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Searching... Hardwood Creek Library (Forest Lake) | 956.70443 EUB | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
All American is Steve Eubanks inspiring story of two football rivals who faced each other in the momentous 2001 Army-Navy Game who would both go on to serve in the United States military in the Iraq War.
In December, 2001, as fires still burned beneath the World Trade Center ruins, West Point cadet Chad Jenkins and Naval Academy midshipman Brian Stann faced off at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia in what would become the most-watched college football game of the decade: the matchup between the Army Black Knights and the Navy Midshipmen.
With his team down by thirteen points, Stann, a Navy linebacker, came into contact with Jenkins, the Army quarterback, for the first time, landing a perfect tackle. Though these two players would not meet again for another decade, Stann and Jenkins shared the same path: both went to war, led soldiers, and witnessed and participated in events they never imagined possible.
A moving and fascinating dual profile of honor, duty, courage, and competition, illustrated with photos, All American is a thoughtful exploration of American character and values, embodied in the lives of two remarkable young men.
Reviews (3)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Eubanks, sportswriter and author of To Win and Die in Dixie, takes a close look at the first Army-Navy football game after 9/11 and two men, Brian Stann, a former linebacker for the Naval Academy, and Chad Jenkins, a former quarterback at West Point , who went to on to serve their country in Iraq. As he explores how each man chose to attend a service academy, where the rigors of playing football at a school where practice can often feel like a respite from the studies, Eubanks creates an engaging narrative worthy of any sports movie. But it is in the book's second half when the story jumps from interesting to captivating. From their officer training to their tours of duty in some of the most dangerous and notorious places in the world, like Fallujah and Al Qa'im, Eubanks not only captures the nature of two men who love what they do, but also the pressures that their bodies, psyches, and families endure. Eubanks does his subjects justice by getting out of the way and letting the men take center stage; as each man finds out how painful it is to lose friends on the battlefield as compared to games on the playing field, the book becomes less a celebration of glories of battle and more a testament to fallen heroes. (Nov.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
Veteran journalist Eubanks (To Win and Die in Dixie: The Birth of the Modern Golf Swing and the Mysterious Death of Its Creator, 2010, etc.) follows the careers of two young men: one a cadet at West Point, the other a midshipman at the Naval Academy, from 9/11 to the present. This paean to patriotism and a fiercely focused definition of manhood and patriotism has all the subtlety of a Fourth of July parade or a halftime show on Veterans Day. The author gives us the backgrounds of his two principals (Chad at West Point, Brian at Annapolis), beginning with a moment in the 2001 Army-Navy game (played only months after 9/11), when linebacker Brian tackled quarterback Chad--their first meeting. Then Eubanks alternates the stories of the two, celebrating along the way the traditional virtues of manliness and patriotism that these two young men embody. To the author's credit, we do get glimpses of the men's warts. Brian survived a court martial for sexual assault against a female officer; Chad acted like a pig on spring break in Florida (though the author can't quite bring himself to characterize it as such). Both eventually end up in Iraq; the author does not question America's involvement but does celebrate the heroism of his principals, both of whom won--deservedly--battlefield honors. Eubanks also describes the love lives of each man, both of whom eventually left the military. Chad tried a few things before becoming an FBI agent, a position he eventually left for the private security sector; Brian became an accomplished cage fighter then segued into running his own fight-training enterprise. Along the way, the author revisits subsequent Army-Navy games and delivers some play-by-play--of action on the gridiron and on the streets of Fallujah. Long on heroism, short on analysis and critical acumen.]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
The venerable Army-Navy football game, originating in 1890 and played annually since 1930, carried a special poignancy when it was held in December 2001 and attended by President Bush, since many of its players already knew, just weeks after the 9/11 attacks, that they were destined for far more perilous battle somewhere overseas. Eubanks tracks a player on each team cadet quarterback Chad Jenkins and midshipman linebacker Brian Stann from childhood through high school, their West Point or Annapolis educations, basic training, and experience serving in the Iraq War. So doing, he reveals in compelling detail the all-consuming process by which the military turns civilians into combat-ready warriors. If the disconnect between the al-Qaeda agents who carried out the 9/11 attacks and the subsequent U.S. invasion of Iraq is left unaddressed, readers can only respect the extraordinary commitment and service Jenkins, Stann, and their military brethren gave their country. A fresh, authentic take on the Iraq War and those Americans who fought in it.--Moores, Alan Copyright 2010 Booklist
