I recently acquired a copy of “Godzilla: Awakening by Max Borenstein and Eric Battle” which acts as a prequel to the upcoming movie for my eBay store,
But read it very quickly. I wasn’t disappointed 🙂

Max Borenstein (also the screenwriter of the film) weaves a tale that begins after the bombing and tracks the creation of a research group into MUTOs (Mutated Unidentified Terrestrial Organisms) that have been popping up since the Atomic bombings in Japan. Historical characters and events serve as a back drop for the upcoming movie and gives some history to one of
The main characters.
The main antagonist is oddly enough born out of the Hiroshima bombing and reminds me somewhat of
The “Destroyah” monster from the original G-Series (yes, you guessed it, I’m a fan). I’m kind of hoping this isn’t the same monster in the upcoming movie, but we will soon find out.

I liked the “alternate history” arch and was laughing at certain scenes such as the MacArthur forming one of
The MUTO research groups to the use of a nuclear sub chasing down another MUTO (hint, hint). The story also captures honest looks from a Japanese perspective such as the narrator accosting young men on a fishing vessel about “what the Americans took from us”. Eric battles’ artwork is beautiful and terrifying all at once and the overall product has me excited to see the rebirth of this legendary monster. 🙂

5 out of 5 stars

Many football coaches have left there mark in recent years: Bill Walsh and the west coast offense, Dick LeBeau and the 3-4 defense, Chip Kelly and his warp speed spread offense, Urban Meyer and the spread offense. But all of these coaches – including Bill Walsh who wrote the forward of this book – trace their football lineage to a single coach: Paul Brown. In fact, Bill Walsh based his west coast offense on many of the tenants of Paul Browns’ offense. This book traces his early years as a high school football coach who inspired half-starved players during the depression, to his years as the Ohio State University’s head coach and first national championship in 1942, to his meteoric rise as Cleveland’s head coach. Most tragic was how he eventually became a victim of his own success and his old ways of sacrifice, withholding gratification and selflessness eventually came into conflict with what has become too common in modern football.
From his creation of a face mask for football helmets, to using the fullback in the running game to his passing offense to even including marching bands in high school football, this book explores how Paul Brown’s touch on football is still felt to this day. After reading this book, I thought how Paul Brown should be considered the ORIGINAL Mr. Ohio Football.
Four out of five stars.

“The Real All-Americans” is a gem for history and sports buffs in that it combines both almost effortlessly, and is written in such a way that you don’t need to understand football terminology (i.e.-what is a “wish-bone” formation?) or be familiar with the often dark period of time in american history known as the “Indian Wars”.

The book tells the story of the founding of the Carlisle school and an imaginative- if not unscrupulous- football coach, “Pop” Warner.  While the book advertises that that the story ultimately is about the 1903 game between Carlisle and West Point Academy, the book is more about the football players of Carlisle and how their inventiveness and fortitude would ultimately change early american football from a “run first” mentality, to the game of forward passing that it is known as today.  While many of their early “trick plays” would be deemed illegal today (i.e.-one play called “the hunchback”), the tenacity and fortitude of men such as David Exendine and the future olympian Jim Thorpe, would forever change the game of football. 

What is interesting about this book is how it speaks about  issues that still haunt football today, namely that of violence in the game.  Early American college football was so violent that in one season, seven people lost their lives.  The book also examines the issue of players being given “preferential treatment” over other students and other issues in College Football that still have yet to be resolved today.

Sally Jenkins does an amazing job of putting together an extensive background on not only the descendants of the men and women of Carlisle, but also paints a picture of Carlisle’s founder, Richard Henry Pratt, as a complicated and oft-misunderstood charachter and an individual who often was full of contraditctions. 

In short, “the Real All-American’s” is a book that speaks volumes about the birth and nature of American Football as well as the men who helped to create the game that many know and love today.  I HIGHLY recommend this book to any and all who are interested in American history, football or Native American Biographies. 

5 out of 5 stars.