Book Log 2007 #62: The Real All Americans by Sally Jenkins

Few people remember the Carlisle Indian Industrial School as anything beyond the place where Jim Thorpe played football. In this book, Jenkins takes a longer look at the school, its football team, and the prevailing attitudes that shaped the school's formation and eventual dissolution.

This is a fair amount to bite off at once, and the resulting work reflects this to some extent. The Publisher's Weekly review said the book has a term paper feel, and that's a pretty good way to describe it. It's more breadth than depth, which is unfortunate in some areas, most notably the football game versus Army that frames the opening chapter. We don't get back to it for a good 200+ pages, and when we do the treatment of the game seems skimpy for all the build-up as to the importance of the contest to the Carlisle players. There's also a lot of side information preceding the formation of the school which is important to some extent, but could have been reduced in order to tell more about the students and life at the school.

Still, it's a decent introduction to the subject, shining some light on to a neglected corner of American (and sporting) history. It just could have used more of that light.