingly states, "I'd do it again."
Synopsis
andlt;Bandgt;With immersive reporting, respect, and honesty, Pomerantz tells the full story of the greatest dynasty in football history--the 1970s Pittsburgh Steelers.andlt;/Bandgt;andlt;pandgt;The Pittsburgh Steelers of the 1970s won an unprecedented and unmatched four Super Bowls in six years. A dozen of those Steelers players, coaches, and executives have been inducted into the Hall of Fame, and three decades later their names echo in popular memory: Mean Joe Greene, Terry Bradshaw, Franco Harris, Mike Webster, Jack Lambert, Lynn Swann, and John Stallworth. In ways exhilarating and heartbreaking, they define not only the brotherhood of sports but those elements of the game that engage tens of millions of Americans: its artistry and its brutality. In 1981, when the Steelers failed to make the playoffs for the first time in nine years, acclaimed author Gary M. Pomerantz, then a sportswriter for andlt;Iandgt;The Washington Postandlt;/Iandgt;, interviewed them in training camp. At that time, Pomerantz asked himself, "What will life be like for these guys when they're sixty?"
Synopsis
andlt;B andgt;ONE TEAM. FOUR SUPER BOWL CHAMPIONSHIPS. TWELVE HALL OF FAMERS. TWO HUNDRED INTERVIEWS.andlt;/Bandgt;andlt;BRandgt; andlt;BRandgt;They were the best to ever play the game: the Pittsburgh Steelers of the 1970s. Three decades later their names echo in popular memoryand#8212;Mean Joe, Bradshaw, Webster, Lambert, Ham, Blount, Franco, Swann, and Stallworth. They define not only the brotherand#173;hood and camaraderie of football, but what Americans love about their most popular sport: its artistry and its brutality. From the teamand#8217;s origins in a horseplayerand#8217;s winnings to the young armored gods who immaculately beat the Raiders in 1972 to the grandfathers with hobbles in their gait, andlt;I andgt;Their Lifeand#8217;s Workandlt;/Iandgt; tells the full, intimate story of the Steeler dynasty. But this book does much more than that: it tells footballand#8217;s story. What the game gives, what it takes, and why, to a man, every Steeler, full well knowing the costs, unhesitatingly states, and#8220;Iand#8217;d do it again.and#8221;
About the Author
Gary M. Pomerantzandlt;Bandgt; andlt;/Bandgt;is a nonfiction author and journalist and has served the past seven years as a visiting lecturer in the Department of Communication at Stanford University. His work has appeared in andlt;iandgt;The Wall Street Journalandlt;/iandgt;, andlt;iandgt;The New York Timesandlt;/iandgt;, and andlt;iandgt;The Washington Postandlt;/iandgt;. Pomerantz has written four books, including andlt;i andgt;Their Lifeand#8217;s Workandlt;/iandgt; and the andlt;iandgt;New York Timesandlt;/iandgt; Notable Book of the Year, andlt;iandgt;Where Peachtree Meets Sweet Auburnandlt;/iandgt;.