Week 26: Greatest Team Ever: The Dallas Cowboys Dynasty of the 1990s by Ron St. Angelo and Norm Hitzges (Thomas Nelson, 2007, hardcover)

This book is a bit of a guilty pleasure, although I’m not ashamed to call myself a Dallas Cowboys fan. I don’t read much sports literature, so I’m solely reading this as a football fan. But, of course, I can’t leave the critic behind.

The first section of this coffee-table book is to argue that the Dallas Cowboys of the 1990s were the most significant dynasty in NFL history. As argument goes, it’s plausible but clearly not presently objectively. Even as a fan, I’m not sure that I’d argue that these Cowboys are better than the 4 Super Bowl Steelers of the 1970s, nor the Green Bay Packers of the 1960s. Even this book recognizes the lost opportunity, in 1994, to potentially win 4 Super Bowls in 4 years, that would have surely won this argument.

The rest is a review of the years leading up to and covering three Super Bowl figures in 1992, 1993, and 1995. I thought I knew most of the stories around these times, but even I found something new, such as the intense fight that Jerry and Steven Jones had over the financial impact of signing Deion Sanders. I remember these years vividly, so much of this was a walk back through those experiences. In that aspect, the book succeeds.

The quality of the writing is passable but not outstanding. I was also surprised by the number of editing and format issues in the book. But what stands out are the photos, showing the emotion of the players and of the game. It puts the reader right back into those years and those experiences.

Overall, I enjoyed this book for the nostalgia and the photos. I’m just hoping to buy another book in a few years covering future Super Bowl memories for my Dallas Cowboys.

Next week . . . Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton.