25th Anniversary Edition - A Town - Friday Night Lights

Growing up in west Texas and playing football and always hearing about Permian becomes a way of life. It' like teams sit around on Friday afternoons and think about they will be immortalized if they could win. This book opens doors to dreams that everybody has and few achieve, winning championships. This book tells of a team that can not stand to lose, and that will do whatever it takes to with hold the dynasty of Permian football. Bissinger tells of how some of the players don't have anything in life but football, and how life can change in the blink of an eye. I know of many lives that have changed due to the contents of this book. Everyone shold read it!

What an incredible book. Bissinger does an terrific job in this account of the small town Odessa, located in Texas, and its obsession with high school football. You begin to see how distorted the town's cultural values are when you see what low priority is given to education, and how much money, time and energy is spent on football. Football players are revered when they do well, but then forgotten as soon as they are no longer playing. The book gives you insights into many other conflicts and tensions within the town that are brought out by the obsession with football - race, socioeconomic differences, values. It is just about the dynamics of the town itself, as it is about football.

The book that the teeny-bopper film Varsity Blues is based off of, this is a must read for any former high school football player that played in a traditionally strong football program. Bissinger vividly and realistically paints a picture of what it is like to be an immortalized 18-year football star. Although he is sometimes wordy in his accounts of menial details, like the West Texas oil industry, his segments on football are amazingly accurate and allow someone who has never experienced it firsthand to see the work, emotion, bond, and joy from the sport at the high school level. Many times I found myself taken back to the locker room, experiencing those magical nights that grown men dream about once more

For some, Football is a drug. While playing in a tiny school in the lowest division in the state, I saw my share of crazies who would write blistering letters, harass the coaches, and ridicule the team when there was a loss. Nothing in this novel is really surprising, though it is at a much higher scale than I ever saw.

It shows a prime example of a town that places the beautiful but all too temporary glory of the football field at a higher pedestal than preparing them to live in the real world. I mean, come on, a full time high School Football coach who gets paid more than most of the teachers? Also, he was dead on in the benefits of the players, treated like gods only to be discarded later on. It becomes apparent in the book who plays for the glory of the game, and who plays for the love.

Many of the characters are tragic, but I hardly think Football was the reason. Boozing and slacking off in class are not simply limited to Football, like the author tried to portray. The author moaned the hours needed for Football, stating how it left them with no good chance for an education. This completely contradicts the fact that one of the players was going to Harvard, and many others were going to college not for Football, but because they were actually bright and studious. The team was actually brighter than the school as a whole. So much for the meathead football player stereotype.

The politics were really obnoxious. Essentially it boiled down to the town is Republican and voted for George Bush, and they are therefore uneducated hicks. All the people Bissinger praised as intellectuals of the town seemed to be liberal democrats who sounded all too much like the obnoxious guest who was more interested in sounding smart than having anything really to say.

In the minorities issue, if the townspeople didn't want integration, it's because they were racist rednecks, if they did want integration, it's because they were manipulating the blacks to go to their school to play football. What does Bissinger want, to integrate them but only allow a proportionate number to play Football? I can see why the townspeople were so angry, the author never gave them a chance.

Overall, this really dd catch the intensity and stress that a high school athlete surrounded by fanatics had to deal with. Just take his editorial commentss with a grain of salt.

After having read this book about 10-15 times over the years, I am still continually drawn back to the story of one year in Odessa, Texas.
Whether you love sports or you hate them, this book will have something for you. While showing the common excesses often involved in sports, it also lets you feel elation and sorrow along with players you will get to know and like as well as the author did. I'm not sure what the Bissinger's intention was when he originally started this book but he writes with both stern disappointment in the emphasis given football in West Texas and genuine enjoyment of both the games of and the people involved with the 1988 Permian Panthers.
This book both adores and scolds Texas high school football in such equal measure as to tell more about the reader's opinions of sports than those of H.G. Bissinger. Like seeing a great old movies, it is worth coming back to again and again.

I'm sure I am not the first to say this, but Friday Night Lights succeeds on many levels for the same reason the documentary Hoop Dreams succeeds. Both are about athletes, but both ultimately examine much larger issues. Bissinger does what great writers do; he takes a particular place, and particular people, and paints a picture so vivid that, once the image becomes clear, we realize how universal the truths in it are. Yes, this is a book about football and what it means to towns in West Texas. Yes, it's a book about the impacts of economic booms and busts. It's also about race relations, adolescence, socioeconomics, the price of winning, education. It is about disillusionment, hope, the need for escapism, family dynamics, and the impacts of "stardom" on teenagers. What more could you want?

Friday Night Lights is a sad but true story about Texas High School football. I will speak from expierence of playing for 3 seasons. Granted not in Odessa, but in Richardson TX, where football is the only ticket in town on a Friday Night. The documentary written by, H.G. Bissinger is exteremely true. The pressure is second to none and the great sacrifice surpasses all. I can relate with every one of the players talked about throughout the book and their feelings towards the game and life itself. No one can understand the story unless they have lived and expierenced it. Friday Night Lights will forever be a classic and a heart-felt documentary

Personally I wish I had known more about the football positions and how football is played. Reading this book with limited knowledge on the sport of football made it difficult to fully comprehend at some points. I think this book would most likely be relevant to sports enthusiasts and people that enjoy a sad good read. I gave it three out of a total five stars because personally, the book was building up a success for the team, however in the end the team was in for a huge disapointment. A good ending to this novel would have made the story so much more inspirational, the team failing to win the championship really was a kick to the shins, however I thought this book really hit home with the theme that life isn't always fair and that sometimes one is going to lose to a challenge but they have to strive to get back up after falling down. Although I placed this book at three stars I would recommend it to all readers.

Pay absolutely no attention to the January 11th reviewer from Michigan. Bissinger's point in Friday Night Lights was never to just tell the story of a football team and ramble about unnecessary issues. FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS IS ABOUT OURSELVES!!!!!!!!!!! HELLO!!!! No we do not all play the game of football but we all do obsess over things as stupid as a football game. And also apprieciate Bissingers style. I know I could never write that well and communicate such imagery. Michigan take another look through the book and then see what you see. If you don't there are many out here who deeply enjoyed it and feel incredibly sorry for you!!!

I was a three year starting quarterback for a smaller west texas high school. This book brought back all of those glorious memories for me! For those of you who have not played, this is an ideal book. --I dropped the book off at one of my ex-teammates house one day after he had came in from working in the oilfield. I asked him to read it and give me his opinion. 2 weeks later he called me around 1:30 in the morning while I was at college. He was crying, softly he said that he could not finish reading it. --For those of us who have played, it will touch a nerve!! --5 years later I am still trying to get him to finish the book...

Exploring not only the world of Texas High School Football, but the sociological forces at work in a small Texas town, "Friday Night Lights" is eye-opening and engaging. This work really has the town and the school as its main character, and the author does a fantastic job of bringing the reader through the personality and inner conflicts of this character.
The football focus is not as heavy as one might think. It is enough to keep sports fans (like me) interested, but this book is so much more than that. As a high school coach myself, this story really hit home.
I recommend this to anyone. You will enjoy it!

In "Friday Night Lights" author H.G. Bissinger does a wonderful job of capturing the story of a Texas high school football team. He chronicles the team, its coaches, and fans, virtually giving the reader an insider's look at big time high school football. But this is not a football book. Insead, Bissinger gives us an honest summary of how a town, and its people, invest all of their emotions on the ups and downs of its football team, and placing undue stresses and strains on 17 and 18-year-olds. I'm sure the people of Odessa, Texas, were not happy with this book, but it is honest and very hard to put down. Highly recommended.

Friday Night Lights was the best book I've ever read. I liked it because it was based on a true story and it was about a sport. I also liked it because once I went to a championship game and only lost by 1 point too. I had also seen the movie, so when I saw the book that is why I chose it. Friday Night Lights is about a football team in which they have become friends. Every Friday they would have a game and thousands of people would show up. The Quarterback's dream was to play at Long Horns Stadium. They were 1 game away from playing there until they were hit with a loss.

A person that likes books that are emotional would like this book. A person that reads non- fiction would like this book because it is based on a true story.

I've read this book 6 times because I can't put it down when I start reading. I PROMISE you won't be disappointed!!! Like many others here, I too played highschool football in Texas and have known of the Permian Panthers even before highschool.
The book will take you through the '88 season both on and off the field. From the first booster club meeting to the last game of the season, you'll be there for it all. The author follows a few players closely and you get to hear their stories. Although they played on the same team, some of their experiences are so different. The way the games are described is incredible and realistic. Even the coach feels the pressure when he comes home to "for sale" signs in his front yard after a loss.
To me the most interesting and best chapter in the book was when the author talks about the Dallas Carter Cowboys. He sets up the showdown with Permian in amazing fashion. I'm from a suburb of Dallas and I know of that Carter team. They were filled with nothing but "superstars" who were some of the baddest players around. Current Wash. Redskins linebacker Jessie Armstead is a sophmore during this season. It was great because the Permian players are not big at all and you get to hear about a group of over-achievers going against superior athletes.
My boss played on this team in the book (offensive line) and has a small quote in the book. I was lucky enough to be able to borrow a few games he had recorded from the '88 season. It was amazing to get to see the actual players in the book play those games. The summaries in the book of those games are right on target. Those kids played their hearts out every play and the crowd was just unreal.
Like someone else in their review said, "Even if you hate football, you'll love this book." Do yourself a favor and read this book.

I went to the University of Texas, where the secular religion of football continues after high school. I've been to countless games, and I always thought the quarterback just threw the ball to whoever was open. I picked up this book because I was interested in West Texas. It accurately describes the West Texas culture as I know it: endless stretches of acrid land where one makes or breaks, sinks or swims. Having traveled extensively throughout the area, I can understand the lure of football attraction.
The book is phenomenally well written, and I, Miss I-never -will- go- to- pigskin-game-again, found myself reading it on the sidewalks in New York as I walked to work. Several strangers stopped me on the subway to tell me how much they enjoyed the book.

One of my favorite books of all-time. Sports, race, class, American culture at-large. Bissinger touches on an innumerable amount of relevant topics as we follow the Permian Panthers through an unforgettable season. This book burns as bright as those West Texas Friday night lights.

Good book, glad I bought it, etc. -- a rather enjoyable eleven hours of reading.

I want to note, however, that the author writes "weirdly" in a few spots, such as misspelling the Navy Hymn "Anchors Aweigh" as "Anchors Away," or misspelling "y'all" with "you-all," and, referring to ancient Roman spectators of gladiatoral combat, has them giving thumbs-up for "kill 'im!" instead of the thumbs-down.

Very minor issues, to be sure, but this kind of sloppiness snaps you out of the text a bit. Also, while I understand his intent, I do think that the constant "liberalism" could have been handled more elegantly, more deftly...as it is, the editorial on racism, sexism, homophobia, etc., gets old very quickly...a better way to get the same points across would have been to induce, through narrative, such conclusions in the reader, as opposed to the author simply intruding heavy-handedly to opine -- the ol' "show, don't tell" rule of vivid writing. Unlike some others, I do appreciate the effort to place things in a wider social context; I just think it could have been done much more interestingly, and not like a "commercial break" or op-ed column. As it is, it's almost like the author doesn't trust the intelligence or good-will of his readers and feels like he must spell things out for them in the boldest contrast.

Now I'm curious to see how the movie translates all of this!

How do we lose sight of our goals in life? Friday night lights is a story about a struggling town with an excellent football team. The people of this town are separated racially and sociallly yet their children are still able to come together on the football field. If students can do this why cant the parents do it? This shows the realities of life, even if you don't like the way someone looks doesn't mean that you won't like the way someone acts. This book makes you look at the way you choose your friends or business aquaintances. My suggestion would be to read this book, you won't regret this.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone who likes a great read. It is very enticing to hear about these young boys stories. The intended audience is clearly anyone interested in reading about sports, adversity, and the love of town. The book shows a lot about the power of football. It shows how much people really put their lives into their sport. How much of a grind the kids put in. And how something so important to people can just end in the blink of an eye.

Friday Night Lights is much more than a book about a high-school football team. It's an indictment of the U.S. public-school system, an unnecessarily snide look at the Reagan era's domestic effects, and an unbelievably frank discussion of racism in America. The black-white relations of Odessa, Texas, are by are the most compelling part of an engrossing book. Bissinger shows himself to be one of our most perceptive people-watchers, and he mercifully keeps himself entirely out of the story, a difficult feat considering how he immersed himself into the life of Permian High School and its football team for an entire school year. You don't have to care about football to enjoy this book immensely.

An accurate portrayal of high school football in West Texas. I actually played football at Midland High and my senior year we tied Permian in District. "Friday Night Lights" the movie (based on this book) is excellent as well and I highly recommend it. On many levels this book changed the landscape of not just HS sports, but sports at all levels, as it brought to light just how big football is in Texas, and at the HS level no less. The book goes beyond football though, touching on religion, race, soci-economic, etc... Captivating. I highly recommend this book.

Friday Night Lights is NOT just a sports story. It is something more---it details the true story of a small Texas town...the story of a dream. The town of Odessa is situated in the west part of Texas. It does not have a big-city feel nor does it have a large population. The author, H.G. Bissinger, moved from his hometown of Philadelphia to Odessa, in hope of chronicling the football team. While living in Odessa, Bissinger took on the story of the 1988 Permian High School football team. He brilliantly spent almost the entire season with the team, gathering real-life information from coaches, players and family members, all of whom he eventually used in his novel.

The Permian Panthers are known for their football team, which is one of the best in the state. The year Bissinger followed the team was the year that Permian, lead by Coach Gary Gaines, was expected to win the Texas state football championship. The team goes through a rough journey, battling numerous problems originating from within the core of the team. One of the great things to keep in mind while reading this book is the fact that it is based on a true story. The coaches, players and family members are all real people, which makes the book that much more touching.

The ending of the book offers a deeper interpretation of the team, which is actually a microcosm of Odessa itself. The town is so wrapped up around its football team, and these players are looked upon only for their football abilities, and not really anything more. Many of these young kids do not realize the harsh realities behind their world. Football, for them, is life. Bissinger does a great job at capturing this fact. One thing that Bissinger brings up in this book is the lack of academic standing that these players have. For these players, football was all that mattered, but unfortunately, only one player went on to play college football. This is something for high school athletes to keep in mind. Because the football team is so important to the town, we see Coach Gaines simply taking their names off the board, as if they are worth nothing more than merely football players. This is a downside of the town, which Bissinger captures incredibly. One possible weakness of the book for some people would be the fact that Bissinger spends a lot of time describing the events in the town and how people view the football team, rather than actually describing the events of the games themselves. On a positive note, Bissinger not only allows us to see into the eyes of these players, but also digs deep into the ethos of the town, which incorporates some heavy racism. This aspect of racism can be seen in the Dallas Carter game, where Permian, a predominantly white school, plays Carter, which is a mainly black school.

One of the greatest things about this book is its inspirational qualities. You do not have to be a football player, or even a sports player, to get something positive out of this book. This book is about pride, not only of a football team, but that of an entire town, a community of closely-knit individuals focused on a single goal---winning the state championship. Regardless of what your goals are in life, this book is sure to inspire, showing that perfection is not all about winning.

A superlative example of investigative reporting and cultural critique, Friday Night Lights is also a highly entertaining read. H. G. Bissinger examines the manic football fanaticism of Odessa, Texas, home of the Permian Panthers. In Odessa high school football is god and nothing else comes close--certainly not academics, which is an afterthought at best. The portrait of Odessa that Bissinger develops is sad and disturbing: a town in the throes of a massive obsessive-compulsive disorder, a puerile daydream of gridiron glory that masks the emptiness of life in the oil fields of west Texas. But then Odessa is America writ small, a "culture" that worships winning, violence, and white boy privilege above all else. If you want to know why public education is failing in the U.S., read this book.

Having grown up in the very real madness that is Texas High School football religion, I can unquestionably state that this book is a dispassionate look into my home state's unquenchable thirst for football. It reveals the dark side of hero worship, and in one of the most telling passages Bissinger finds that many of the female high school students were forced too "dumb down," so that they would not look smarter than their athelete boyfriends. The outcry over this book by the Permian Basin city boosters was loud and predictable. On the other hand, the book shows that for many down and out people inhabiting this bleak landscape, Friday football is the one salvation, the one escape from a life full of lost dreams. Is that any different from a drunken fanatic dressed as a dog sitting in the 'dogpound' in Cleveland swilling beer while his team goes down in defeat? Is it any different than Dennis Hopper's struggling alchoholic character -- ex-roundballer Shooter -- in the basketball-as-religion opus "Hoosiers?" Probably not.

Bissinger does a masterful job of narrating the journey of a town and team through the trials of life in west Texas. Although high school football is the focus, the author intricately weaves in a dialogue on race and politics, highlighting the historical aspect of these socially compex issues. Interestingly enough, Bissinger indicts Texans on various counts without ever passing judgement. Furthermore, he implies the lack of proirites are not only prevalent in Texas, but throughout our "sports crazed" society. A worthwhile read for all!

I picked this up for the football, but fell in love with the clarity of the writing and the depth of feeling displayed by Bissinger for the team, the community, and the way of the world in the late 1980s. (As my roommate would say, "There's a lot going on there.") I loved how everything came to life on the page: the football especially, but also the players, and the economy, and the politics of race and sports and competition and everything that West Texas embodies of the tradition American spirit. The anthropologist in me is intrigued by all the interplay between cultural elements, and, most interestingly, the cohesion that football brings. Fascinating read on so many levels.

Like all great books about sports, "Friday Night Lights" is really about life. Specifically life in a football-crazed small town in Texas. But before any of us outsiders start feeling superior, we should reflect that the book is really about America and the way we overvalue athletic ability. The people of the town felt betrayed when they realized that author H.G.Bissinger was going to tell the whole story, warts and all. But he has written a masterful social history and one that has many implications beyond the gridiron.

Great book, wonderful descriptions of place and people. One really feels what it must be like to witness one of these games in this small, gritty, almost hopeless little town. I'm from Lincoln, Nebraska, and before I read this book and watched the superb television series it is based on, could not imagine that a more football-obsessed community existed. Oh, but it does--or did in 1998-89! The detailed play-by-play of the games by the author, made me appreciate for the first time that there is art, complexity and beauty in football. I may just become a real Big Red fan after all.

H.G Bissinger is a great author. He is great at writing down facts and non-fiction stories. Descriptive, intelligent, and creative writing is why I like his book so much. He actually spent a year with the team and was then able to write about them. That helped him to capture the true emotions of the team especially. The way he captures the feelings of the players and the fans is incredible. He makes it easy to picture and imagine the surroundings of the football field and the city.

Permian is a great football school with a winning tradition. But when in a pre-season scrimmage the star running back Boobie Miles hurts his knee and is out for the season, they have to dig from deep within to accomplish winning games. Luckily, their back-up is also a stud. Plus they have an awesome quarterback. After losing one of their first games, their fans were a little disappointed. But they came back strong and made it to the state championship game were they lost to Carter High School.

I am personally interested in this because I play football and like it a lot. Even though we get nowhere near the size of their fan support, there are still some parallels between us. It was a difficult decision to choose this book, there were many other great books about wars and interesting lives, but I chose this one because I could relate to it.

The author is trying to tell us about life in West Texas is all about football, but more importantly, that football teaches valuable life lessons of hard work, determination, teamwork, and passion.

If you like laughing, excitement or heart throbbing challenges, Friday Night Lights by H.G. Bissinger is for you. Bissinger is a descriptive writer who writes the story by painting a vivid picture of everything that happens. It makes you feel like the story is really happening to you. If you are interested in sports, mainly football, this is the book for you. Not only is Bissinger a descriptive writer, but also he puts charisma and attitude into it, and you can almost feel the desire and passion he had when he wrote this book. One-man's comments about the book were, "Bissinger's book moves far beyond sport, in a telling, damning sociological sketch." I think this is a wonderful statement of the book, because not only is it about football, but also how life was back in 1988.
"Moving and troubling... Engrossing" Pittsburgh Press comments were about Friday Night Lights. I think the reason why this book is so moving was because I could relate to everything that went on, for example, how the pepettes, the cheerleaders, would have to make signs and bake cookies for football players, or have a pep-rally the day of a big game, and compete to make the best sign, and bake the best cookies. Also, troubling events occurred when a football player or cheerleader couldn't participate in a game because of bad grades, or they found out they couldn't play in the state championship because the loss of a coin toss. Throughout the book, my emotions were sparking every which way. Sometimes when the book would talk about racism, it made me angry inside, but then there were times when I felt shocked and surprised about how the players would play even if they had had a serious injury, like the loss of a testicle.
I would recommend this book to everyone! Even girls. This book talks a lot about football, but it will hold your interest. When I read this book I couldn't put it down. If the book doesn't relate to you with sports, then it relates to you in some other way that will move you. Friday Night Lights is a book that is written in such detail that it is almost like watching a movie because it paints a vivid picture of all the life-long challenges that many people go through. If you haven't read this book, you're missing out, so make sure next time you're in the bookstore, buy it!

Friday Night Lights

0-306-81425-0 Cody M

What does it feel like to play for one of the best teams in the state of Texas? You may want anyone on the 1985-1989 Permian Panthers team. This soon to be classic true-life story is about the town of Odessa, and how this small town relies on their high school football team. The most talked about thing in Odessa is the coach or the team itself. In the year 87-88 the had made it to the playoffs, but sadly lost in the first round which was a big disappointment to the loyal fans. This book takes a journey through the 88-89 season from the games, the locker room, from the school, and inside the players' helmets. The reason why football is everything is because it is an oil town where everybody would end up there. This book will take you through the hearts of the fans and their hopeful great season.

I'd say out of all the books I have read in my life this was the best. It was not boring once because every page made you want to read another and another. Since I have played a game I can sort of relate to what they are thinking, saying, and doing. I recommend this book to boys ages 10 and up. Kids that are younger could read it but just would not understand. The cool thing was it is real life and they really made those exact catches, and passes. The best part of the book was the games when they would go to the locker room because you can feel how they feel mentally, and physically. They try so hard to impress college scouts, as does every other player in high school. It was not very hard to stay connected to the main points on each page. It is a book where you can skip a page or it'll ruin the book. I like books that are based on true stories because you feel like you were there on the gridiron with the players. I feel that I can best be described as the quarterback. The attitude of the QB is just like mine, plus he has the same ambitions as me. The best part is at the end so I recommend you get this book as soon as possible.

Odessa is a West Texas town that had a huge oil boom in its past. Now the oil is gone, and the only thing that the people living there really have left to get excited about is their high school football team. School sports play a pretty big part in the everyday lives of some people in my hometown, but I had no idea that there are people out there who take it as seriously as the citizens of Odessa. There are people that camp outside for many hours just to get a ticket to Friday's game. This book not only provides information about football, but also information about many other aspects of West Texan life. There are plenty of other important subjects to talk about when the story takes place in a town like Odessa. Here segregation between blacks and whites still remains very strong, and a school can provide the money for their football team to charter a flight to another town, but cannot afford new text books.
I gave this book five stars. It would have gotten old very quickly if the focus was only on football, but it branched off into very detailed descriptions of other subjects. This is what kept me from putting the book down. Not only did I red about football, but also about many other subjects ranging from former presidential candidate George Bush to racism in the South. That is part of the reason why I rated this book the way that I did. Another, which was my personal favorite thing about the book, was how well it described the players and the games. It went into much detail about the players on and off the field. It was like getting to know the players. I felt sympathy for Boobie Miles, who was a hometown hero one day, and instantly forgotten the next. Inside, I cheered for the team as the games grew close. The game descriptions were just like the high school football games that I have been to, but taken to another level. There are very few books that I would give the five star rating to. I would normally have at least one complaint, but honestly, I cannot think of a single one for this book. It is easily the best sports book that I have ever read. If this is a book that you have not read yet, I would highly recommend reading it.

Friday Night Lights taught me that America is not helping the younger generation receive the education we need in the real world. People in Odessa were more concerned about their children's performance than in their children's grades. How will the younger generation have any real success in life if they do not grasp any of the basics taught in high school? Odessa's citizens need to realize the importance of grades in school.
For example, the lawsuit placed against Carter because of Gary Edwards' grade in algebra. I do not understand why the judge did not ask Gary to take an algebra test to see how much Gary had learned. No one really cared if Gary had learned anything; all they wanted to find out is if Gary and the Carter Cowboys were eligible to play football. At the end of the trial, the judge ruled the Cowboys would be eligible to play in the state championship. As I read this chapter, I became very disturbed and worried. I kept wondering about Gary and his future. What if the Cowboys lost and Gary did not receive a scholarship to a college? Would Gary be able to get into a college based on his grades and college placement exams? I did not feel excited for Gary because he could play in the championship; I felt pity for him because he had not been given an education. Another example would be almost every starter for Odessa's football team. Almost every starter had easy classes they could breeze through. Boobie sat in his classes and opened mail. The teacher seemed accustomed to it and taught around Boobie. Not one of Boobie's teachers seemed to want to teach him something; they just babysat him.
Friday Night Lights really opened my eyes to how some schools believe sports are more important than academics. Odessa did not care if a person was injured as long as that person was still able to play football. I believe Odessa was performing a great injustice. They did not care if the football players received an education; they just wanted them to win.

I really enjoyd Friday Night Lights. I love sports and I have never read a book about sports that could hol my attention like this book could. I would Friday Night Lights by H.G. Bissinger to anyone who likes sports or enjoys a good book.
What made me enjoy this book the most was how much I could relate to the feelings the characters were feeling. I played softball for our Recreation Department in elementary school, for middle school, and in high school. I know how it feels to want to win state so bad. The four years I played in high school, we had never made it to the state play-offs until the last year. Our coaches pushed us to play our best and become better. They also taught us that when we were behind to always keep a cheerful spirit and not get down. They knew we wanted it, and so did everyone else. I knew that year had to be it because afer that, I would be graduating and no longer could play softball for our school.
I know all the agony of the practices in the hot sun when it's 99* and practicing for two, three, sometimes even four hours at a time and being so tired when you get home that you could not even take a shower. It was all worth it hen we made it to the state play-offs. Just like Permian, though, we lost out before we could win. I know how the players felt after they worked so hard and were defeated right when they were about to step over the finih line first. It hurts. It really does. The pain does eventually go away with the tears, but memories are always there, the good and the bad.
Even after I have not played softball for almost a year now, when I go back to watch my team play the teams I used to play, I get jealous and wish I could take their spot on the field. I want another chance to go to the state play-offs and be the champions! But life goes on, and there are bigger and better things in my future. When I read Friday Night Lights all my memories came flooding back to me, and I am sure there are others out there that wil enjoy it as much as I have.

First I saw the trailer for the movie and was convinced that this was a movie for my husband and our son to watch together, because no way would I like movie about football. Then I watched a preview on cable with my husband and it looked pretty good, so we ordered it on demand. From that point on, this became one of those movies that causes you to forget the rest of your life while watching it. Being a "voracious reader", I had to get my hands on the book. No surprise-the book was even better than the film, which was phenomenal and probably should have been in Oscar contention. My title "American Nightmare?"-you ask why? This book has a setting against high school football, which, basically is the lifeblood of this town, but it is just that-the setting. This book is about cultural and societal issues in parts of our nation that I found hard to swallow. According to Bissinger, the town in the book is only one of many that are the same, and being from Long Island, NY, only 1 hour east of Manhattan, I couldn't believe it.

The author mentions that he received death threats when he was on a book tour from the town he wrote about-it's not surprising-they wouldn't find his writing flattering. However, he wrote the truth as he saw it and the quotes contained in this non-fiction work bear out his reporting. The ideology in this important piece of American social history cannot be ignored. Mr. Bissinger is a Pulitzer Prize winning writer-he deserves it!

Friday Night Lights by H. G. Bissinger is one of the most interesting books I have ever read. As someone who has participated in high school football at a large competitive school I can most definitely relate to the descriptions and feelings described within this book. Although my high school pales in comparison to the level of football the Permian Panthers played at. The same story could be told at many of the high schools across the nation. Fortunately many of the most grievous problems that existed on the '88 Panther team do not exist today in most high school. Racism is still a problem in some areas but in my high school it is all but extinct. There are no more `free rides' through high school, at least none at my school. Certainly no girl asks and player for `favors' in exchange for money. Despite many of these factors there is a lot more to high school football players than most people know. As far as winning goes the standard at Permian is just as high at any other major football high school. From a student body stand point no one wants to cheer for a team that doesn't win, everybody likes a winner. When the football team wins the students will surround themselves with the team. When the team loses the story is just the opposite. Instead of "We won!" its "They lost." As a football player you don't win games for your school. You don't play for the status. This is what happened to the '88 football team at Permian. A real championship team plays for the team, not the social implications. Winning is all that matters to someone who gives up half there summer to go through the push their bodies to the extreme during two-a-day practices with their eventual brothers. Winning is all that matters when practice from early August to mid-December. Its all that matters when its all you've known.

This book is a very accurate portayal of Texas high shcool football. Some people don't realize how much pressure is put on the coaches and the players to win and bring the town glory. But this story doesn't just touch on Coach Gary Gaines football season and the tragic injury to star running back Boobie Miles. It also touches on race, religion, and many other things going on in Odessa, Texas. I would definetly recommend this book for sports fans, but also for anyone looking to read a true, captivating story.

In Friday Night Lights, H. G Bissenger uses a unique type of writing. Most sports writers that I have read have a single character that they follow through the entire novel. In this novel, Bissenger, scopes the entire team. Through this, we experience the feeling of the team, and the bonds between the players. Much of the book is written about the conflicts on the field. More often than not, these conflicts relate somehow on the field and off. Some of the conflicts are interrelated between football and their personal life, but also to life in general. If this book is read for strictly entertainment, it is an excellent book, but on the next level, it is even more intense.

The intensity level of the book almost makes you feel like you are in school. I, being in school and playing football, can especially understand these situations. The author plays on many people's dreams and ideas through simple occurrences on the football field. Every football player that isn't first or second string dreams of having their name called in a desperate situation. This is made evident after Booby gets hurt, and the third string player is called upon to take his place. Since I have started playing football, all of my coaches have told me that this sport is not just about the Friday nights under the lights, but it also teaches you about life.

One of the most amazing things about this book is how the author not only watches the team through their struggles on the field, but also in their day-to-day life. Booby Miles is an incredible running back with virtually no education was professionally bound. At the beginning of the season, he was already receiving college letters, but then he tore ligaments in his knee. We see the fear sadness as Booby realizes that he will never get into college, and he sees his dream of playing college and possibly professional ball going down the drain.

Also, a young fullback, who has trouble with fumbling the ball, receives some of the spotlight. On the field, he has trouble holding on to the ball, and his Permian alumnus father, who is also an alcoholic, gives this young man trouble. At one point, he walks onto the field and publicly criticizes his son, and pushes him. Even worse, at home, he experiences things that would be very difficult for normal writers to get to. This illustrates the difference between this writer, and most other writers.

After reading this novel, I have a new appreciation for high school athletes and their social lives. Being one, I see that this writer found the real deal. This writer has dug deep into the social and athletic lives of these players. It is amazing that a writer can get into the heads, and bring the reader into the minds of these young men.

I could barely put this book down once I started reading it. I'd heard about it before (in Sports Illustrated I think) and it had been on my reading list for a long time. I haven't seen the movie, but the book is great.

The author does get a bit too verbose sometimes, going off on long tangents. Some, like the Gary Edwards / Dalls Carter High story, are worth it and could be entire chapters in themselves. Others are less interesting.

But the main story is riveting. I've heard of the counter-reaction and anger at the author, and I understand it, but this book itself is still a great read. It'll make an entire plane ride go by very quickly.

Friday Night Lights: A Team, a Town, a Dream is the story of the 1988 Permian High School football team in Odessa, Texas. The book covers a year in the life of the team, from the ending of the 1987 season through the conclusion of the 1988 season. This book remarkably explains how high school football can pull a small town together. The book starts off describing Odessa's history on how it was an oil boom town. Then it moves on to the season. During the time that the book was set Odessa was known for its high crime rate and poor education system. What makes this book so powerful is that everyone who went to the games forgot about all of their town's troubles and enjoyed high school football. The book explains that Odessa was a boring small town and high school football was about all there to do. The town is very obsessed with the team and tries to be involved in everything. Everyone in the town knew who was on the team almost personally and when the team won the town felt like they won too. This compelling story tells how the town and the team fought through all the economic, racist, and crime struggles and still knew that anything less than a state championship was not an option. H.G. Bessinger does an outstanding job of getting inside of this small town and writing such a great story. As he follows the life of a team full of high school students, Bessinger doesn't only tell us about the game, he puts us in the shoes of the players. The overall theme of this inspirational book is that this town and this team ignored all their troubles and chased a dream.

Friday Night Lights taught me that America is not helping the younger generation receive the education we need in the real world. People in Odessa were more concerned about their children's performance than in their children's grades. How will the younger generation have any real success in life if they do not grasp any of the basics taught in high school? Odessa's citizens need to realize the importance of grades in school.
For example, the lawsuit placed against Carter because of Gary Edwards' grade in algebra. I do not understand why the judge did not ask Gary to take an algebra test to see how much Gary had learned. No one really cared if Gary had learned anything; all they wanted to find out is if Gary and the Carter Cowboys were eligible to play football. At the end of the trial, the judge ruled the Cowboys would be eligible to play in the state championship. As I read this chapter, I became very disturbed and worried. I kept wondering about Gary and his future. What if the Cowboys lost and Gary did not receive a scholarship to a college? Would Gary be able to get into a college based on his grades and college placement exams? I did not feel excited for Gary because he could play in the championship; I felt pity for him because he had not been given an education. Another example would be almost every starter for Odessa's football team. Almost every starter had easy classes they could breeze through. Boobie sat in his classes and opened mail. The teacher seemed accustomed to it and taught around Boobie. Not one of Boobie's teachers seemed to want to teach him something; they just babysat him.
Friday Night Lights really opened my eyes to how some schools believe sports are more important than academics. Odessa did not care if a person was injured as long as that person was still able to play football. I believe Odessa was performing a great injustice. They did not care if the football players received an education; they just wanted them to win.

I really enjoyd Friday Night Lights. I love sports and I have never read a book about sports that could hol my attention like this book could. I would Friday Night Lights by H.G. Bissinger to anyone who likes sports or enjoys a good book.
What made me enjoy this book the most was how much I could relate to the feelings the characters were feeling. I played softball for our Recreation Department in elementary school, for middle school, and in high school. I know how it feels to want to win state so bad. The four years I played in high school, we had never made it to the state play-offs until the last year. Our coaches pushed us to play our best and become better. They also taught us that when we were behind to always keep a cheerful spirit and not get down. They knew we wanted it, and so did everyone else. I knew that year had to be it because afer that, I would be graduating and no longer could play softball for our school.
I know all the agony of the practices in the hot sun when it's 99* and practicing for two, three, sometimes even four hours at a time and being so tired when you get home that you could not even take a shower. It was all worth it hen we made it to the state play-offs. Just like Permian, though, we lost out before we could win. I know how the players felt after they worked so hard and were defeated right when they were about to step over the finih line first. It hurts. It really does. The pain does eventually go away with the tears, but memories are always there, the good and the bad.
Even after I have not played softball for almost a year now, when I go back to watch my team play the teams I used to play, I get jealous and wish I could take their spot on the field. I want another chance to go to the state play-offs and be the champions! But life goes on, and there are bigger and better things in my future. When I read Friday Night Lights all my memories came flooding back to me, and I am sure there are others out there that wil enjoy it as much as I have.

First I saw the trailer for the movie and was convinced that this was a movie for my husband and our son to watch together, because no way would I like movie about football. Then I watched a preview on cable with my husband and it looked pretty good, so we ordered it on demand. From that point on, this became one of those movies that causes you to forget the rest of your life while watching it. Being a "voracious reader", I had to get my hands on the book. No surprise-the book was even better than the film, which was phenomenal and probably should have been in Oscar contention. My title "American Nightmare?"-you ask why? This book has a setting against high school football, which, basically is the lifeblood of this town, but it is just that-the setting. This book is about cultural and societal issues in parts of our nation that I found hard to swallow. According to Bissinger, the town in the book is only one of many that are the same, and being from Long Island, NY, only 1 hour east of Manhattan, I couldn't believe it.

The author mentions that he received death threats when he was on a book tour from the town he wrote about-it's not surprising-they wouldn't find his writing flattering. However, he wrote the truth as he saw it and the quotes contained in this non-fiction work bear out his reporting. The ideology in this important piece of American social history cannot be ignored. Mr. Bissinger is a Pulitzer Prize winning writer-he deserves it!

Friday Night Lights by H. G. Bissinger is one of the most interesting books I have ever read. As someone who has participated in high school football at a large competitive school I can most definitely relate to the descriptions and feelings described within this book. Although my high school pales in comparison to the level of football the Permian Panthers played at. The same story could be told at many of the high schools across the nation. Fortunately many of the most grievous problems that existed on the '88 Panther team do not exist today in most high school. Racism is still a problem in some areas but in my high school it is all but extinct. There are no more `free rides' through high school, at least none at my school. Certainly no girl asks and player for `favors' in exchange for money. Despite many of these factors there is a lot more to high school football players than most people know. As far as winning goes the standard at Permian is just as high at any other major football high school. From a student body stand point no one wants to cheer for a team that doesn't win, everybody likes a winner. When the football team wins the students will surround themselves with the team. When the team loses the story is just the opposite. Instead of "We won!" its "They lost." As a football player you don't win games for your school. You don't play for the status. This is what happened to the '88 football team at Permian. A real championship team plays for the team, not the social implications. Winning is all that matters to someone who gives up half there summer to go through the push their bodies to the extreme during two-a-day practices with their eventual brothers. Winning is all that matters when practice from early August to mid-December. Its all that matters when its all you've known.

This book is a very accurate portayal of Texas high shcool football. Some people don't realize how much pressure is put on the coaches and the players to win and bring the town glory. But this story doesn't just touch on Coach Gary Gaines football season and the tragic injury to star running back Boobie Miles. It also touches on race, religion, and many other things going on in Odessa, Texas. I would definetly recommend this book for sports fans, but also for anyone looking to read a true, captivating story.

In Friday Night Lights, H. G Bissenger uses a unique type of writing. Most sports writers that I have read have a single character that they follow through the entire novel. In this novel, Bissenger, scopes the entire team. Through this, we experience the feeling of the team, and the bonds between the players. Much of the book is written about the conflicts on the field. More often than not, these conflicts relate somehow on the field and off. Some of the conflicts are interrelated between football and their personal life, but also to life in general. If this book is read for strictly entertainment, it is an excellent book, but on the next level, it is even more intense.

The intensity level of the book almost makes you feel like you are in school. I, being in school and playing football, can especially understand these situations. The author plays on many people's dreams and ideas through simple occurrences on the football field. Every football player that isn't first or second string dreams of having their name called in a desperate situation. This is made evident after Booby gets hurt, and the third string player is called upon to take his place. Since I have started playing football, all of my coaches have told me that this sport is not just about the Friday nights under the lights, but it also teaches you about life.

One of the most amazing things about this book is how the author not only watches the team through their struggles on the field, but also in their day-to-day life. Booby Miles is an incredible running back with virtually no education was professionally bound. At the beginning of the season, he was already receiving college letters, but then he tore ligaments in his knee. We see the fear sadness as Booby realizes that he will never get into college, and he sees his dream of playing college and possibly professional ball going down the drain.

Also, a young fullback, who has trouble with fumbling the ball, receives some of the spotlight. On the field, he has trouble holding on to the ball, and his Permian alumnus father, who is also an alcoholic, gives this young man trouble. At one point, he walks onto the field and publicly criticizes his son, and pushes him. Even worse, at home, he experiences things that would be very difficult for normal writers to get to. This illustrates the difference between this writer, and most other writers.

After reading this novel, I have a new appreciation for high school athletes and their social lives. Being one, I see that this writer found the real deal. This writer has dug deep into the social and athletic lives of these players. It is amazing that a writer can get into the heads, and bring the reader into the minds of these young men.

I could barely put this book down once I started reading it. I'd heard about it before (in Sports Illustrated I think) and it had been on my reading list for a long time. I haven't seen the movie, but the book is great.

The author does get a bit too verbose sometimes, going off on long tangents. Some, like the Gary Edwards / Dalls Carter High story, are worth it and could be entire chapters in themselves. Others are less interesting.

But the main story is riveting. I've heard of the counter-reaction and anger at the author, and I understand it, but this book itself is still a great read. It'll make an entire plane ride go by very quickly.

Friday Night Lights: A Team, a Town, a Dream is the story of the 1988 Permian High School football team in Odessa, Texas. The book covers a year in the life of the team, from the ending of the 1987 season through the conclusion of the 1988 season. This book remarkably explains how high school football can pull a small town together. The book starts off describing Odessa's history on how it was an oil boom town. Then it moves on to the season. During the time that the book was set Odessa was known for its high crime rate and poor education system. What makes this book so powerful is that everyone who went to the games forgot about all of their town's troubles and enjoyed high school football. The book explains that Odessa was a boring small town and high school football was about all there to do. The town is very obsessed with the team and tries to be involved in everything. Everyone in the town knew who was on the team almost personally and when the team won the town felt like they won too. This compelling story tells how the town and the team fought through all the economic, racist, and crime struggles and still knew that anything less than a state championship was not an option. H.G. Bessinger does an outstanding job of getting inside of this small town and writing such a great story. As he follows the life of a team full of high school students, Bessinger doesn't only tell us about the game, he puts us in the shoes of the players. The overall theme of this inspirational book is that this town and this team ignored all their troubles and chased a dream.

I really enjoy reading Friday Night Lights by H.G. Bissinger because of the many aspects of life it looks at. The story takes place in Odessa, Texas; a quiet desert town still segregated in 1988. The author traveled to this west Texas town to observe the people and write about them. Specifically he wanted to concentrate on their high school football team, the Permian Panthers. All the black people live in the poorer part of the town and have to go to a certain school until recently. The whites all live in the "better" part of town and attend a nicer high school. Even though these events happened only 15 years ago, segregation still has a tight hold on Odessa. The only time the town truly comes together was during the football games. Everyone goes to the games; it didn't matter whom you were, everybody who was anybody attended them. Living through the high school players and show immense support for both black and white players. The story takes the reader through personal stories, injuries, wins, losses, and the history of Odessa. No one person takes on the role of main character, the whole team and the townspeople assume it together. The book takes a little while to get started due to the prologue, long recollection of the town's background and long preseason description. Once past this I fell in love with this book because as far as sports go, football is the best and racial issues, intrigue me. Any readers who enjoy sports or the events in an up and down town ruled by the oil business, should read this book.

Friday Night Lights, is about a football team in Texas and the struggles they encountered throughout the 1988 season. When H.G. Bissinger wrote this book, he did not leave out a single detail. He makes it feel as if you are at the game with the excellent descriptions and detail throughout the book. The book by no means moves on at a fast pace. There is so much detail in the book that it feels as if you have been reading about the same thing for the last hour. I would recommend this book to anyone even if they do not like to read. It kept my interest so it can keep anybody's.
The main reason I liked the book is because it was about something that I could relate to. I have been to high school football games and been in school with the football players but never knew exactly what went on behind the scenes. Friday Night Lights kept my attention because it was not boring like most other books. It did provide background information, but it was relevant to the book and still, not boring.
Throughout my high school career we read books like Shakespeare that I had no interest in and were of no resemblance to modern day. Friday Night Lights is a great book that actually has something to do with how things are today. I would recommend it to anyone even if they do not like sports. I think it would still be more enjoyable than Shakespeare or any other book of that category. It was not a book that I had to struggle through, but rather one where I found myself not wanting to put it down.

The only reason that I give it a five is because it is aboutPermian. Otherwise, it deserves a 0. I am an alumnus of Permian HighSchool, and I have read Friday Night Lights several times. Bissinger wrongly portrays Permian to have cheated their way into all of the honors it has received. That is in no way the truth. Permian only has one mark on their record, while there are several schools throughout the state of Texas who have been repremanded by UIL on more than one occasion. When the movie comes out, I think that people will see just exactly what MOJO and Permian are all about. It is not money.

I would definitely recommend this book to other people. I think that it is a very interesting book. I think that at times it was hard to follow. For example, when I read the chapter "Sisters," I thought that that was just a chapter thrown in there. I didn't understand it at all, and I didn't think that it was necessary. Besides that one chapter, it held my interest all through the book. It had me on the edge of my seat as far as the football games go. I love reading about sports and being involved in them. I felt like I was at the football games in the stands with black on, cheering for the Panthers. I don't get into reading much, or get involved with books very easily, but I absolutely loved this book.
There were things that I didn't agree with in the book but that is common. I hated the fact that people had to be racist, and they couldn't just accept people for who they were, and I hated the fact that football players got to do whatever they wanted to do.
I really enjoyed the characters and related to many of them. For example, I feel like Boobie and I have a lot in common. We both love the games that we play, and we both want to be on the field 24/7. I despise sitting there and watching people in my position, and I know he does to.
Overall, the book was magnificent, and I would really encourage everybody, especially if they are athletes, to read this book. You learn a lot about how people were, and that things really haven't changed.

a fabulous book about the Permian Panthers of Odessa, TX and the MOJO magic that permeates thoughout the city. H.G. Bissinger has found the heartbeat of America in high school football as he writes in fascinating detail the story of the 1988 Permian Panthers. It could be any high school across American as the tradition, passion and politics of local high school football reign over a city that would seemingly have no identity without it's high scool football team. A wonderful book.

Friday Night Lights is a book about a high school football team in a small town. Everyone in the small town of Odessa is all about Permian High School Football. Permian High School football team was a good football team. Their goal was to with the state championship. The team's best player was probably Boobie. Boobie wasn't from Odessa, he moved to Odessa when he was adopted by his uncle LV. When Boobie lived with his father, his father used to beat him with extension cords. One day at school the school officials saw that Boobie had been beaten, and they wouldn't let him go home. When they finally went to court, Boobie was placed in his uncle LV's care. That is when Boobie had to move to Odessa. When he moved to Odessa, he started playing football for his uncles pop warner team. When he started playing football for Permian High School, there were many colleges in the United States that wanted him to come play football for them. Boobie was a major part of the football team, until he got injured in a scrimmage game. That knee injury basically ended Boobies football career. Even though the team's star player was injured, the team went on to go far in the playoffs.

Friday Night Lights is a good book that I enjoyed reading. I liked this book because it showed how a team was able to come together after losing one of their best players, and almost win a state championship. I also like how things turned out good for Boobie when he had to move to Odessa with his Uncle. When he moved to Odessa, many top colleges wanted him. When Boobie got injured, it showed that a simple injury can change just about your whole future. Friday Night Lights is a good book and I recommend it to everyone who enjoys reading about sports.

Friday Night Lights is not just another book about high school football. It's a very complex book about life in Texas. For many families in Odessa, Texas, football on Friday night is a temporary escape from an unforgiving life. Poverty is rampant in the racially segregated town. Black players are brought into the high school as meerly athletes and no thought is given to their academic future. This book brings to light many ugly things about daily life in this little town in Texas. Of course there is an exciting football plot as well. When you put it all together, there really aren't too many other books that have this kind of range. It can be a depressing read at times like many great books, but is definitely worth your time and investment.

I would recommend this book to anyone. I usually do not like to read anything, but this book kept my interest. I would read one chapter and could not wait to read the next. If you like football or true stories, then I would read this book.
Football was a key element in the book. Bissinger sets the perfect football mood. While you're reading, it feels like you are really at the games. He describes the players' feelings and the way they look during the game, which makes you feel like you are out there playing with them. The town, Odessa, played a big role in the book as well. The town was mostly black and white, and they did not really want anything to do with each other. The only thing that brought them together was the Permian football team. Many people had no idea what the names of the government officials were, but they could tell you everything about the football team.
One player stood out the most to me, Boobie. He is a perfect example of so many athletes these days. He is known as one of the best football players on the team, and something bad happens to him, and no one wants anything to do with him. He is here one day and gone tomorrow.
I would definitely advise you to read this book even if you don't like reading. It will keep your interest, and if you don't understand football at all, you might actually understand the plays of football.

A Taste of Inspiration In the small town of Odessa, Texas there is a tradition to uphold at all times. Anyone who loves football with a passion knows what kind of inspiration H.G. Bissenger shows in this book. Friday Night Lights is a prime example of the camaraderie and competitiveness that West Texas football has to offer. Bissenger tells about the actual feeling of the players on the field with the use of a simile. He states how the sight of thousands of people in the stands is like a shot of adrenaline to a player's heart. It is an inspiration to anyone who loves the fact that an entire town can rally behind one team as they do in this book. It is awe-inspiring to realize the actual work and dedication the whole community puts toward the high school football team. In the book itself, Bissenger describes the parish board arranged for a 747 to fly willing citizens to a game 200 miles away in Marshall, Texas. Just the fact that someone would think about a plan of that nature is inspiring to all. Every player on the team, whether they saw the field or not, knew that they had a tradition to keep, a reputation to uphold. Although players were not getting their fair share at the field, Permian did have some letdowns. Bissenger shows a sign of foreshadowing when all-state running back, Boobie Miles, injures his knee in a simple jamboree before his senior year. Bissenger is hinting that Miles will miss the rest of the season and may never play football again. If you were a member of the "MOJO" which was nickname for the Permian High School football team, you were treated with the utmost respect and dignity. The community has banquets and meals for the players on different occasions. The people of Odessa have been taught to realize what they are witnessing and to take in every moment of it. Not only does Bissinger show the inspiration of the people towards the team, but he also inspires the reader to reach for bigger and better things. Everyone knows that when Friday night comes around the entire county will be "inspired" to root on their "MOJO".

This book caught my attention and would not let it go.The TV series was a favorite of my two boys-both football players (ages 9 & 15). I watched a handful of the series shows w/both boys-but not enough to really have an opinion of/about it. About 2 months ago I mentioned the series to an older sister who told me that the series was based on a book by the same name.She said the book was an incredible/insightful read. My sister gave me the book as a Christmas present this year (2012). I read the book in a day and a half.I know damn well that some of the major issues facing this country in 1988 are alive and well in 2012. A failing economy/backroom-underhanded politics/racial strife/youth-teen athletics win @ all costs are just as relevant/troubling today as they were back in "88".The author's writing style is beyond reproach.He is honest and fair.In short this book is a gem and an honest account of some of what ails this country.

H. G. Bissenger's style of writing in his book, Friday Night Lights, really kept my attention. His dialogue was very strong. The book grew stronger and stronger as I read it. The prologue even brought forth great anticipation to begin reading the rest of the book. Reading this book made me feel as if I was right there. His writing technique helped me to visualize the expressions on the players' faces when they were on the field playing or in pain or something of that nature. The specifics of every action really kept me into the book. He explained everything in detail, leaving nothing for the reader to wonder about. His choice of words was very powerful and descriptive. He used a few curse words that I think could have been left out but that is only a reflection of my belief. The curse words were not out of place, they were incorporated into the book very well, and they kept my attention. Bissenger's style is very easily comprehended. There is nothing that is out of the ordinary. If he used an arbitrary word, it was pretty much defined or reflected in the same paragraph. He is a wonderful writer to me. He is one that I would suggest to anyone. I personally hate to read, but with Friday Night Lights H. G. Bissenger kept my attention, and I enjoyed reading the book.
-Earl B. Williams, Jr.

This book was on my daughter's 8th grade reading list. I was a little worried because I knew the movie was not something I would let her watch but I figured the movie had been made to please Hollywood and the book was probably not as bad/inappropriate for a 13 year old or they wouldn't have it on the reading list. Any way she came to me three pages in and said it had the "f" word in it and "God damn it". I glanced at the pages she mentioned and we deleted the book. I figured if it was starting out with that stuff at the beginning then it wasn't going to become better for her to read as she got deeper into it. Buy with caution, especially if it is for a young adult.

This is a good book for anyone who likes football or sports. This book gave great play-by-play on the games. It told you exactly what happened during each and every game. It also has a good background of lifestlye, away from football. All though this book was hard to understand in some parts, this was an overall good book from beging to end. I would highly recommened this book to any person who enjoys reading about football or likes the sport football!

If you're looking for a book about football, I wouldn't suggest reading this book. Friday Night Lights seems to be only one part football and five parts social commentary on small town Texas life. I do appreciate Bissinger's desire to set the scene for us, but the way he goes about doing so is frustrating at times. He begins the book detailing a game that happens towards the end of the season, then backtracks to the beginning of the season, gives us a little description of the pre-season, and then goes in chronological order until he reaches the game that he already described for us, again telling us the impact that game had on the players, and goes into post-season play. At times, he gives a play by play of a particular game, at others, he only mentions the outcome. He will often interrupt his commentary of a game to give us the social, economic, political, and educational background of Odessa and the towns nearby. Again, while I appreciate his attempt to set the scene, his way of doing so staggers the flow of the book and makes it very difficult to read at times.

Bissinger's depiction of small town Texas life is not a flattering one. He repeatedly highlights the inherent racism of the town; when something goes wrong, he is quick to quote someone ready to blame the problem on the town's African American population. He depicts Odessa as a hellish wasteland and doesn't appear to understand why people would choose to live in a town such as this. He highlights the economic woes of a town dependent on the oil industry, and how irresponsible businessmen and citizens were with their money at the height of the oil boom. He essentially touches on every negative aspect of the town, stating that the only thing many in the town have to live for is football...but he is quick to point out the problems within the Permian football program as well, essentially undermining the one thing he feels the town has to live for.

The one good thing that I can say about this book is that it makes one rethink the social atmosphere they grew up in, especially if they grew up in a small, southern town. While feeling slightly indignant on behalf of Odessa's citizens (surely they can't ALL be racist, narrow-minded, and financially irresponsible) I did find myself looking back and seeing some uncomfortable similarities between my town and Odessa. How many minorities were there in any of my honors courses? (The answer is one, that I can remember; he was incidentally a football and basketball player). How many minority-owned businesses are there in my small town? How many minorities served on the school board, or the county commission? (The answer there is none, that I can think of). How important is football to our way of life? (The answer, very important, though nowhere near the level that it is in Odessa). If anything, this book highlights the social and economic disparity of any given town, and with this knowledge, hopefully anyone living in such a town will realize the need to combat any inequality they might encounter.

In summary, don't look to this book to give you any sort of inspiration you might find in Remember the Titans, or the Blind Side, or any other sort of sports novel that roots for the underdog, that shows a team coming back and winning it all against the odds. Don't look for any sort of inspiring message of a group of kids who work hard all season and who don't quit under any circumstances. If you want to reinforce your view that southerners, and Texans especially, are nothing but racist, gun-toting, intolerant rednecks, then this is the book for you. If you're angry that Michael Dukakis didn't win the 1988 presidential election, this is the book for you. If you're the type who grew up believing that football players got too many kickbacks in high school, that athletes are just dumb jocks who make you feel dumber just by talking to them, if you're the type who's sick and tired of hearing some male in your life constantly recalling his glory days back when he was a high school quarterback, then this will be a good read for you. Otherwise, I wouldn't recommend Friday Night Lights, not even to the casual reader who doesn't particularly care about football or politics and just wants some new reading material. Again, it's definitely an eye-opener, it definitely makes you think...but overall, it's not very well written structurally, and it's pretty biased against conservatives and Southerners in general.

I finally got around to reading this book just recently; I wish I had read it when it came out in 1990. "Buzz" Bissinger pulls no punches in telling it like it is, how a high school football team can be the main rallying point of an otherwise isolated community, several hundred miles from the nearest large metropolitan area; a community whose residents are deeply religious, God-fearing, and shamelessly prejudiced and intolerant of non-whites.
I remember the controversy this book caused shortly after its release. Having read it, I now understand why: In a community where there's otherwise "nothing to do," a local high school football team can unite people of all races, incomes, cultures, etc. I should know: I used to live in Lubbock, not too far from Odessa; the townfolks share the same conservative beliefs and euphoric passion for football. Bissinger's metaphor-rich style of writing really made me feel as if I was back in West Texas. The similarity of the two cities was uncanny. I began to read in search of something startling and controversial; instead it brought back a lot of memories. As I learned, the people of Odessa and Lubbock are strikingly similar (except Lubbock also has collegiate football, from Texas Tech University, to root for, as well as a few local high schools). I found Bissinger's descriptions totally accurate, if not downright eerie.
In the end, I couldn't help but feel for the 17- and 18-year-olds who had to endure the pressure to produce one victory after another, and the supporters' shameless win-or-else attitude. Bissinger's ability to empathize with America's appetite and obsession for winning really drove home the point. When I finished reading it, I cried. This book was THAT soul-stirring.
To Stephanie, a Permian High School grad who wrote a review of this book in May 1998: I'd advise you to read "Turning The Page - '88 Permian team still can't escape glare of 'Friday Night Lights,'" by Dave Caldwell (The Dallas Morning News, November 24, 1999). You called Bissinger "a liar," but Jerrod McDougal, whose loud Bon Jovi music was mentioned in the introduction, said "The Book [as it's known in Odessa] painted a pretty ugly portrait of the town, but there's not a lie in it." And Randy Ham, a Permian grad who works at a bookstore in Odessa, mentioned, "It is a bitingly accurate portrayal of the town. It really is."
Mike Wallace, the "60 Minutes" correspondent, said that "'Friday Night Lights' reads like fiction; unhappily, it is fact." I feel that's all one needs to know to prepare for this truly incredible read.

Friday Night Lights, a very interesting book about the small town of Odessa, Texas. The author tries to understand why high school football is not just a sport or a hobby, but a way of life. The author also talks about how high school is different for players, because the players are more likely to get involved with drugs, sex, and alcohol. The book also talks about each player's life and how football has affected their lives.

This story takes place in Odessa, Texas in 1988. Odessa is a small town that is about 300 miles from any major city, but every Friday night 20 to 25 thousand people go and watch the Permian High School Panthers football team. The author did a great job of describing the town and the people that lived in it. He talked about why the town is socially and racially divided and why the fragile economy follows the path of the oil business.

The characters in this story were very interesting. The author described the characters immaculately. The first character that he described was Boobie Miles, the team's star running back. He was very good but he was also very conceded. He knew that he would play college ball, but he also knew that he had a shot at playing professional football. In a scrimmage game Boobie injured his knee and couldn't play for the rest of the season. The author talks about how football was the only thing Boobie Miles could do great, and also how he has dealt with the injury.

The theme of this book was work hard and you can accomplish anything. The 1988 Permian Panthers showed this because even after they lost their star running back they worked really hard and still had a great season. This book had a under dog feeling to it and it made it easy to read on and on. It was a captivating story that draws the readers to keep reading. The author did a great job of explaining why football affects not only the players lives but also everyone in the towns lives.

I have been looking forward to this book for several yers, since I saw the author on a talk show when the book debuted. It's long been on my list of "Oh, I've been meaning to read that" and when I discovered a copy on a colleague's bookshelf, I borrowed it and finally fufilled that "meant to." I read the book in two days and wished I had read it all those years ago so I could have been recommending it to everyone I know, including my brother (a high school football player). This is a beautifully written book, the kind of non-fiction that turns non-readers into bookworms. What an honest look at football and at America. Don't miss this one.

Jake Anderson
Ms. Julian
English IV - F
3 May 2013
Friday Night Lights Book Critique
H.G. Bessinger's, Friday Night Lights, is a thrilling drama of heart break and excitement. It captures the very essence of playing football under the brightly shinning lights on any given Friday night during football season in Odessa, Texas, an old run down oil town. Every aspect of a town based around a high school football team is captivated in this novel.
In Texas, football is everything. From the time one is able to walk, they are taught how to play the game of football. They are expected to play high school football and more importantly, win a state championship. In Odessa, Texas, winning a state championship is the only thing that matters in the world. The town of Odessa was created because of oil. It went through two separate oil rushes, but unfortunately, they only lasted briefly. Now, the town is merely a rundown oil mill that only seems to have life because of its high school football team, the Permian Panthers.
H.G. Bessinger's reflection of reality of the everyday life of a high school football player playing for the Permian Panthers in Odessa, Texas is impeccable. Even though we believe we live in an equal and non-racist society, the level of hostility towards African-Americans that remains in the Deep South is an eye opener. The town of Odessa, Texas treat African-Americans like Gods on the football field, but then spit on them outside of the football field. To the town's people of Odessa, Texas, African-Americans are only good for playing football. The players' dreams and fame ends when the clock hits double zeros in the last quarter of the final game of the football season. This is because the parents who played on the football team or were cheerleaders for the football team lived the same lives their children did and ended up being stuck in the same old run down town that they grew up in and will live there for the rest of their lives.
When it comes to clarity, one could also call this book Football for Dummies. One does not need to obtain any prior knowledge of football to have the capability of completely comprehending the literature. There are very few actual football plays during the duration of this novel. The main hub of focus is on the hardship and obstacles the players must endure to meet the demands of the oil town of Odessa, Texas. Those demands consist of and only of winning a state championship and having a perfect undefeated season.
In all, I highly recommend this book to any sports fan. It takes anyone who reads it back to their high school days. One can relive the glory they once had in their high school days. It won the Pulitzer Prize and was named the fourth greatest sports book of all time by Sports Illustrated. I highly recommend this book.

I had originally heard of Friday Night Lights a while ago and thought, hmm maybe?? This September i entered my freshmen year at highschool and for our first semester project our English teacher gave us a choice of about 6 books. One of them was Friday Night Lights. I had only heard good things about this book, so I decided to give it a shot.

I started reading and soon was absolutely entrigued by this book, embersed in the story of "a town, a team, and a dream". You think of high school sports as being pretty important to the people who are involved, but Friday Night Lights expresses how football exclusively means the world to the whole town of Odessa. Friday Night Lights expresses such a passion, such a fantastic yet uncomprehendable lifestyle of the players coaches and town. The Permian Panthers are one of the best high school football teams in the state of Texas.

The Oil Boom in the 70's and early 80's made them the richest town with the best football team. But when the oil was gone, what was left? The Permian Panthers. That was all they had. The whole town depended on the outcome of the Permain Panthers. The whole gist of the book was every Friday night, under those "Friday Night Lights" the Panthers and their Mojo supporters, with their crazy cheerleaders and peppettes and overenthusiastic band would take on some "mother effin team" that dared to challenge the Permian Panthers football dynasty.

Every Friday night, whether in their home town or 500 miles away, thousands- yea thousands of supporters from Odessa would fill the stadium seats to watch the players anialate the opposing team. The team players were like gods. Every little boy that grew up in Odessa dreamed of wearing those sharp black and white jerseys, playing to represent the school and town.

A loss was detrimental. It resulted in hours upon hours of getting screamed at during the grueling Saturday morning practice after of how stupid their mistakes were, and how they wouldn't make it playing like that. Because of 1 game, a coach was on the verge of losing his job. People staked "for sale" signs on their front lawn, and vandalized their cars and houses. Their family would be looked down upon, the verbal abuse sometimes unbearable. However, after a win, a blowout or not, everything would take the exact opposite toll. People would be riled up the whole weekend. For some, including many players it meant going out to party and getting as drunk as they could, and for some it meant wether they were in a good mood or not.

Either or, the whole town was controlled, basically under a football spell. Sounds surreal and childish at times, but it's true. Friday Night Lights was an absolutely fabulous book, telling every story about the town, the team, and the dream of becoming state champions every season. H.G. Bissinger writes one of the best books I've ever read, which may sound odd because im only 14, but I think anyone who picks up this book will love and enjoy the story of the Permian Panthers and their football legacy.

This book is testament to the fact that finding a good story is only half the battle when it comes to writing a good book. In this case, Bissinger takes an undeniably poignant story and reports it in the format of a 300-some page magazine article, full of editorial vigor but utterly lacking in emotional substance. I found myself forced to imagine the struggle of the town and the football players in my own words because the author's were clearly not doing it justice. Bissinger stepped away from raw narrative only to make incessant stabs at convincing me of how bad the situation is, and how important it is that it be understood. Perhaps, one might argue, he was simply doing this to ensure that his story be appreciated. In doing so, however, he neglected to expose the true emotion of the town and its beloved players, inundating me with depressing statistics and dry, bleak description to the extent that I became disenchanted with it and was immensely frustrated in my incapacity to gain some sense of the real feeling of the town. Having read this book, I know that Odessa, Texas is a struggling town. I know that a great deal of pressure is placed on high school football players in this town, and that a culture has developed around high school football which is in many ways disturbing. But I have no concept whatsoever of how the people involved in this particular situation, analyzed in great detail by the book, actually think and feel, and thus I feel that I have learned very little. A disappointing read.

I would recommend the book Friday Night Lights by H.G Bissinger for teenagers and up. Odessa was a small town in West Texas and full of racism. Football was the one and only thing that brought that town together. Every Friday night, everyone in the town would gather together and watch the Permian High School, Panthers play football games. It is a time when they forget about all their problems and differences they might have. The team works extremely hard and this year after finally overcoming their racism problems and special attention was going to be given to Boobie Miles, one of the ten best quarterbacks in the state. All recruiters' eyes turned to Boobie at every game. But then things went downhill when this "star player" severely injured his knee in a scrimmage before the season even begun. The team knows they now need to work even harder, and so they do. Their record of their 1988 season was not as good as they had hoped, but they had to put that behind them. It all came down to the semifinals against the Carter Cowboys. This game was all that mattered right now and they had to forget about the rest of their season. They did just that, with ten seconds left in the game, Permian is down, but they still can come back. It is a very close game. A player from Permian then calls time out and they discuss their possibilities and strategies to win this game. Will all of their hard work pay off in these last few seconds? Can Permian High School win the game that will determine whether or not their season is over?

After overcoming the problems of racism and segregation, the races came together and were all aloud on the Permian football team. They formed an exceptionally good team. Although this book tends to drag on a little bit in the beginning it later becomes exciting and keeps you reading. Anyone who loves football or enjoys sports in general would like this book. It not only talks about football, but it also talks about racism, segregation, and life in a city that only gets along on one occasion, football. Anyone would enjoy this book and can learn from it as well, even if you don't know much about football.

The book, Friday Night Lights written by H.G. Bissinger first intrigued me because of the hit movie that is based off of the book. I thought it was an excellent movie but the book is definitely dissimilar.

H.G. Bissinger gives the reader a wonderful understanding of High School football in Odessa, Texas. Permian High School football players were treated like kings and were above the rules. Bissinger takes you through a season of ups and downs. When their star player, Boobie Miles gets hurt, the team is in quite the predicament. They bounce back because of teamwork and perseverance but the season still brings about some surprises. Although football is all the Odessians care about, it is not the only thing Bissinger shows. Bissinger teaches the reader about the oil economy, politics, racial tension, and especially the town of Odessa.

Friday Night Lights keeps you engrossed throughout the book and is a quick read. It is a good book that anyone of the ages 13 and up can handle with ease. You definitely don't have to be a football fanatic to be fond of this book. I think you should get a copy of this book and start reading A.S.A.P.

Ages 16 and up. Young football stars, the Permian Panthers, all working towards their fourth state championship in a matter of 10 years. This football team is from a high school in a town called Odessa in central Texas. Football is a huge deal in Odessa. Odessa is an oil mining town that was formed in the early 1900's. In a town that there is not much to love the citizens switched their love to the local high school football team. But the hope of winning a state championship all comes crashing down when star running back Boobie Miles suffers a horrible knee injury early in the pre season. It is now Mike Winchell's job to step up and live up to the expectations of his becoming a star quarterback. It is also up to the team to be able to step up and adjust to the loss of the great Boobie Miles. Whatever happens the team will never forget the strong bonds they established and the great friendships they will cherish forever.

Full of powerful emotional situations in the pursuit of a championship season, Friday Night Lights is a powerful, memorable book that could push you toward the great love of football that the residents of Odessa, Texas all share. With the great descriptions of the games and the tales of hardwork and dedication that all of the Permian panthers put in all for the love of the game. The book really does a wonderful job of making you feel like you are right along side the Permian Panthers on their road to state.

Walking through the halls of Permian High School in Odessa, Texas on a Friday during the football season is a sight high school football players wish they could live. What happens that night under the lights is a whole different story. High school football in Texas is considered a religion. For the town of Odessa, football is all they got.

Friday Night Lights by H.G. Bissinger brings you back when the Permian High School Panthers were the most hyped football team in the state of Texas. They had everything going for them, untill their star, Boobie Miles, went down with a faital injury. The team was then on senior quarterback Mike Winchell's shoulders. The author does a great job of showing how a single-minded town with a devotion to their football team shapes the community and inspires -sometimes shatters- the teenagers who put on the black and silver uniforms. I enjoyed the way this author wrote. He went into great detail to tell the reader how much football means to the community. I recommend this book to all football lovers and a reader who wants to learn about how teenage football stars live their life.

Bissing ,H.G. FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS, USA,

heart

Town library

Simply amazing, H.G Bissinger truly captures the thrill high school football in a book. AS look into the lives of the high school football players of Odessa,Texas, Friday Night Lights chronicles the emotions of players, games and the community of Odessa.

The detail of this book is amazing. From the very first page H.G. Bissinger uses impressive imagery to showcase Odessa. His diction paints a vivid image of the town of Odessa. as the book moves on to other topics such as racism Bissinger tends to sharpen his craft using min biographies from community members as flashbacks to keep the reader involved. The description of the games is just as pure. As a former HS football player and a huge fan of the movie I found this book very interesting. It kept my attention the whole way through. Personally I felt it was just as good if not better then the movie. it was nice to see how the movie and the book compared and differed. I would definitely suggest this book to anyone. Football fans or not. I think this is a great book for anyone who hasn't seen the movie. As someone who read the book after I saw the movie I would recommend that if you've seen the movie and haven't read the book this is a MUST READ. All in all, GREAT BOOK.

I taught high school for 38 years. This book was an eye opener. I thought my school put sports before academics but Odessa went far beyond the limit. I would constantly be asked by coaches to pass students in the name of sports. My reply would be no. Why'd don't you get someone to tutor him for the next marking period, then he can play. Or better yet start tutoring him way before your season begins. Perhaps that's why I wasn't well liked by coaches.

I am from Odessa Tx, and this book shows it as it is. The city of Odessa is made up of close to 100,000 people and they live and breath high school football. I lived in Odessa when this book was written and I know how it made us feel to hear that there would be a book written about one of our High Schools. I was also there when everyone found out what was written about the high school football team, but the one thing that hurt the most was he showed problems that the city of Odessa didn't think it had anymore. Making it look like we only carried about football and bringing out problems of the past. When you live in west Texas there is the only two things to look forward too. One is Friday night football games the other is another boom. While it shows how crazy a city can get over h.s. football, it never shows what it is like in a city after that one thing is taken away from us. But I do have to say the book was well written and makes me miss being home each year to see if they can find there way back to the state finals. If you want to see what football can do to a town or city in Texas this is a must read book. But don't judge the city of Odessa by this book.

H.G. Bissinger, an investigating reporter for the Chicago Tribune, feels the necessity to write an entire book on the traditions and segregation surrounding a single season with the Permian Panthers of Odessa, Texas. Being from a similar size school with a modified version of football madness, I felt a connection with the subject matter, but that is where my connection ended. Bissinger's background as a reporter is highlighted in his writing. The basic who, what, when, where, and why is covered in great detail. Bissinger sets out to prove some monumental point about the insanity of West Texas football but finishes with an extended new article. I left the book feeling let down as well as shocked by the actions of the town. Bissinger has done his research. With interviews with what seems like everyone in town, the reader has a better understanding of the feelings of all people. Everyone from the first Mexican- American school board member to the coaching staff is interviewed.I appreciate his throughness on such sensitive subjects like the obvious racism of the town. However, this style does not lend itself to an engaging plot. Bissinger has also uncovered an interesting side of what may seem to be a passionate oil town. Bissinger chose not to ignore the obvious racial undertones of Odessa. As a former Permian All-State running back commented on the destruction of the "Mojo" school spirit, "I blame it on the niggers' coming to Permian. People say you can't win without the blacks, but we did." This comment was made not in the 1960s but in 1988. The school was not actually integrated until the early 1980s. A divided community can only rally around one thing, "Mojo" football. This idea is beaten into the reader's mind by Bissinger's somewhat repetitive writing. Bissinger also chronicals the football season, game by game. He explains, hit by hit, the triumph and defeat of the players. I was amazed by his ability to cover all aspects of the game. Even when the events happen simultaneously. Bissinger records the Coaches' firery half time pep talk and the band's "hell- bent rendition of 'Gee, Officer Krupke'". I'm not sure if this made Bissinger a track star or if it hurt his credibility in the eyes of a reader. This book was interesting for me because it has been my brother's, a high school and college football player, favorite and revealed an exaggerated version of my own high school experience. This is not a book for everyone. The journalistic style did not grip my interest as other books have. If football isn't a topic of choice for you, or if you enjoyed Bissinger's newspaper style, try a Jon Krakauer book. (My personal favorite is Into the Wild.) Despite his blunt presentation, Bissinger effectively chronicals the life of a town, a team, and their dreams.

Friday Night Lights by H.G. Bissinger is a true story about the Permian State football team's1988 season struggle to win the state championship. Located in the small town of Odessa, Texas, football is life for the townspeople. The Permian Panthers are a powerhouse high school where football means everything to the students, teachers, and parents.
The book is primarily focused on the lives of five football players; full back Boobie Miles, tight-end Brian Chavez, quarterback Mike Winchell, linebacker Ivory Christian, and tailback Don Billingsley. Bissinger beautifully portrays the emotions of the players and the town, as he takes you inside the lives of the Permian State Panthers. He makes the reader feel like a die-hard fan as he shares the ups and downs of the Panthers season. The hardships and struggles can make the reader feel compassionate, and the humor can make the reader burst out laughing. Friday Night Lights was not only excellently written as a narrative, but it was also a fantastic movie, and television show.
Bissinger delves into in-depth facts about Odessa's history of football and its rich culture. He also shows that the people of Odessa are proud and loyal to each other. Bissinger also adds bits of foreshadowing and irony to enhance the book. He describes each of the main character's struggles dating back a generation.
Throughout the story, there is a lot of drama facing the high pedestal upon which the Panthers are put. The Panthers are fighting individual battles, other teams, and the expectation of perfection. Perfection was lost the previous season, and that builds the reader's compassion, while showing that the players are still just kids. They are kids that just want to please their town, and are afraid of defeat. The reader wants the Panthers to win, and as a team, they are nearly perfect.
Bissinger spent the entire 1988 Permian season in Odessa with his characters families, and learned what life really was like there. Bissinger describes the purpose of the book when he says, "When I first arrived in Odessa, I anticipated a book very much like tradition of the film Hoosiers. . . But along the way some other things happened - the most ugly racism I have ever encountered, utterly misplaced educational priorities, a town that wasn't bad or evil but had lost any ability to judge itself. It would have been a journalistic disgrace to ignore these elements. (363)" Here is the reason that Bissinger writes this book. Bissinger passionately describes each game with detail and emotion. The season turns out to be a roller coaster of twists and turns. The reader really does feel the emotion of the players. When Boobie Miles got injured in a game, the reader and players seem to experience a feeling of grief. After a loss we feel the sadness of the players, and after a win, the reader is ecstatic. During the game you won't be able to put the book down because you need to know what will happen next. My only critique of the narrative is that it goes into great detail of Odessa, but Bissinger forgets that the games and players are what the reader wants to hear about.
Bissinger creates compassion for the players by showing events from their childhood lives to their future dreams. The reader travels into each character's head and learns what football means to him, and how nothing else in Odessa matters. We also learn that the school has a system where students get a grade partly based on participation, which enables students to show up to class (without taking tests) and just get a passing grade. While some people think this system is unfair, this is life in Odessa, and the locals believe that football is above the system.
Bissinger ends this story by showing what each important player did after Permian State football. Each player chose different paths, but none of their paths included football. Some players forgot about football and worked hard at college. Some players went to college to play football, and then dropped out. All of the Panthers realized that nothing could compare to Permian State Football. Playing under the lights with thousands of adoring fans watching your every move, nothing could beat that. As one player put it, "Those lights become an addiction if you live in a place like Odessa, the Friday Night fix. (XIV)" This is the problem about living in a place like Odessa, where football means everything. I recommend this fabulous book because of the suspenseful thrill you will get while you read every chapter. This emotional true story really encompasses the sensation of playing high school football, inside the actual lives of the great Panther players. It is a riveting account of what football means to each and every player at Permian high school. I recommend this book for all sports fans, and readers that enjoy an exciting read.

As an American who grew up in the foreign country of Taiwan, where football is known as a sport where you kick a ball into a goal, "Friday Night Lights" opened my eyes and gave me a real taste of American culture. Set in Odessa, Texas, "Friday Night Lights" is the story of the select members of the Permian High football team, and the town behind them whose lives depended on their Friday night results. The few young men were worshiped by the entire town, often having 20,000 people in the stands during any given game. A true story about the Permian football program, which had the highest winning record in Texas at the time, was documented by H.G. Bissinger. This book is written with great style, where every loss of the team is a loss to you, every injury hurts like it was your own. All in all a great book, which has you wanting more and more after every chapter. I highly recommend it, and I hope you like it as much as I did.

For anyone who loves football and has the respect for the warriors that play it. H.G. Bissingers, Friday Night Lights is a book about a high school football team in a small town. In this West Texas town of Odessa, there is an itch for a State Championship and the fans think this is the team that just might do it. Everyone in the small town of Odessa is all about Permian High School Football. This book shows how a team can persevere and overcome adversity when star running back, Boobie Miles goes down with a ACL strain in preseason that shuts him down for the entire year. With an unproven quarterback leading the team, the season was in doubt. Nevertheless, with the heroism of Winchell, Chavez, Christian, Billingsley and many more the team shot it self into the semi final game versus the Carter Cowboys. A heartbreaking loss on the last play of the game put a sour note to a fantastic season for the Permian Panthers. Although one season came to end that night another was just beginning.

H.G. Bissinger has captured a sport that is almost a religion in the American South. The first time I got a taste of it was when I played minor baseball in the St. Louis Cardinals organization, in a small east Tennessee town in the tri-state (Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia) corridor called Johnson City. Large crowds filled our stadium all season, until around August 10, when the stands were suddenly half full. I asked somebody, "What gives with the attendance drop-off?" He pointed to lights beyond the right field fence.

"High school football practice has started," was his reply.

In researching my latest book, "The Turning of the Tide", the true story of how the 1970 USC-Alabama football game in Birmingham helped end segregation once and for all, I discovered a cultural ethos described by Bissinger in "Friday Night Lights". My conclusion is that prep football in America, and in Dixie particularly, explains much of what makes America great. Certainly, it helps explain why our military is the best in the world. High school football takes on a martial aspect to it not unlike imperial armies marching off to war. You have the pomp and circumstance, marching bands playing John Phillip Souza music, pretty girls cheering young gladiators, toughened for battle by field generals who direct their charges to take and hold ground until the objective is reached, and ultimately the foe has been conquered. Our military is full of former prep football players, and this is not a coincidence.

The lessons learned through youth sports far outweigh the negatives. The ability to navigate ones' way through a thicket of ups and downs in relationships, marriage, business and the like, are invaluable ones that few places, if any, teach as thoroughly as sports. Sports, as "The Turning of the Tide" will reveal, is not just fun 'n' games, but rather a mirror of society and often our best hope for it.

In "Friday Nigh Lights", Bissinger has effectively conveyed these messages in a way that is real and fascinating.

STEVEN TRAVERS

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Steven Travers is the author of "Barry Bonds: Baseball's Superman" and "The Turning of the Tide", the true story of how the 1970 USC-Alabama football game ended segregation in the South once and for. It is due out in fall, 2005.

Adolesence is perhaps the most important part of eye, it's where the mind and body learn and grow. In the book "Friday Night Lights" that idea is prevalent from beginning to end. Although, in the case of the people in the book they have to faster more then the common person. A whole team, young league boys that have the power to control the emotions of a town. The coach who is under heavy scrutiny and pressure to be nothing short of perfect. The book has the QB who has conflicting issues with responsibilities of being captain. A linebacker with a love-hate relationship for the game, the team must be perfect they can't lose and with every loss comes disappointment for the town. These boys are treated like celebrities, and some bask in the glory while others shun it. A very strong bond is established, and the players live and play for each other.

Being a football player I can't help but relate to the book, but I write thi opinion not as an athlete but as a kid going through life. Furthermore, this book reaches more than just athletes and the problems and emotions expressed are things all kids can relate too. As teenagers we tend to worry constantly about "What If's", but this book has taught me to live in the now and sieze the day.

Much to the regret of those citizens loyally remaining/liveing in Odessa, this book is produced. It accurately reproduces the sociological life and aspects of Odessans and their seasonal obsession, high school football. But it also vividly points out the prejudices and perils of growing up in a predominantly politically conservative area of Texas whereas excellance in academics was not a major focus of the Ector County Independant School District. I would know, I grew up there from 1960 to 1972. I re-lived the past with each turn of each page of Bissinger's outstanding and accurate account of West Texas and it's associate sociological consequences for it's youth. "Friday Night Lights, a Town, a Team, and a Dream" is a very accurate recording of life the way it actually was and to some extent, remains today in a town still in academic dire straits in West Texas. Take it from someone whos been through this and experienced all of those "Friday Night Lights" for 12 straight years, firsthand.

Firday Night Lights is a story about a highschool football team in Odessa Texas. Permian High was recently desegregated and now the town is being pulled together by the high school football team. This is a classic sports book. If you are a football fan and understand the game then I suggest that you get a hold of this book and read it from cover to cover. I promise that it will keep you completely interested. This is one of those books that you dont want to put down even if the world is falling down around you. If you are not a sports fan and are saying to yourself that you dont think that this is a book for you then think again. Not only is there the aspect of football in thsi novel, but it also tells stories on life. The town in going through many racial problems. Odessa is almost spilt down the middle. The rich white people live on one side and the poor blacks live in the run down part. The town is seperated by a big cement wall. It is interesting to read how football can impact a town to the point where they forget about their race and color and even go on to tear down the wall. This is a great book of many aspects. I highly recommend it to sports fans and any other person that would fine the racial aspect appealing.

I do recomend this book to readers at all ages, but before reading it, know that just because the book is truthful it doesn't speak for all people involved or about the community of Odessa, Texas. Yes in West Texas football is a religion....as said in many football books/movies about West Texas football these towns have made up their own unspoken rules, football is a way of life, no one questions the sanctity of football, they just try like hell to win and do everything that the coach says. The Permian Panthers "MOJO" program is different than it seems in the book, especially now. If you take into the consideration how far society of all kinds and places has come since 1988 you understand not to judge today's Odessa for this book. Also when reading the book you have to remember this man only lived in Odessa for a year, while most of the people he was writing about and talking to for reference were life citizens of this West Texas town. Don't think that this is all there is to Football in West Texas, although it begins to paint a perfect picture. Thank you for taking time to read my review.

For anyone interested in high school football, whether it's a player, parent, friend, or supporter, this book is must read. Even if you're none of the above you will come away with something from this book. One my personal favorites, it is gripping story about a small Texas town and the impact of high school football at all levels. Never a dull moment from start to finish, a book you will recommend to others without hesitation.

In terms of content, please reference other reviews. I am writing to talk about the way this book reads on the Kindle. I have a feeling that the original pages were scanned and converted to be read as an e-book, instead of typed as its own digital file.

The font is unusual for the Kindle, and is sometimes mis-formatted. The pages take especially long to turn, which goes against the store's attempts to "make the Kindle disappear" - it is a constant reminder that you are reading an e-book, as opposed to other books where you forget that you're reading from a screen.

I am a 2001 grad of Permian High School and I can say that I remember the East Side of town getting carried away with Permian football when I was younger. However, I do not remember any significant racism at all and didn't know what the "N" word meant until junior high. Odessa has changed dramatically since 1988 - the economy is much better, has more diversity, and has more stability than it used to; more businesses and corporations are coming to Odessa; our schools are much better academically; and our medical facilities are now some of the best in the state. Football also has a different place now. The Panthers have not been to the state playoffs since 1998 and have not had a winning season since then - in '99 they went 4-6 and in '00, '01, and '02 they went 5-5. This has been a mixed blessing because it has allowed other sports and also the fine arts to receive proper recognition. Friday Night Lights is a book about what Odessa used to be, not what it is now.

Football. The first image that comes to my mind is bulky uniforms, half-time shows, and crowds cheering. But is that really what football is just about? Not in this book, based on a real life high school football team.

The non-fiction novel Friday Night Lights, by H.G. Bissinger, depicts the real-life troubles of high school football players, but not just any. The Permian football players. Not only does this book have the action-packed, drama filled plot, but the cruel life of blacks set in Odessa Texas.

Odessa Texas. The place where this entire story takes place. A run-down town filled with discrimination, violence, and football. The story's focus profiles the lives of the 1988 Permian football players; a group of young mischievous high school students that altered the interaction of the whole of Odessa with just one football game. Just like that.

To be honest, I am not a football fan. In fact, I didn't even know that we had a super bowl this year until it was aired on TV. But when I took on this book, something immediately caught my attention. The fact that the author combined segregation with football. I've got to hand it to Bissinger, he took two unrelated, yet powerful topics, played around with them and there it stood. A masterpiece.

Friday Night Light's lead was fairly captivating. It took us through the roads of a run down town faced with economic and social problems. But even before that, it plunged right into the Permian football game. The author gave clear, intense quotes from the coach and in-detail observations, but I felt as if the settings were switching one after another. After getting past the lead, I felt the book gets much more interesting.

To talk about Bissinger's actual reporting, the quotes picked in the text created meaningful messages, almost like a story within a story. Although most of the quotes used crude language, it possessed a feeling that made the reader think from a high school student's perspective and made you feel as if you were on the sidelines of the field and watching the game.

Bissinger focused on one character in particular, Boobie Miles, a black high school student forced to face the fears of injuries and discrimination. Throughout the story, the author supplied information that kept on altering our views on this young football player. From arrogance, to empathy, to anger.

I would definitely recommend this book to anyone. Although I feel this book is targeted towards teenagers, the dramatization and emotional parts of this novel can keep anyone engrossed in it. A definite must read.

Ranked a #1 New York Times Bestseller and the "Best sports book of the last 25 years" by ESPN, Friday Night Lights by H.G. Bissinger lives up to it's reputation. If high school football, team spirit, and sports interest you, then you are in for a treat with Friday Night Lights. With just the right balance of statistics, story, and reporting, the novel is a true crowd pleaser.

The book follows the only reason people live in Odessa, Texas--its high school football team, the Permian Panthers. With vivid descriptions and exaggerations, the book transports you from the life of a Permian football player in Odessa, to the mind-boggling facts about Odessa itself. Not only do readers see the physical features of Odessa, it is as if they are truly there in Odessa observing. The author throws in character-developing anecdotes that make the reader empathize with all the characters including the Permian Panther football players, the Permian coaches, and ordinary citizens of Odessa.

During exciting parts, like the weekly football games, the author would suddenly stop the action. The story would slow down and zoom in on a certain aspect of the team. For example, the chapter titled "Watermelon Feed" the actual watermelon feed was brushed upon for a brief paragraph. While it is cleverly crafted, it often jumps from topic to topic which can make it confusing for readers to follow. Using clever diction, the author often uses the same paragraph and sentence structure and lots of repetition, which created an unfortunate monotone. It is extremely clear that the author did extensive research on Odessa and the football team.

The book does not resemble game reviews stapled together from old newspapers as one may assume. It offers facts, history, and little tidbits about Odessa and the football team that will leave your mouth gaping. So put your game face on and delve into the lives and the drama of the Permian Panthers as they strive to become Texan Football Champions. It's game time.

As a three year member of the football squad of Blue Valley West High School in Overland Park, Kansas, the stories from this book were very familiar. This book made me think back to all of the great times I had, the great friends I have made, and the many memories that I will never forget. The author, Bissinger, included many "behind the scenes" views of football, the game that I love. All the problems and events that happen in the Permian locker room, coaches office, halls, classrooms, and in the lives of the players, occur every day in schools everywhere.
I was thinking on the bus ride home from the very last game of my Junior year after a tough last minute loss, making our record 8-3....the best in 5 years. I thought about the state championship we won back in 2007, and why this year had to end like it did. I thought about the blood, sweat, and tears that every one of us had left on the playing fields. As we pulled away I realized that all the seniors would never step onto a high school football field to play again and that these days are now over.
I sometimes forget why I play football in high school. I bought this book and read it, it then became all clear to me and I remembered why I love playing. I thoroughly enjoyed it....laughed a little, and even cried a little.

Friday Night Lights
A Town, A Team, and A Dream
By H.G. Bissinger

By Cael Kiess

H.G. Bissinger spent over a year getting to know the people of Odessa, Texas. During that year he spoke with Permian football players, their families, and Odessa citizens in his attempt to write a book that told the story of how one team of teenage kids could inspire an entire town. Bissinger, an American journalist, has won the Pulitzer Prize, the Livingston Award, the National Headliner Award, and the American Bar Association's Silver gavel for his reporting. He is also the author of A Prayer for the City, and is a contributing editor at Vanity Fair. Bissinger did a great job accomplishing his goal of reliving the wild journey of the 1988 Permian football season and the struggles off the field. He vividly portrays the racism through schools in Odessa County, the oil booms, typical school days of Permian football players, the Mojo Fanatics, and Friday Nights in late August. One chapter, "The Watermelon Feed," really describes the passion and devotion of Permian football fans and Mojo Fanatics. Bissinger writes, "The faithful sat on little stools of orange and blue under the lights of the high school cafeteria, but the setting didn't bother them a bit. Had the Watermelon Feed been held inside a county jail, or on a sinking ship, or on the side of a craggy mountain, they would still have flocked to attend and support their team." This description allows me to feel like I'm actually there and helps me sense the amount of pride and dedication given to Permian football by the fans. He also gives a second look farther into the town of Odessa, off the football field, enhancing a better view of what was occurring in the town of Odessa and its neighboring towns. There were many highlights and struggles happening in the streets and classrooms that one would not be able to find out in just the movie. One weakness of the book is the possible effect of losing the reader through the ongoing descriptions and passages of events, people, and struggles in Odessa. There is not as much of the actual football games incorporated into the book as one would think from watching the movie. In the book, Bissinger does a marvelous job describing the life and events of the 1988 Permian football players and the Mojo fans.

When I first picked up this book, on my lunch break, I arbitrarily flipped to a page in the middle and started reading. I became so engrossed in it that I was late getting back to work from my lunch break. Such is the superb quality of writing that Bissinger brings to this book.
Friday Night Lights is about the Permian High School Panthers football team in the 1988 season. In Odessa, TX, they only "have two things - football and oil, and there ain't no more oil." Carried on the adolescent shoulders of the black-clad Panthers are the hopes, dreams, aspirations, and societal well-being of an entire community. The book focuses on the intense scrutiny and pressure placed on the players, coaches, and even families associated with the program. After a tough loss, the head coach can expect to have his house vandalized, his family verbally assaulted, and calls made for his firing. The student population of Permian is predominantly white, but the few black players imported from Odessa's poor, mostly black, south side are some of the team's most successful players. The book highlights the contrast in the white, wealthy suburban area Permian is located in against the older section of Odessa, populated mostly by blacks and Hispanics.
The book also profiles several of the team's star players. Some live for every single moment they can wear the Panthers uniform, while others are conflicted at having to play in such a pressure-cooker environment. Some are the lucky sons of Odessa's richest residents, bound for Ivy-League schools, while others come from painful poverty and broken homes. Odessa is portrayed as an entire city of broken dreams, devastated by the downturn in the oil industry where unemployment is high and crime higher. What holds the community together is the Friday Night Lights at Ratliff Stadium, where the Panthers do battle not only for team and school pride, but for the pride of an entire community and people. I cannot recommend this book more highly.

With the start of the football season I read this for the third time. I love football, but the lack of good sports writing about football is disappointing. This book is great not simply because of missing competition. It's simply a great book that would compete well against any sports book. In fact I would probably put it in my top five.

The complicated history of the pressure on these kids is lamentable, but, like many people, I still love watching the "amateur" football.

If your into sports stories that have underdogs pulling out the close games then this book is for you. In the story it's just not about football for this high school team in Odessa, Texas. Its a way of life for these guys and the whole town gets involved. But there is more to the story then just going out there every friday night playing a football game. Its about a group of boys fighting through the hardships of the season with their best player being hurt. It's about how the new coach has to perform and play at the level that the town wants him to play at or his job is gone. The book Friday Night Lights is a very inspirational book and i recommend that this book be read by any coach or player in any sport that does not believe in hope. Because this story here will make them see what a team can do when they lose the key to their team and how they rebound back from that loss. This book shows the outside life of a football player in the small town were the Permian Panthers play. In my mind this book is one of the best and I think sports people from around the U.S. should read it.

this is a great book! about the permian panthers a team known for winning. there looking to a state championship this nexy year and there football star boobie miles is looking to take them there. when in the first game boobie gets hurt and end his career. now the pressure is on the QB will he and the panthers make it the state and suprise ther town

Age 15 and up. Once again the Permian Panthers try to win state. The book is about a football team from a west Texas town of Odessa, where their whole lives are football and they never miss a game under the Friday night lights. After a failed attempt from the year before, Mike Winchell and Ivory Christian try to lead their team to victory. Throughout the season the team faces many hardships. From their star player Boobie Miles gets injured in a scrimmage and their loss to Marshall during the season.. They also face other obstacles like losing to teams. This book not only touches on football, but touches on racism and financial issues.

The book was extremely well written and keeps you interested throughout most of the book. There are times when the book gets kind of slow and sometimes I lost interest. The book has taught me not to give up like the team never gives up and they keep faith `till the last pass of the game. Overall I feel that Friday Night Lights was a story that sports fans should definitely read.

Ages 16 and up. H.G. Bissinger, winner of the Pulitzer Prize wrote this detailed book about a town (Odessa), a team (Permian Panthers), and a dream (State Finals). The town of Odessa is a town where many lessons are learned. Odessa is an isolated town who worships football and harbors a great team inside it. Within this motivated team are striving players that are faced with obstacles over their time playing with the Permian Panthers, the high school team. Boobie Miles for example, must overcome an injury that could trash his career. This book takes you through out the history of Odessa and the Permian Panthers season throwing life into the words she wrote.

Friday Night Lights is definitely a book to read because of its details and lessons that can be learned through out the book. This book gives another meaning to reading.

I must admit... I probably live in a cave since I had not seen the movie or the TV show. In fact I read this book figuring I was reading something uplifting like Remember the Titans. I didn't realize how much more than football this story really was. With that being said I found this story facinating. Buzz certainly paints a "colorful" picture of West Texas.

I enjoyed this book but agree with others that the author gets rather repetitive when he is talking about the society and "climate" of the area. I would have prefered a little more about the football... of course that is coming form somebody who was expecting a football book!

I thought this book showed an excellent example of why Texas is one of the worst states academically. All of the football players got a automatic pass. In most cases they didn't even go to class. I don't think that is the best thing for them because when they are through with football, they will have no future. A good example of that is Boobie, he injured his knee and didn't have any education for a good job. I believe it is good to have team spirit and a town the supports you, but school should come first. This book also has racism and discrimination it. Permian was mostly white and Carter was mostly black and they use a few choice words for each other about their race. The other students are discriminated by the football players because the student's have to go to school and do their work to earn their grades when the football players don't even have to show up. Dispite the way the events that took place, I thought this was an excellent book and I would recommend it to anyone who likes football.

I first saw this book when i was researching John Elway for my English Class. I saw it in the sports section and it kind of jumped out at me. As i began to read it, it hit home so much, because I too, just came off of a devastating highschool football season. The way the author was inside the story and his account of the team was perfect. The way the football team took winning to the extreme was intresting and almost shocking. The characters like Boobie, Winchell, Christian, and all the others are so well developed that it brought me right back to the lockeroom!
Even if you don't like football, I think that you would still enjoy this book. Not only is this book packed with ingame action from Permian's '88 football season, but it really shows how important highschool athletics are to small towns, and in this case, how crazy the town goes over it. I gave this book 5 stars because of it's way to bring the reader right into the season with them. It truely shows the emotion of Friday nights!

Friday Night Lights, by H.G. Bissinger, is a true story about a town, Odessa, and its obsession with football in the fall of 1987. Bissinger mainly focuses on Permian High School, which is the home to one of the best high school football teams in Texas. Being a football player at Permian High School has its pros and cons.
As a football player at Permian High, those four years may seem like a utopian experience. First, every starting football player there is assigned his own cheerleader for the season. Before every game the cheerleader decorates his yard thoroughly. The cheerleaders would act as their slaves. Second, since the high school concentrates so much on football, every player on the team is very skilled. Every player will most likely be asked to play for at least one college. Lastly, the majority of Odessa loves the football players at Permian High, especially the authorities. The police are very lenient toward the players and will let them get away with just about anything, such as under-aged drinking. However, with every pro there is a con.
There are many negative reasons for being a Permian football player. Most of the players on the team were not the smartest people. Many of the players took minimum requirement classes and would have a hard time passing those. Some players would ask the teachers to raise their grades in order for them to play college football. If the teacher did not do so, he/she would be hearing from the principal. The Permian football team thought thinks that they are untouchable. When some of the players are exposed to the harsh realities of life they are not as content as they used to be.
Permian High School represents a temporary Utopia for football players attending that school. The players love life until they find out that if they cannot play football in college they have almost no future ahead of them. Permian football has its good side and its bad side.

I read this book for my culture of sports class in high school. I'm not much of a sports fan, so I was reluctant about reading the book at first. However, as I started to read, I came fascinated by the world of Mojo and its characters. Even for someone who doesn't understand all the technical aspects of football, this was an emotionally charged book that was a lot of fun to read.

Bissinger provides an excellent inside look at high school football. The book really allows the reader to understand that the mood and attitude of a town mirrors the performance of a group of children. Not being from Texas, but another hotbed of H.S. football (Western PA) that has experienced similar economic conditions (the downfall of the steel industry), it is easier to gain an understanding of the book and feelings of the town and its people. I do believe that the tradition and gravity of football is at a much higher level at Permian than anywhere in the U.S. Remember, "All the Right Moves" was a movie based on the rivalry between Aliquippa and Ambridge in PA. An excellent read for the sports fan. I have heard about the movie; when will it be (or has it been) released?

This is a great novel about the West-Texas town of Odessa: a town that revolves around their high school football team, the Permian Panthers. The team that no matter what the year has a chance at a state title. Especially in the 88-89 season. Under the command of Coach Gary Gaines the players mess around until Friday night. Thats when all of East Odessa empties in to the Panter's stadium. This is a great story of a town, a team, and a dream of a state title.

I loved reading this book-once I got started, I could not put it down and I don't consider myself a fan of football at all. This book is an intimate look at one town's personality- but this situation occurs in towns across the country, the only thing that may change is the sport. The author does a good job at pulling the reader in and making them care about the players, coaches and the game...by the end I was in the stands too, hoping for the win. I was amazed at the townspeople's actions after a loss, the support that they show for a game, the callous treatment of players who are "finished". I'm from a small Texas town myself and it was an eye-opening experience for me. I think that anyone interested in society would want to read this book.

Being a high school football player as I am, this was one of the best books I have ever read. The title of the book almost explains it all. Even though the book doesn't tell a constant story and sometimes you may feel lost, in the end you'll be glad you've read it. It sets the standard in your heart for how much you should love a sport. This team is the winningest team in Texas high school football history. The town of Odessa which it takes place in is a high school football town, football is the only thing holding it together. Even all those of you that don't play or even like football will think this is a fascinating book considering how you never thought high school football could be this crazy. It is a true story that you'll remember forever. A great read, you'll be writing your own review!

In 1970, having won district and bi-district championships, my high school football team played the Odessa Permian Panthers for the regional crown -- and they creamed us. Most frightening was the crowd that came to Abilene from Odessa to watch the game. They wore solid black (Panther colors) and they were FANATICS. When the Panther band spelled "MOJO" on the field (I'd never encountered that term before) they went absolutely NUTS.
I finally understood the program a little better after reading Friday Night Lights, a terrific examination of the semi-pathological football infatuation in Odessa. And I can't believe the author would ever return there, if he valued his life, because he certainly did not paint a flattering picture. This book is WELL worth reading. Everyone who ever went to high school will glean something valuable from it.
Most touching and telling, I thought, was the scene at the end of the book, after the season had ended, wherein the coach took down the slips of paper showing the names of the seniors who were on the team that year, and unceremoniously dumped them into the trash can. That metaphorically demonstrated the entire town's ethos toward its high school football heroes. After they no longer played for the team, they were just plain trash like everyone else.

I believe this was a terrific book to read. It had lots of action action and surprises. This book is also a page-turner because you keep on wanting to turn the pages to find out if the team wins the game. It's also a page-turner it has a lot of foreshadowing. This is a wonderful book and anyone who loves football and plays quarterback will enjoy this book.

I'm a football finatic. Highschool, college, pro...it doesn't matter. I love watching the game and evaluating schemes, plays and players. I picked this book up expecting a great read about the many football games (and victories) the Permian Panthers went through. However, the first 2/3 of the book is all about the towns history along with the player's background. Too much is spend on racism as well. Get on with it! Lets hear about some of the football games. This doesn't even enter the picture until toward the end of the book minus a couple of quick glimpses in a couple of early chapters. Not worth reading if you are a sports nut who just wants to read about football.

This book i thought was good but was also boring at times. The setting takes place in Odessa, Texas. It's about a struggling High School football team who are expected to win but find it kind of hard. There are many characters in the book who mean something and one of those characters is Boobie. He is the heart and the soul of the team and he knows he's great and so does his team and his coaches. He gets hurt i think that was the downfall of the team. The book goes beyond football and gives the reader a lesson of the history of a smalltown in Texas who love football. the book is about having big dreams and having them come true.

I thought the book could have been better but no book is perfect. I thought it was intresting to see how one parent in the book hated his son because he wasn't like him when he played football. He wanted his to live the dream he got to live, but he didn't realize he had to let him have his own dreams. I would reccomend this book to most high school kids who play football. It's a good book and i learned more than just about football i also learned about the smalltown of Odessa.

After finishing Friday Night Lights, I was absolutely amazed. The job H.G. Bissinger does to capture the lives of the 1988 Permian Panthers is outstanding. To research this Bissinger lived among the team, including the books main characters, seniors Mike Winchell, Ivory Christian, Don Billingsley, Brian Chavez, and Boobie Miles, for a year to gain the knowledge he needed to capture these peoples lives.

Led by Coach Gary Gaines, the Panthers had a "responsibility to win, and protect the town," and did this by trying to make the coveted Texas Class 5 State Football Championships. The book is about medium length, and recommended to people old enough to understand the turmoil of a high school football player's life. I highly recommend this book, and the movie, to any fan of football, or reading. 10 out of 10.

I bought this book for my little brother (a high school football player.) I read the first few pages and decided to read it myself. This is the best "A Season with the Team" book I've ever read. Bissinger shows the dark side of the 'Texas football culture' which is a thing of myth to many of us in the northeast.

A real estate agent in the book says without football, life in Odessa wouldn't be worth living. The book tells how you must live through the Permian High School football team to understand life in Odessa. But you don't need to know football to enjoy this book.
Bissinger does an excellent job of being a fly on the wall throughout the community, on the field and off. An expose which, ten years later, still resonates.
Chartered jets for high school football? Makes sense in Odessa, apparently.

Friday Night Lights is not just another book for SPORTS LOVERS. This novel written by Bissinger is so much more. Behind the sweat and blood of this high school football team lies the brutal facts of Odessa, Texas. Sure the book gives a play by play look into life on the football field but it also an eyeopener to many other important issues. For example, the economic status of the town, the social values of the people, racism and prejucies of the town, and the real truth about high school education for athletes. This novel revolves around much more than a pigskin and tells no more than the truth about the same issues that have become problems for every "old-fashioned" town in America.

I read it a few years ago and thought it was a great synopsis of the "hype" of sports in America (and other parts of the world). I actually met a guy who played for Permian, and he affirmed everything the book said, and more. It's a shame that sports are put on such a pedestal at all levels. Yes, I think sports should continue in high school and college, but more emphasis should be put on academics. Currently the minimum requirement for playing interscholastic sports is a 2.0 average and a certain number of credits for high school, and 12.0 units in college sports. I think the GPA should be raised 2.5 or even 3.0, and the athletes can't just take "easy" classes, but the same ones everyone else has to take. Friday Night Lights is a good book for anyone who is a fan, current or former athlete, coach, or parent involved in sports on any level.

Shows how misguided a school, town, and even parents become with the thrill of the game and the obsession with winning. During hard times it may be the saving grace that prevents the death of a way of life. Loved the book.

I enjoyed reading Friday Night Lights and was also disturbed at where we have gone as a society with athletics in our school systems. I observed many similar mindsets within the communities where I have lived while teaching in Montana where athletics are the end-all be-all and education is second-fiddle within our schools.

Please do not get me wrong, I was a two sport athlete myself and enjoyed my playing time, but sometimes the tail wags the dog in our educational system.

I thought that this was a very inspirational book. it had a good story and excellent characters. it wasnt excatly like the movie which i thought was dissappointing but i strongly recommend both the movie and the book. i thought that the desire these players had after the injury of boobie miles. they played so hard and with so much heart to make the playoffs and to win a state championship. this is probaly the best sports story and definitly best high school story of all time. i am not a big reader or even a big fan of reading but this book touched me deep down and gave me a special feeling inside. this is by far the best book i have read. this book is absoultly magical. the movie is also excellent one of my favorites and trust me i no what a good is. go get the book and the movie

In the book Friday Night Lights the super star Boobie Miles gets injured in the beginning of the season. It teaches a good lesson because they go to the stat champion ship with out their star player. I also like Friday Night Lights because when ever there is a game. The whole town goes to the game.

All the eyes were on Boobie. He was getting Scholarships left and right. (Penn State, USC, Texas) The Permian Panther were killing a team. Boobie already had at least 5 touchdowns. So they put Boobie in. What do you know. He got injured. All the eyes were on him. He had got a helmet right to the knee. He limped off the field. The whole stadium was quite. All what was going threw coach Gains mind was; What I'm going to do my whole season is done. Just about everyone was thinking that. He was out for the rest of the season. But the team kept there the composer. They lost the first game without Boobie. it wasn't looking good. But the stayed calm, and went on to the championship against Dallas Carter.

I also love the book Friday Night Lights because whenever their is a game, everyone in the town goes to the game. Its almost like the town shuts down. Every game is jammed packed, and always in for a good game. Its no other sport than football in Odessa. Every shop in the town was closed. All the town signs say GONE TO THE GAME. I which I lived there. I love football.

I hope you will read this intense high action book. You will love it.

Friday Night Lights. Such a captivating, poignant title. And what a great book. I had a difficult time putting this down. Bissinger's recount of his journey to west Texas, to the heart of high school football country, makes for a fascinating commentary on small-town America, and on the impact that these 16 and 17 yr olds can have on the lives of an entire community. I'm a huge sports fan, but football serves as a mere backdrop in this book. The most interesting aspect of the story, in my opinion, is the social commentary on Odessa and neighboring Midland. Bissinger writes extremely well.

My English teacher recommended this book to me and when I started reading it, I couldn't set it down and I'm not one to read. Playing on a high school football team (P.C. Pirates) where I play football in a very good conference I can't even imagine the crowd itself. Then the way these guys played without a heart was insane. Since, I come from Texas I knew that football was really big but not this big. It was truly amazing to read that the Odessa (a town) revolved around the Permian Panthers (the football team).
I would completely recommend this book to everyone I met. This book is truly the best book I've read by far.

"Friday Night Lights" is not just a great sports book, but an incredible piece of journalism and storytelling. Anyone who knows what high school football is like in Texas will appreciate the way Bissinger captures the town of Odessa and the players and fans of the Permian Panthers.

From Boobie Miles to Gary Gaines to boosters and the like, this book covers every aspect of the Permian football program and the town as a whole. It deals with more than football -- it also says a great deal about race, religion and other culture issues.

Bissinger's writing is excellent, but what makes this book great is how it shines light on real people. It is a read that will draw you in quickly if you can relate to the story. Even if you can't, it likely won't take long to understand the allure of the book. It is deep, entertaining and worth the long read.

I came into this one with high expectations, especially since I lived in Odessa for a short time in 1986 on a job assignment. Talk about a bleak and desolate place...But I was truly amazed at the hubub around the Panthers. I think that was Gary Gaines first year. I remember the dead-red build up before the Lee game. Saw it all firsthand as a very temporary transplant.

The book was a dissapointment. Okay, but not great. Maybe he should have just written a book about Boobie. He didn't talk nearly enough about the games, for instance. Probably half the book is devoted to off the field issues. Racism, favortism, school system, ect. The rest is Boobie, Boobie, Boobie. Could have been so much better. A letdown beacause it came off as some kind of expose piece.

This book helps you understand what the game means to your kid. You must understand that to understand his sacrifice.
My wife and I moved to Texas in 1980. We had a daughter age 5 and no sons. We moved to Plano, Texas, a suburb of Dallas, which, in many ways became the Odessa of the 80s and 90s (Permian was one of the two high schools). By the time we read the book, our older son was already playing Jr. High football. And, I asked my wife, "What did you think?" Her reply, "I don't think I want our son playing high school football in Texas." It was too late. He loved the game ...still does. As a senior his Plano East Senior High Panthers were state quarterfinalists. I cannot count the the tears that were shed the night they were eliminated, nor can I count the joyous moments of that year. I cry when I see the cover of the book ...15 years or so later in another city ...that was my son. He now plays for Baylor University.
This book helps you understand what the game means to your kid. You must understand to understand his sacrifice.

Wow, this book opened my eyes to football. It follows a Texas team through the season (the same year as my senior year of high school.) And, after reading this, I think football should be illegal for anyone under 18. Even without all the concussion stories, it just puts too much pressure on young kids and hurts them both physically and spiritually.

Schoolboy football knits together the West Texas town of Odessa in the late 1980s. But as Permian High grows into a dynasty, the locals' sense of proportion blows away like a tumbleweed. A brilliant look at how Friday-night lights can lead a town into darkness.

I have read many great sports novels in my time, Fall River Dreams, A Season on the Brink, but this book is hands down the very best piece of work i have ever read. The story is awe inspiring, at times unbelievable, depressing, and humurous. Many people see football as nothing more than a game, but Bissinger does well in portraying football as a way of life in Odessa. Dreams are made and broken through Odessa football. Its a cycle with the children of Odessa being used as a vehicle by their parents to relive the glory days of their past. Football is worth more than gold there, and that is exactly what this book will make u feel.

I would have to say that this book was pretty good. The way it went into detail on the players and what they were all about was great. It kind of makes you realize, that those kind of small towns really do cherish there football.

Being from a small town myself, I know what they mean. I go to football games on Friday nights, and the little kids, like second grade, are already wearing there Clinton Massie Falcons jerseys. The games are always packed, and when the game goes right, the fans never stop talking about it until the next Friday. It's really weird, because before this book, I would have never realized how big of a part of the town that football is.

I think the book could have been a little more involved in football instead of the history of Odessa and all that, but for the most part, it's a good book. I'm not one that really enjoys reading, but this book was interesting enough to allow me to finish.

Cody,

Clarksville, OH

Bissinger captured the reality of Permian High School very well. If you ever meet a PHS alumnus, he will probably tell you this book is a pack of vicious lies. It is the absolute truth. Bissinger lived in Odessa for about a year doing research for this book. The town thought they would be glorified. Instead, they were exposed. Most Odessans felt that Bissinger betrayed them. What he did was write exactly what he saw. How do I know, you ask? I graduated from Permian High School in 1993. I highly recommend this book. It gives a startlingly real picture of what many American teenagers deal with on a daily basis. It's not pretty, but it's the truth.

This book is the whole truth, full truth, and nothing but the truth of corruptive competition in high school football. Sure it happenned in Texas, but the same deeds occur elsewhere. Beside the Bible this is the second greatest book ever writtedn.

I am a high school football coach, and I found Friday Night Lights to be a disturbing view of how we push kids too far. More importantly, though, it is about a town where most people think and act a like, where the only constants are death, taxes, and Permian Football. The chapters about the bust and segregation were struck me because Bissinger writes strongly, and backs his findings with people's actual acconts. Anyone who enjoys football will enjoy reading it. I've never been to Texas, but I fell in love with Mojo. It's the kind of pride I wish all towns could have.

Friday Night Lights is a very interesting book, H.G. Bissinger. If you are very into football, and statistics on football, then this book is for you. Although this book does not have very much football involved in it, it still gives you a good view on the outside life of a football player. Since this book was turned into a movie, you can watch that, because there are differences between the book and the movie. If you think that this book is all about football, then you are wrong, and possibly this book is not for you.

In my humble opinion, the movie is much better than the actually book. This is because, in the book, it tells you of the lives of the kids, and not so much about those Fridays that they play football on. The main story in the book, is about what is going on in between each game, and how the survive those days before their big games. Every now and then, the football players do something that would normally get them in trouble, but they always seem to find ways to get out of all of it.

Problems are constantly occurring for the football players at Permian High. These are happening on and off the field. Occasionally, these certain problems were able to be repaired, but some of them were life long issues, such as injuries that appear during games, and around them.

Most sports books are a lot like Friday Night Lights, because it still shows what the reality of playing a sport or many sports is. This is a good book if you are a casual reader, given as much time of reading that you like. This is a pretty easy book to read, and will not take a lot of time to complete. I do recommend this book to adults, because younger kids may find it boring.

20 miles up I-10 is Midland, Texas. Home of 20 percent of the Nation's natural oil reserves. I grew up there in the late 70's and early 80's. Odessa was about beating the daylights out of Midland, because Odessa was a working man's town. If you had another high school's bumpersticker on your car, you had a good chance of being hit by a Mojo fan. To this day that school has one of the nicest football stadiums you'll ever see. so I see that fanaticisim in the book and also in the recent hit Varsity Blues. When it's over....it's done, and so are you.

With great compassion, Bissinger reveals the overwhelming dysfunction and damage inflicted by this institutionalized obsession with high school football. This is not a beach read. It WILL upset you. But it contains great heart and fabulous prose. As someone who discovered the book only after watching the tv show, I was glad to get the background.

Find more great books that became tv shows here: [...]

Friday Night Lights by H.S. Bissinger is one of the best, if not the best book I've ever read. I picked up the book from my library at school to read for my Junior English class, and found myself not being able to put it down. I expected a regular football story with twists and turns, but I got a story that went beyond football, and into the very lives of the players from Permian High School in Odessa, TX. This is one of few books that have kept my attention for it's entire length, and I highly recomend it to anyone at any age, for it is a story that all can appeal to.

I could not put the book down. It brilliantly wove together football, politics, history, and economics. I think Bissinger got an accurate feel for the culture of Odessa. Having been born in Crane and raised in Odessa, I felt that he had discovered and portrayed the people of West Texas, although he overemphasized some topics with a liberal Yankee slant. I graduated from Permian, didn't play football, but was caught up in that culture, and after having moved away, began to see it as a kind of madness or silliness. The book brought back many emotions. It was very well written.

I thought this was a gr8 book. It really hooks you. I would n't suggest this book for kids any lower than 6th grade. It took me a while but it's good. It would be a great goft for a young sports freak like me.

Sincerely,

ESPNFREAK

This novel was one of the best sports novels that I have ever read. The book showed what high school football players really experience everyday. It showed that you only are as good as your team not your best player. The book combined the life of the players with the ever changing world that they were facing in Texas. This book has to be one of the best true accounts of a high school football teams dream of becoming the Texas State Champions in one of the hardest football confrences in the nation. This book will inspire future generations for a long time to come.

The others reviews capture the positives. I'm from a place just about as opposite from Odessa as can be (Berkeley, CA), but I felt he was a little rough on the town, maybe courting controversy a bit.

What is absolutely so wonderful about this book, though, is it feels incredibly true and yet works out so dramatically. The movie sucked in comparison. I loved how he blended the setting into the book.

I am from Odessa, and I believe that people are wrong for thinking that this is all we care about. I went to Permian, and I loved it. I was at all the football games,and part of the pep squad. Not because someone made me join or go to the games,it was what I wanted to do. There are many people here in Odessa that are not racist. Sure many people go to church, and are religious, but there is nothing wrong with loving god and faith. We have so many people from different states, countries and religions, come to Odessa and tell us that they have never met such nicer, down-to-earth people ever. Some have even made Odessa their home. So, sure we love football, religion, and being friendly to others. But, I guess that is just how we West Texans are. People portray us one way, and you believe them. You will never know how we truly are until you visit our town. Odessa is not a very big town, but we have nice people, good community, and alot of dirt and heat. Which I like. So please think of the consideration of others and don't always believe everything you read. Like I wrote before, some is true and some is not.

Friday Night Lights was one of the most entertaining and interesting books I have ever read. Its not just about football but how the town of Odessa, Texas lives and dies with every pass, run, and firstdown. Just to give you an idea, perhaps the most interesting part of the book was the discussion of the school budget, which showed some insane amount of money like $70,000 dollars spent on football to just $5,000 spent on the English department. This book is about much more than a football team, it is about the personalities that make a community.

This book is good, but not great. Listening to the rants and raves of Bissinger's politics is painful, but it can be battled through if you're patient.

I was excited to read this book, to learn about the lives and the environment of football in a completely different context than the rest of us can witness. The excitement quickly dwindled as the author lost track of the actual story, and puts his own "journalistic" spin on the entire story. In the epilogue Bissinger claims that he had to report what he saw, as he had to be the responsible journalist, and from his writing it is clear that he is a typical, one side of the story journalist. Normally, I wouldn't let his clear bias affect the quality of the football story, but it became impossible to ignore, after chapter after chapter of clearly one-sided views of western Texas.

He openly mocks the fervor that the Odessa area has for George H. Bush page after page, who was running for President during this time. He makes fun of the lack of Democrats, the Texas religious beliefs, and the conservative values as if it's a complete crime that Texas supports one of its own. He doesn't even mention that Bush lived in Midland until halfway through the book, after chapters of mockery.

His view on the oil industry is completely laughable. Again, he mocks western Texas for being so foolish as to support Ronald Regan, who acted as a villain to western Texas by - ready for this - lowering oil prices. Bissinger thinks that lowering oil prices is a travesty that deserves the harshest of penalty, and that Texans are gullible for believing in the free market. If George Bush acted this way, would he be treated the same today? I wonder what Bissenger's attitude toward lowering oil prices would be now?

The football aspect is done well, with the lives of the football players, how much Permian football means to them, and the troubled and sometimes tragic life in Odessa, Texas.

H.G. Bissinger takes you on a wild ride of a West Texas High School football team, the Permian Panthers. As the town goes through highs and lows of a staggering oil base economy, the Panthers show great success and perserverence to win game after game. On their epic quest for the state championship, the town, the team, and the coaches deal with obstacles varying from race to education to financial status. Bissinger shows readers how it truley feels to be a Panther.

Although this was a quick read with many moments of high drama, the story at points tended to be a little repetitive and could be compared to that of a textbook. With that in mind I would recommend this book to anyone in high school or above.

This is the best nonfiction book I've ever read. Once I started reading, I couldn't stop. Exciting from the beginning to the end. It's amazing how much pressure is on these kids to win. A must read for all football fans.

the city i play high school football in has a great football team, it also has money, shopping, and entertainment. but for the small town of odessa in west texas they only have two things, oil and that thing called football. with all of the oil running out i guess that leaves one thing left fooball!!! any highschool football player in the world would kill to have a fan base like the panthers do. this story tells about the panthers 1988 championship run. the football team overcomes a strict coaching staff, cocky teammates, and injuries to make it as far as possible against the toughest football teams in the nation. this story makes you want to go suit up and hit somebody.

I really enjoyed reading this book and it really touched me. The story about the Permian Panthers of the 1988 season is a story how only life tells it: Real, emotional and very sad. In my opinion it is a tragic story but it also shows how much sports can give to people and even a whole town. Boobie Miles, Mike Winchell, Don Billingsley... you start to feel for those guys and you will love them. And their dream, painted in a wonderful picture by Bissinger.

In the book "Friday Night Lights" by H.G. Bissinger, a small town of Odessa,Texas is rounded around football and n the year 1988 the team i prospected towin state. But they encounter many problems including losing their best offensive playrer Boobie Miles.The Permian Panthers go to get to the quarter finals and have some trouble beating some of the best teams ever in the state of Texas. It is an incredible bok of how a team can be formed and how they form together to go all the way. Even though they lose in the state game, they still made it their with flying colors and have absoolutely nothi got be ashamed of."One town, One team, One dream."

Awesome read. Some stories in this book will make your jaw drop !! The stories involving the Carter Cowboys one of the teams they faced in the play offs will shock even the most jaded of us. GO MOJO !!!!

I found the novel Friday Night Lights to be an excellent portrayal of the ugly side of a great sport. The truth of the matter is that football has a lot to teach the peolpe who play, things like teamwork and dedication. Can this be taken too far? Obviously, and that is where FNL shines. It is an excellent, well-written cautionary tale that shows people involved in the sport where the line that should not be crossed is found.

I agree with what was presented in this book such as athletes being overworked and not concentrating on what really matters in life, especially after high school football, but the way it was presented was disturbing to read. To me, this book was simply Bissinger's journal romanticizing high school football. The novel has no real climax, being repetitive in many places. While the topic of segregation among athletes and citizens of Odessa might prove interesting for some, it did not provide excitement for me.
It is clear the point being made in the book is that parents are raising their children to become high school athletic machines, and because of this, they end up having a very limited future, unless of course that machine is good enough to move onto the college level. There is no concentration or push for the athletes to excell accademically; therefore, if they don't succeed in sports, they end up working on an oil field. All of these points are interesting and true in life, but it is just not stated in a way that I would like to sit down and read about for 250 pages.
If you are like me and do not like reading glorified journal entries, then I do not recommend this book.

The book, Friday Night Lights, began with Odessa, a small town in Texas, that experiences the booms and the busts of oilrigging. The one thing that thrives in this town is Friday night. It's when thousands of people flock to the football stadium and wait in anticipation for their heroes known as football players. The new season is rolling by and the people hope to see great things from young men like Mike Winchell, Boobie Miles, and Brian Chavez, the name-players of the Permian Panthers. Through the book, these people, as well as the entire town, experience the thrills of winning, and the swift penetration of losing. soon, the whole town will feel the might of football and endure its influence on them.

Full of wild tangents and enormously redundant details, the Friday Night Lights i had expectations for, weren't turned on. The author talked way to much about the town itself and so much about its people. He rambled endlessly about the oil booms and busts, but he rarely mentioned the people, namely the main characters, at the present time. He used excessive detail about oil investors, bank managers, and the Bush administration. It was all so repetitive. the minor characters to the lead role in the story. The only thing that kept the story from sinking into a sea off despair were the football games. His unwarranted need for detail paid off when describing how intense the games were. If only the rest of the book could use this formula to its advantage, instead of becoming a mediocre novel about a dilapidated town where the minor characters rule.

One of my most favorite books of all time!!! The way the author tells the story of high school football in Texas in the late 1980's...I could read this book every year during football season and not get tired of it

Although I was a Classics major, I took enough courses in Linguistics and Humanities that when it came time to apply for my teacher's license, I was granted a minor in English. I had to give myself, therefore, a crash course in literature, especially American literature. I read such works as Sinclair Lewis' Main Street, Sherwood Anderson's Winesburg, Ohio, Stephen Leacock's Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town (Leacock was Canadian, but he still counts), Garrison Kiellor's Lake Wobegon Days, and works by such great Southern writers as Welty, Cauldwell, Faulkner and O'Connor, not to mention the poetry of Robert Frost. This list is not complete, but it does show my literary exposure to small-town life.

I am by upbringing a City Mouse or Town Sparrow; I do not like not being able to walk or ride my bicycle almost everywhere I need to go, and to go too long without the feeling of pavement under my feet makes me uncomfortable. I also dislike American football with a passion. I'm not sure who said it, but I agree: it "combines the two worse aspects of American life--violence & committee meetings."

Have I ever lived in a rural or small-town setting? Yes; three times. The first time was when I taught high school in Greenfield, Ohio for a year; the second was after I finished my MLS from Kentucky and was unable to find a job, and lived with my parents' in Heber Springs, Arkansas; the third when I took a position at Andrew College in Cuthbert, Georgia. It is very hard living in such places if you are single, educated, and neither Baptist nor Methodist. I hated it; I hated the poverty (both economic and intellectual), the narrow religiosity (I am a Christian, but American Evengelicalism as practiced in small towns, particularly in the South, is something which with I have strong theological disagreements), the lack of cultural amenities, the racism and sexism, the insincerity and hypocrisy, and the isolation.

I found all of this and more reflected in the book, only more so. As everything in Texas is bigger than it is anywhere else--or so any Texan will tell you--so Odessa is a much larger small town than any of the three I cited above. But the same ethos exists; I saw almost all of it--if on a smaller scale--in the three places. I have been in Midland/Odessa, briefly, having interviewed for a job at UT/Permian Basin; I knew halfway through the interview that even if they offered me the job, I wouldn't take it. The job itself was OK, but I couldn't see living there.

<=====Odessa, TX

Civilization======>

That is the impression I got from my brief visit, and nothing in the book has lead me to doubt it.

The treatment of the HS football players seemed to me little better than child abuse, particularly in the case of the young man called "Boobie". (At least they didn't spell it with a 'y'!)

And the racism! I won't say that where I came from there were and are no racists, but at least they knew enough to be at least a little bit ashamed of it and to try to hide it. Good 'Christian' folk of Odessa, are you not familiar with the Scripture that says that God has made 'of one blood all the nations of men to live together on the earth' (Acts 17:26) and that 'there is neither Jew or Greek [or as you might say 'neither White nor Black'], neither bond nor free, neither male nor female, but all are one in Christ Jesus'? Can you not see that racism is, therefore, an offense before God?

And you who would post the Ten Commandments on your schoolhouse walls, have you not them posted on your hearts that you can see that in your excessive and immoderate devotion to and exultation of high school football--harmless in its proper place, but come on people, it is a game, it is something one should do for fun--you are violating at least the first two Commandments, and possibly, in the pre-game prayer, the Third? And that the academic coddling and resulting dishonesty is a violation of the Nineth? That you can't or won't see it--is it invincible ignorance, willful blindness, or just plain old hypocrisy?

I am giving it three stars for the quality of the writing.

I read the book and Just got to see an advance screening of the movie. I was blown away, the movie is excellent. When a Movie can make you laugh, cheer, and then cry in 5 minutes you know you have a winner. I played High School Football in Texas and Permian actually beat us in the State Championship game in 1991(priest holmes was on our team). I recommend this to everyone my wife hates football but loved this movie.

This book takes a seemingly innocuous subject- high school football- and shows how it becomes intertwined with every aspect of life in a "typical" U.S. town. It is a pleasure to see an author know his subject so well. I would like to see a follow up ten years after the story to see where the characters are now and if the town has changed at all.

This is a fabulous, thought-provoking book. It's been almost 20 years since the season chronicled, so who knows what Odessa is like today, but so many of the issues of class, race and exploitation are still so relevant. One of my favorite books.

I thought that Friday Night Lights was a great book that can relate to not only football players, but basically to anyone. The book begins by telling how the town is behind and supports he high school team. The football players get ladies to run around and run errands for them. As the book goes on it follows the team thourought their season an all the injuries and distractions each player has to deal with.

I loved the TV show. I was expecting the book to be something like it. It isn'tanything like it. You can see that some of the TV characters are based in small part on the people in the book...but that's about it. But it is a fine book about HS football.

I used this as a reference and interviewed the author several years ago for a short documentary on the subject of Texas and football; found the book to be entertaining in its delivery as well as accurate; obviously it does not cover all sides of the issue but does an admirable job of conveying the emotion behind the zealous committment to football in Texas

Having first seen the movie, I was prepared that this was not a starry-eyed wholesale endorsement of high school football, but I was still thrilled when my wife surprised me with a copy to read.

I have never been so dissapointed with a book on football, or all of sports for that matter. I enjoyed Next Man Up and A Civil War, due to Feinstein's balance between negative and positive lights on the game. Bissinger, in Friday Night Lights, shows no such balance.

He does not "follow the season" in any logical fashion, sometimes skipping entire games, and spends a chapter instead focusing on national politics. Honestly, you'll see the name of Michael Dukakis more than you will the name of Permian's starting quarterback.

I love football, I love high school athletics, and found this book to be very annoying. Check it out in a library before you spend your dollars on it.

Ages 12 and up, Action, Suspense, Drama, and of course football everythign you need to make a #1 seller. Friday Night Lights bye H.G. Bissinger explains the Life of a 1988 Texas Football team, the boys of Permain High go through thier football season with high hopes, but in a pre-season game thier star runnign back Boobie Miles gets hurt, with a running back down, the boys over come all the hipe and come out with a bang.

I know about the high school football craziness of the South region. Insane! This book brings me memories of my old grounds in Alabama. Strange for a Spaniard to be there but people were nice and cheery.

Bissinger brings that attitude into my life through hsi writing. Better of course than the movies but Billy Bob is cute :)

I think you could read this in three days.

Bissinger, a northern journalist, sets off to Texas to find out what it's like to live in the football crazed town of Odessa. Sounds cool, right? It probably could have been, but you constantly get the feeling that the author is intentionally looking for any sign of racism, sexism, and every other ism he can find. This is very annoying. Bissinger is not completely against the coming-of-age experience football brings to young Odessa men and he seems to appreciate the way football can pull a community together, but he never seems to really escape his typical North-Eastern liberal biases. This is probably not his fault because the only way a major publishing company would have wanted to produce a book like this was if it upheld the "politically correct" point of view and judged anything from the south with a snobbish better than thou arrogance. I think Friday Night Lights could have been a great book if it was written by someone from the South, not an outsider who spent a few months of his life there.

Also, for those of you who are hoping for a "storytelling" that resembles the script of the Friday Night Lights movie or television show, this is not what you are getting. Instead, you have a few quotes and character background descriptions, some day-to-day observations by the author, and a lot more history lessons than you bargained for. Too bad. I would have enjoyed this book much more if it was an actual story, not an academic piece.

I would recommend this book for anyone, of any age, because it would teach younger children about the wonders of football, and what it feels like to live in a racist town where the people only like you if you take their team to a championship. And for the older ages this book is very good you will not want to set it down, it will entrance you.

Interesting perspective on big time high school football in Texas. The personal stories and the impact on lives is not something we think about. The reader grows close to all the characters and wishing the best.

This is such a great read! I grew up in Texas and I really feel I understand the facination with high school football much better after reading this gripping book. I suggest reading the book before seeing the movie. Both are great, but the book is even more powerful.

This is truly a classic for sports fans or any high school athlete or former athlete who ever took there high school years of playing seriously. You can feel the passion the town has for the team and the passion the team has for the town.

I dont even like reading usually but this book was so good and ingrossing that I could not put it down. HG Bissinger makes you care about the individual boys on this football team. This book is full of twists and turns and is well worth reading.

The book was true. I knew a lot of the people in the book. In fact, the doctor who delivered me (the first person to whack me on the rear) is in the book. The people of Odessa hated the book. They love the movie though because the movie is fiction. There is finally a webpage where people can get official Permian Panthers gear: [...]

I really enjoyed reading this book. I would definitely recommend this book to other people that I came across. The author used a captivating vocabulary. With each chapter I read tyhe more I wanted to read. The book was absolutely awesome.

This is truely an amazing book written wonderfully so as to capture the reader and place him on the team himself. I haven't read a better book anywhere dealing with the issues FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS deals with.

Growing up, most evenings - especially in the summer - we would go to bed before dark. Every Friday, however, we stayed up a little later and adjourned well after dark. On these special evenings and to calm little imaginations, we used our Friday night lights.

For this reason I was especially excited to read this book. I expected a sentimental story, dealing with the dilemmas of childhood. I wanted a tale addressing the no-mans-land between no longer being a small child but not yet an adolescent. What I got was an inane book about high school football.

Note to all prospective readers: the title refers to stadium lighting, not to small room lights used on certain days of the week.

Sometimes, I fear, I just don't get it.

I bought this book for my 14 year old son to read for his independent reading journal in English. He had seen the movie and loved it. He is hooked on the book now - hasn't missed an English reading journal yet!

I must say I just started this book, and actually I'm not a huge football fan. However, if this book is half as good as the movie or a tenth as good as the TV Series, then it is definitely a must. I'll write a full review once I finish it.

A Father's Day gift to my son, along with the DVD of the movie based on the book. He read this book as a youngster in school, and did a book report after reading the book. Actually, he did a book report multiple years based on the book, bad boy! Needless to say, he loves the book and the movie.

Deals with the sociocultural context of a sport as any classic sports book does (viz. THE BOYS OF SUMMER and more recently THE LAST BOY)...In this regard I believe that there is a Pulitzer Prize out there waiting to be awarded to the historian/journalist who writes the definitive biography of Peewee Reese of the Brooklyn Dodgers.

I played on this team.

The book is a good read, but don't believe all the nonsense Bissinger throws out there. He dramatizes much of the story. The racism is overblown, Boobie Miles was never that great, and despite what he thinks, competition is a good thing.

i thought that this book was just ok. it was just a meteocre book for me. yes, it is a good representation of big town fame and spotlight in a small town. it just did not hit the spot for me thats it.

Boring and repetitive. Was way too long. What really spoiled it for me is the author, supposedly a journalist, could not keep his personal political views out of it. His rant against president Reagan epitomized the liberals penchant for mindless, fanatical criticism. It's like criticizing Hank Aaron for his strike-outs. Bissinger should go to work for the New York Times - he would fit right in with the closed-minded wackos who write their editorials (like their criticism of Marco Rubio for getting a traffic ticket and the way he spent the modest proceeds form his book).

I was an English major in college and later taught it. I'm loathe to ever push a movie over a book, but that is the case here. (However, the movie departs from the book in a lot of ways, and is actually much different than the book)

This book is severely tedious at times, with overly-long descriptions about the dust, sweat and oil that inhabit Odessa, Texas. Bissinger goes into too much detail about the characters at times; he loses them by trying to explain every facet of their life, including the pulls and opinions of their friends and families.

There are some great passages in the book, but they are few and far between the book's 400 + pages. I found the most interesting part of the book to be the obsession that the town had with the team, and the fact that the players go from 18 year old Gods to 19 year old has-beens in Odessa.

Beautifully written and well researched book about college football in west Texas. Very poignant on the messed up value system, but ultimately very sympathetic to the kids caught up in it. Very well executed human interest reporting.

I did not like this book at all. I was expecting that this book would be more about the life of the people who played football, but not the town. the whole book was mianly about Odessa and its "imprtant history" I do not recommend this book to people who think they are going to read about football.

Friday Night Lights shows the "inside scoop" of a day in the lives of the individuals that play high school football. I love, play, and live the game of football and cherish every aspect about it, but those who don't might find it hard to see the pressures that some of the players go through on a daily basis. Struggles that include coaches, parents, fans, friends, girlfriends, teachers, college issues, etc. The list is endless. This novel did a great job of showing how hard it can be to juggle these pressures, and really show what high school football is all about.

Doesn't anyone out there find this book a tad bit cynical? How about manipulative? This author clearly has an ax to grind. There is no balance in the telling of this tale. The jacket copy claims the author writes with "compassion"; smug detachment is more like it. I have to think some of the people in this book feel seriously betrayed. Sports Illustrated tells better sports stories, and as social commentary this becomes repititious drudgery.

I am shocked how bad this book was. The author is obsessed with racism yet makes sterotypes out of the folks who live in the town. He comes across as a lightweight elitist who does not have the skill to write a book on such a complex issue. He repeats himself over and over again and never really captures anything below the surface. It is not surprising that so many loved this book as it does not tax the brain and patronizes those too foolish to realize they are being patronized. Plus it is so so boring.

After watching the mediocre movie version, I was hoping the book would be better, but it's much, much worse. It's a bitter diatribe against average Americans. The author paints a laughable picture of racist, ignorant rednecks who care more about winning football games than they do about the safety and education of their kids. If someone spends a lot of time and is given broad access to a community, there will be enough things heard and witnessed to portray that community in any light they choose. This author chose to stab these people in the back by making them look as bad as possible. It's not hard to figure out why, he doesn't seem too pleased to report that most members of the community are Republicans. The only people he writes kindly of are the occasional like-minded liberals he stumbles across, portrayed as valiant heroes fighting the good fight in the shadows, hiding from persecution.

The book isn't even about football, it's mostly obnoxious social and political commentary. It comes across as if an arrogant archaeologist discovered the lost tribe of Mojo and wrote a condescending report about their barbaric and primitive culture. It's not a surprise to find out the author used to be a big city newspaper editor. Don't waste your time with this book unless you're an America-hating liberal like the author.

I grew up in Odessa, and went to the other high school in town during this time. Odessa is not as small and bad as he describes it. I read this book years ago. It was better than the movie but that is not saying much. Yes football was huge, he did get that right.

I hated this book from the first page. There was to much about the history of Odessa Texas and not enough about the football team. It felt like I was reading a history book. I did not care when the first kid played for the Permain Panthers football team and how the town uses to be segregated. I think that H.G.Bissindiger didn't talked enough about the football team. Even when he tryed to tell you about the game he did not give you the overal play; he give you how each team scord. what did mojo have to do with this

The story Friday Night Lites is an inspiring story about a small town football team in Texas that has big dreams to win the state championship. I was first introduced to this book by my oldest brother who loves to read about football, he absolutely adored the book and recommended it to me. As an avid football fan, I knew I would enjoy the book. Before I picked up the book I had high hopes and expectations. Once completed, I raved about how wonderful the plot and characters, this book definitely lived up to the expectations. I didn't have any personal connections, but I did connect with the feeling of a nail-biting football game when everyone is holding onto the edge of his or her seats hoping their team scores. One of the major themes brought up in the book is accepting a loss. Throughout the season of football, the Panthers lose their main quarterback and lose hope. Coach Gaines raises the boy's hopes and teaches them how to cope with a loss. Finally, the Panthers regain with they lost and start winning as a team, but sadly at quarter-finals, they lose the game. The crushed boys turned to their coach for advice and learned how to cope with sadness and difficulties. I recommend this story to people who like reading inspiring and life-changing books, I would not recommend if you don't know a lot about football, this book includes many football terms and it can be confusing at some points. Overall this book has inspired me to live out my dreams and don't let any difficulties distract me from my goals.