In the Name of the Father: Family, Football, and the Manning Dynasty

by Mark Ribowsky Narrated by Barry Abrams

Overview

No family in the history of American sports has ascended to the storybook level of greatness and royal succession quite like the Mannings. Although the façade has occasionally cracked-murmurs of locker-room scandal, flashes of fraternal jealousy-this talented trio of quarterbacks is enshrined in American culture, epitomizing once-proud but dying nostrums of Southern Christian manhood. With remarkable nuance, "outstanding biographer" (Dallas Morning News) Mark Ribowsky traces their roots from red-clay Mississippi. From patriarch Archie's heyday at Ole Miss, with its complicated history, to the rise of his Super Bowl champion sons Peyton and Eli, a complex new cultural reality emerges. Drawing on dozens of new interviews, Ribowsky shows that the path to football immortality has not always been smooth, nor completely glorious. The result is a distinctly American saga of a flawed lineage that forever changed the game.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

05/14/2018
Ribowsky (The Last Cowboy) exuberantly explores the ongoing story of the Manning dynasty: former NFL quarterback Archie Manning and the sons who followed in his footsteps. Archie was born in 1949 Mississippi, played for Ole Miss, and spent his pro career with the New Orleans Saints. Cooper Manning, Archie and Olivia Manning’s first-born son, appeared NFL-bound until he was diagnosed with spinal stenosis at age 18. Sons Peyton and Eli, meanwhile, followed similar career paths as their father, and Ribowsky recounts practically every major game they’ve played since high school. Peyton attended the University of Tennessee and had an outstanding career with the Indianapolis Colts and Denver Broncos; he retired in 2015 at age 39 with an armful of NFL records (including most passing yards and most touchdown passes). Eli, meanwhile, attended his father’s alma mater and quarterbacked the New York Giants for 14 seasons, winning the Super Bowl twice. Ribowsky thoroughly covers the on- and off-field drama in this sprawling biography, in which he traces the Manning lineage in the U.S. back to 1745; he discusses personal setbacks along the way, including allegations against Peyton of sexual harassment and performance-enhancing drug use. Football fans will be drawn to this inside look at the Mannings, one of the most talented sports families in American history. (Aug.)

Kirkus Reviews

2018-04-11
An in-depth look at American football royalty.The Manning quarterbacking family has figured prominently in the nation's football landscape for nearly 50 years. In his latest book, veteran biographer Ribowsky (Hank: The Short Life and Long Country Road of Hank Williams, 2016, etc.) chronicles the careers of father Archie and sons Peyton and Eli. The author draws interesting comparisons between the obsessive, publicity-hungry Peyton and the quiet, phlegmatic Eli. Whereas the former has superior statistics and will be a first-ballot Hall of Famer, the latter has just as many Super Bowl wins (two) and a reputation as a better performer in the clutch. Ribowsky also illustrates how Archie, whose father committed suicide, made a point to be more invested in the lives of his children. Unfortunately, in telling this family history through the conduit of the American South and race, the author never misses an opportunity to take cheap shots at the protagonists. Thus he accuses Archie of "racism acceptance," adding that while there is no evidence that the Mannings of Drew, Mississippi (where Archie grew up), joined the Ku Klux Klan, "neither is there any reason to believe they opposed" it. Ribowsky also wields his acerbic pen against Manning contemporaries: Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan is a "choker," while the decision of University of Florida star Danny Wuerffel to decline a spot on Playboy's All-America team was nothing but "self-serving treacle." Moreover, the author's put-downs are compounded by numerous errors. Texas Western won the NCAA men's basketball championship in 1966, not 1965. Ryan Zimmerman plays for the Washington Nationals, not the Philadelphia Phillies. The assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. occurred before that of Robert F. Kennedy, not after. When President Barack Obama called Peyton following the latter's loss in the Super Bowl, Obama was in office for more than a year, not "weeks into his first term."The book has its moments, but not enough to overcome Ribowsky's flubs and irksome penchant for mockery.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940171446741
Publisher:	HighBridge Company
Publication date:	10/09/2018
Edition description:	Unabridged

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