Editorial Content for American Kings: A Biography of the Quarterback
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
The publicity surrounding AMERICAN KINGS started several months ago. In Chicago, home of my beloved Bears, ESPN suggested that Caleb Williams, who had been the first player selected in the 2024 NFL Draft, was so concerned about playing for the franchise “where quarterbacks go to die” that he and his father considered ways to avoid that possibility and subvert the draft itself. Based in part on this small nugget of promotional material, I knew the book would be on my late-summer reading list.
Seth Wickersham reports that the Heisman-winning quarterback did not bypass the draft. He signed with the Bears and is now beginning his second season with the team. Williams is just one character in this exceptional saga detailing football history, where the quarterback has evolved into an integral part of the sport.
"I cannot think of a better book to kick off this football season or to put on your holiday list. AMERICAN KINGS is a sports classic on ambition, achievement and failure for every football fan in America."
Millions of dollars and infinite amounts of time are invested in that one position. But for every player scouted and highly coveted by NFL teams, there are still many who don’t become star players. Since 2000, 69 quarterbacks have been drafted in the first round; 37 of them have been failures. On the other hand, a number of players who are deemed to be undeserving of major investment eventually find themselves wearing Super Bowl rings and enshrined in the NFL Hall of Fame. No one can explain how or why that happens.
Wickersham makes it clear that the quarterback is the most worshipped position in all of sports. At first, it began as a method for placing an additional blocker in the backfield for running plays. In the early days, there were only two ways to advance the ball: running and kicking. Later, changes in the football itself and the rules of the game would allow for the ball to be thrown down the field. Enter the quarterback and modern football coaches who revolutionized how the game would be played.
Wickersham has assembled for readers a wide cast of quarterbacks. They range from the great pioneers of the position --- from Benny Friedman, who modernized professional quarterbacking, and Bob Waterfield, whose Hollywood life helped glamorize the game, to such legends as Y.A. Tittle, Johnny Unitas and Joe Namath.
The book then moves to the era of quarterback development, including the NFL quarterback class of the 1983 draft, where six quarterbacks --- three of whom would be inducted into the Hall of Fame --- were selected in the first round. Ironically, the final quarterback picked in that round, Dan Marino, still holds many NFL records. But he never won a Super Bowl, which tarnishes his career accomplishments. As Wickersham observes, “time erodes records but championships last forever.”
I cannot think of a better book to kick off this football season or to put on your holiday list. AMERICAN KINGS is a sports classic on ambition, achievement and failure for every football fan in America.
Teaser
The quarterback: the American equivalent of royalty, long glamorized, mythologized and worshipped. Still, long before the Super Bowl trophies, massive contracts, brand deals and millions of social media followers comes the dream. From the backyard to Pop Warner, from high school to college, from the NFL to the Hall of Fame, becoming the country’s ultimate idol requires single-minded focus while navigating a maze of bad breaks, insecurities, jealousy, pressure and fame. Long known as the outsider’s guide into this elite world, Seth Wickersham’s fresh reporting goes deep into the quarterback journey, measuring the distance between what the men who have traveled it expected and what they found at the end of the road.
Promo
The quarterback: the American equivalent of royalty, long glamorized, mythologized and worshipped. Still, long before the Super Bowl trophies, massive contracts, brand deals and millions of social media followers comes the dream. From the backyard to Pop Warner, from high school to college, from the NFL to the Hall of Fame, becoming the country’s ultimate idol requires single-minded focus while navigating a maze of bad breaks, insecurities, jealousy, pressure and fame. Long known as the outsider’s guide into this elite world, Seth Wickersham’s fresh reporting goes deep into the quarterback journey, measuring the distance between what the men who have traveled it expected and what they found at the end of the road.
About the Book
Pull back the curtain on the most powerful position in all of sports.
The New York Times bestselling author of IT'S BETTER TO BE FEARED examines football’s QB lifecycle: high school, college, the NFL, retirement --- and all that comes with it.
The quarterback: the American equivalent of royalty, long glamorized, mythologized and worshipped. Still, long before the Super Bowl trophies, massive contracts, brand deals and millions of social media followers comes the dream. From the backyard to Pop Warner, from high school to college, from the NFL to the Hall of Fame, becoming the country’s ultimate idol requires single-minded focus while navigating a maze of bad breaks, insecurities, jealousy, pressure and fame.
Long known as the outsider’s guide into this elite world, Seth Wickersham’s fresh reporting goes deep into the quarterback journey, measuring the distance between what the men who have traveled it expected and what they found at the end of the road. Through unprecedented access into the lives of dozens of quarterbacks and generational greats such as Johnny Unitas, John Elway, Peyton Manning, Warren Moon, Steve Young and others, as well as those figures striving to be remembered, like Caleb Williams and Arch Manning, Wickersham reveals how this one position has become emblematic of success in American life.
As an inside look into a uniquely American job and a uniquely American obsession with football, AMERICAN KINGS is a must-read for sports fans and anyone who wants to understand what the price of ambition tells us about the quest for achievement and status.
Audiobook available, read by Seth Wickersham
