When Pride Still Mattered

By Daniel Okrent

The 200 mind-numbing pages that open this 504-page biography of Vince Lombardi bring to mind a howitzer aimed at a sparrow: this is about a football coach, after all. If Clinton biographer Maraniss had begun by telling us briefly that Lombardi arose from an ethos built on the trinity of church, family and a few years as assistant coach at West Point, that would have been enough for us to appreciate what follows. Because once Lombardi reaches Green Bay and the Packers, the book soars like a game-winning field goal.

--By Daniel Okrent