The most recommended NFL books

Who picked these books? Meet our 22 experts.

22 authors created a book list connected to the NFL, and here are their favorite NFL books.
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Book cover of When Pride Still Mattered: A Life of Vince Lombardi

Geoff Hudson-Searle Author Of The Trust Paradigm

From my list on why ethical leadership creates amazing outcomes.

Why am I passionate about this?

Geoff has over 30 years of experience in the business and management arena, he is the author of 6 books Freedom after the Sharks, Meaningful Conversations, Journeys to Success Volume 9, GOD in Business, Purposeful Discussions, and his latest book The Trust Paradigm. He lectures at business forums, conferences, and universities and has been the focus of London Live TV, Talk TV, TEDx, and RT Europe’s business documentary across various thought leadership topics and his authorisms and has been a regular lead judge at the UK’s business premier awards event, The Lloyds Bank British Business Excellence Awards which is the UK’s most prestigious awards program celebrating the innovation, success, and resilience of British business.

Geoff's book list on why ethical leadership creates amazing outcomes

Geoff Hudson-Searle Why did Geoff love this book?

In this groundbreaking biography, David Maraniss captures all of football great Vince Lombardi: the myth, the trusted man, his game, and his God. His leadership of the Green Bay Packers to five world championships in nine seasons is the most storied period in NFL history. Lombardi became a living legend, a symbol to many of trusted leadership, discipline, perseverance, and teamwork, and to others, of an obsession with winning. In When Pride Still Mattered, Pulitzer Prize-winning author David Maraniss captures the myth and the man, football, God, and country in a thrilling biography destined to become an American classic.

Everyone has their own opinions on who an Ethical leader and Visionary leader is, to me a great leader is someone who builds trust, credibility, and respect for both you and the organization and guides you to success. I feel Lombardi is both a visionary and an ethical leader. The reasons…

By David Maraniss,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked When Pride Still Mattered as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

In this groundbreaking biography, David Maraniss captures all of football great Vince Lombardi: the myth, the man, his game, and his God.

More than any other sports figure, Vince Lombardi transformed football into a metaphor of the American experience. The son of an Italian immigrant butcher, Lombardi toiled for twenty frustrating years as a high school coach and then as an assistant at Fordham, West Point, and the New York Giants before his big break came at age forty-six with the chance to coach a struggling team in snowbound Wisconsin. His leadership of the Green Bay Packers to five world…


Book cover of Baseball America 2023 Prospect Handbook

James Bailey Author Of Major League Debuts: 2023 Edition

From my list on annual releases to prep for baseball season.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve been reading baseball annuals and previews since I was a kid and my must-haves were Street & Smith’s Baseball Yearbook and Bill Mazeroski’s Baseball. I was a contributing writer for several years to Ultimate Sports Publishing’s annual baseball magazines, which for a while came close to the old Mazeroski releases. I edited several of Baseball America’s Almanacs when I was on staff there and have written Top 30s for a number of the Prospect Handbooks. I get that everything is available online these days, but there’s something about having it all in one place, locked in for all time, there for reference whenever needed.

James' book list on annual releases to prep for baseball season

James Bailey Why did James love this book?

Since 2001, when Baseball America first expanded their prospect lists from 10 players per team to 30, this book has been required reading for fantasy league and Strat-o-matic draft prep.

BA writers have access to scouting directors, managers, coaches, and rival scouts, and the scouting reports are compiled from talking to numerous sources inside the game. Having written several team lists for them myself over the years, I know how much work they put into this book.

By The Editors at Baseball America,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Baseball America 2023 Prospect Handbook as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The 2023 Prospect Handbook is your guide to the next wave of MLB stars

The 2023 Prospect Handbook is your guide to the next wave of MLB stars. With complete scouting reports on more than 900 prospects, the Prospect Handbook is a must-have for superfans as well as fantasy players. Dominate your dynasty league and be the first to know about the stars of the 2020s and early 2030s.


Book cover of Seeing Red: The Red Auerbach Story

Bill Scheft Author Of Tommy Dash: Was It Everything I Said?

From Bill's 3 favorite reads in 2023.

Why am I passionate about this?

Author Writer Drummer Widower Urban Wit Sober

Bill's 3 favorite reads in 2023

Bill Scheft Why did Bill love this book?

I was working on a project about the 1980s Boston Celtics and had to read this as one of a dozen books in my research.

Again, I grew up in Boston in the 1960s and '70s and became a sportswriter and thought I knew everything about the iconic Celtics coach and GM Red Auerbach. No. Not even close. Shaughnessy uses his access to Auerbach and his family, friends, and foes for a hilarious, unflinching look at a bygone era….and a bygone bigger-than-life personality.

By Dan Shaughnessy,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Seeing Red as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Traces the life of the legendary coach and describes his influence on the NBA, the Boston Celtics, and professional basketball


Return to Hope Creek

By Alyssa J. Montgomery,

Book cover of Return to Hope Creek

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Alyssa J. Montgomery Author Of A Spanish Seduction

New book alert!

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m an Australian USA Today bestselling romance author who writes contemporary romance and uses the pen name Alyssa James to write medieval romance. I think the makeover trope resonates with me because although I’m no beauty queen now, I was definitely an ugly duckling in my teens. For reasons best known to him, my father insisted on close-cropped hair, and financial circumstances dictated out-of-style hand-me-down clothing. After university, I found my own style, but it wasn’t until I was accepted as an international flight attendant that I believed that I couldn’t be all that ugly if Qantas employed me!

Alyssa's book list on makeover romances

What is my book about?

Return to Hope Creek is a second-chance rural romance set in Australia.

Stella Simpson's career and engagement are over. She returns to the rural community of Hope Creek to heal, unaware her high school and college sweetheart, Mitchell Scott, has also moved back to town to do some healing of his own.

Mitchell, a former NFL quarterback, doesn't need the complication of encountering Stella again so long after the messy end to their relationship, but as each tries to build a new life, they are drawn together and find their chemistry is just as strong as ever.

Will their love…

Return to Hope Creek

By Alyssa J. Montgomery,

What is this book about?

When two old flames come back to their home town, sparks are bound to ignite. A rural romance from USA Today bestselling author Alyssa J. Montgomery.


A horrific car accident ended former world number-one Stella Simpson’s tennis career, and a betrayal ended her relationship with her fiancé/coach. When a family friend offers to sell her half of a property in the rural community where she grew up, it seems like the perfect place to escape, heal and begin the next phase of her life. Until she discovers that the man who broke her heart ten years ago has bought the…


Book cover of The Matchmaker's Playbook

Alyssa J. Montgomery Author Of A Spanish Seduction

From my list on makeover romances.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m an Australian USA Today bestselling romance author who writes contemporary romance and uses the pen name Alyssa James to write medieval romance. I think the makeover trope resonates with me because although I’m no beauty queen now, I was definitely an ugly duckling in my teens. For reasons best known to him, my father insisted on close-cropped hair, and financial circumstances dictated out-of-style hand-me-down clothing. After university, I found my own style, but it wasn’t until I was accepted as an international flight attendant that I believed that I couldn’t be all that ugly if Qantas employed me!

Alyssa's book list on makeover romances

Alyssa J. Montgomery Why did Alyssa love this book?

This story was a funny, sexy romance and I loved the slow-burn as Ian falls for a woman, Blake, who is off-limits for a number of reasons. I also really loved the banter between the characters. Maybe it’s because I’m a speech pathologist, but I absolutely love dialogue in the books I read. I think it quickens the pace of the book and can reveal so much about the characters.

Although the plot was fairly simple, this book was so much fun, and it ticked all the boxes for me! 

By Rachel Van Dyken,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Matchmaker's Playbook as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Wingman rule number one: don't fall for a client.

After a career-ending accident, former NFL recruit Ian Hunter is back on campus-and he's ready to get his new game on. As one of the masterminds behind Wingmen, Inc., a successful and secretive word-of-mouth dating service, he's putting his extensive skills with women to work for the lovelorn. But when Blake Olson requests the services of Wingmen, Inc., Ian may have landed his most hopeless client yet.

From her frumpy athletic gear to her unfortunate choice of footwear, Blake is going to need a miracle if she wants to land her…


Book cover of Ron Shandler's 2023 Baseball Forecaster: & Encyclopedia of Fanalytics

James Bailey Author Of Major League Debuts: 2023 Edition

From my list on annual releases to prep for baseball season.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve been reading baseball annuals and previews since I was a kid and my must-haves were Street & Smith’s Baseball Yearbook and Bill Mazeroski’s Baseball. I was a contributing writer for several years to Ultimate Sports Publishing’s annual baseball magazines, which for a while came close to the old Mazeroski releases. I edited several of Baseball America’s Almanacs when I was on staff there and have written Top 30s for a number of the Prospect Handbooks. I get that everything is available online these days, but there’s something about having it all in one place, locked in for all time, there for reference whenever needed.

James' book list on annual releases to prep for baseball season

James Bailey Why did James love this book?

There is so much information in this book, which gets thicker every year. I’m not going to pretend I understand it all, but I’m learning a little more every time.

The player writeups are lighthearted but insightful. Sometimes it’s almost scary looking back and seeing some of the things they projected that were so spot on. My only complaint is that everyone else in my Strat-o-matic league reads it now. It used to be an advantage.

Now I have to read it just to keep up.

By Ron Shandler, Brent Hershey, Brandon Kruse , Ray Murphy

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Ron Shandler's 2023 Baseball Forecaster as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

For more than thirty years, the very best in baseball predictions and statistics.

The industry's longest-running publication for baseball analysts and fantasy leaguers, Ron Shandler's Baseball Forecaster, published annually since 1986, is the first book to approach prognostication by breaking performance down into its component parts. Rather than predicting batting average, for instance, this resource looks at the elements of skill that make up any given batter's ability to distinguish between balls and strikes, his propensity to make contact with the ball, and what happens when he makes contact-reverse engineering those skills back into batting average. The result is an…


Book cover of Everything They Had: Sports Writing from David Halberstam

Ed Odeven Author Of Going 15 Rounds With Jerry Izenberg

From my list on American sports journalism.

Why am I passionate about this?

As a sports reporter since 1990, my never-ending passion for reading and studying the best sports journalism is captured in these five books. The art of column writing, while capturing the thrill of victory, the agony of defeat, and the intricacies of every game under the sun, is celebrated in these books by David Halberstam, Paul Zimmerman, Red Smith, Dave Anderson, and Dave Kindred. My voracious reading of sports columns plus magazine profiles, online essays, and thousands of books, has given me a great appreciation for authors who capture the essence of competition and reveal the biggest and smallest examples of themes unique to teams and eras, iconoclasts and forgotten figures.

Ed's book list on American sports journalism

Ed Odeven Why did Ed love this book?

David Halberstam, who died in an auto accident in 2007 while doing research for a book about the 1958 NFL championship game, wrote with clarity and perpetual curiosity about all sports. This posthumous anthology highlights his diverse mix of stories. For example, horse racing in Warsaw in the 1960s, American slugger Reggie Smith’s experience as a pro baseball player in Japan in the 1980s, a character study of NBA coaching great Pat Riley in the 1990s, fishing with pals in Argentina as a septuagenarian in the 21st century. And Halberstam’s probing search for the soul of sports is underlined in the “Anatomy of a Champion,” detailed reportage on American fencers and their quest for Olympic glory. This book's mesmerizing range of sporting topics and the author's incredible eye for details captured my attention from start to finish.

By David Halberstam, Glenn Stout (editor),

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Everything They Had as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

"Sometimes sports mirrors society, sometimes it allows us to understand the larger society a little better. But mostly, it is a world of entertainment of talented and driven young men and women who do certain things with both skill and passion."--David Halberstam David Halberstam was a distinguished journalist and historian of American politics. He was also a sports writer. Everything They Had brings together for the first time his articles from newspapers and magazines, a wide-ranging collection edited by Glenn Stout, selected over the full scope of Halberstam's five decades as one of America's most honored journalists. These are dazzling…


Book cover of Negotiating the Impossible: How to Break Deadlocks and Resolve Ugly Conflicts (Without Money or Muscle)

Joshua N. Weiss Author Of The Book of Real-World Negotiations: Successful Strategies from Business, Government, and Daily Life

From my list on how to become a wicked good negotiator.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am a native Bostonian and I have been working in the field of negotiation for over 25 years. I have been very fortunate to have been a member of the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School for all that time. As a result, I have had the privilege to work with some amazing colleagues and have been given the opportunity to engage in many fascinating negotiations in the international, governmental, corporate, and nonprofit worlds. I truly love the field because it has the potential to do so much good in the world and because it is exceedingly challenging. For me, the more I learn the more I want to know. That quest continues to this day…

Joshua's book list on how to become a wicked good negotiator

Joshua N. Weiss Why did Joshua love this book?

I am recommending this book because Malhotra et al take on a series of very difficult negotiations that look like they are impossible to solve and they show you how it was done. The book is very practical and demonstrates to the reader that many negotiations can be solved with the right frame of mind, creativity, and persistence. 

By Deepak Malhotra,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Negotiating the Impossible as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Some negotiations are easy. Others are more difficult. And then there are situations that seem completely hopeless. Conflict is escalating, people are getting aggressive, and no one is willing to back down. And to top it off, you have little power or other resources to work with. Harvard professor and negotiation adviser Deepak Malhotra shows how to defuse even the most potentially explosive situations and to find success when things seem impossible.

Malhotra identifies three broad approaches for breaking deadlocks and resolving conflicts, and draws out scores of actionable lessons using behind-the-scenes stories of fascinating real-life negotiations, including drafting of…


Book cover of We Were the All-American Girls: Interviews with Players of the AAGPBL, 1943-1954

Susie Finkbeiner Author Of The All-American

From my list on making you fall in love with baseball.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m intrigued by baseball. The passion and drama of the games and the way the sport is nearly always linked to a meaningful relationship with someone dear. That curiosity has only been fueled by the books I’ve read over the years and inspired me to write a baseball story of my own. The All-American is my ninth novel and I couldn’t feel more privileged to have been able to write it.

Susie's book list on making you fall in love with baseball

Susie Finkbeiner Why did Susie love this book?

As I researched the AAGPBL for my novel, I wanted to learn what it was like to play women’s baseball from the mouths of those who lived it.

This book was instrumental in helping me piece together, not just the stories of what happened, but the personalities of those in the league. Each interview told the story of a woman who overcame, achieved, dreamed big, and had a lot of fun doing it.

Entertaining and touching, these stories of women playing ball in a male-dominated sport will inspire just about anyone.

By Jim Sargent,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked We Were the All-American Girls as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Here are 42 interviews with women who competed in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Each interview is a separate chapter featuring data about the player, a short bio of her athletic career, and the player's recollections. A brief history covers the many changes as the League evolved from underhand pitching with a 12-inch ball in 1943 to overhand pitching, adopted in 1948, through the circuit's league's final year, 1954, when a regulation baseball was introduced. The interviews range from 1995 to 2012 and reveal details of particular games, highlights of individual careers, the camaraderie of teammates, opponents and fans,…


Book cover of Working Through the Dark

Kevin Hines Author Of The Art of Being Broken: How Storytelling Saves Lives

From my list on finding hope when battling with your mental health.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am immersed in the topic of brain and mental health every single day. I love devouring books on the topic because it helps me personally with my diagnosed bipolar depression. I know what it’s like to attempt suicide and to live with chronic thoughts that can be overwhelming. So, reading books like these helps me better balance my brain health, and they help me offer hope to others to whom I can recommend these kinds of books. As host of the Hinesights Podcast, where I interview folks in the field of mental health from all walks of life, being able to put a list like this together is a gift. 

Kevin's book list on finding hope when battling with your mental health

Kevin Hines Why did Kevin love this book?

I absolutely loved this book by Asante Cleveland and my dear friend Jordan Pinckney because it is an incredible testimony of how faith in the human condition, and his ability to overcome struggle, strife, and pain can lead to light at the end of any tunnel.

This book must be read by any person who has ever experienced pain, as I can attest that it has helped me get through mine. If you think about it, we’ve all experienced pain.

Asante is a great role model for anyone who needs a jolt in life to find a better path. The two authors have written a book that changed my heart, my mind, and my life indefinitely.  

By Asante Cleveland, Jordan Pinckney,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Working Through the Dark as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

He gave it everything he had while he was in the NFL. But his story doesn't start there.

There was a point in his life when he had to make a deliberate decision not to allow his childhood abuse define him any longer. In many ways his story is not unique; in fact, it is all too common. Because of his desire to instill hope in others, he's chosen to share his story and life lessons. He wants others to know they are not alone as they work their way through the dark.


Book cover of This Town: Two Parties and a Funeral--Plus Plenty of Valet Parking!--In America's Gilded Capital

Corban Addison Author Of Wastelands: The True Story of Farm Country on Trial

From my list on true stories that are as fun to read as fiction.

Why am I passionate about this?

By training, I’m a lawyer; by trade, I’m a storyteller. For the first decade of my literary career, I wrote novels. I wove together narrative tapestries that, while fictional, were adapted from the real world. Now, in my first work of nonfiction, Wastelands, I’ve flipped the script, taking a true story and telling it with all the page-turning plotting and rich characterization of the best fiction. I’ve seen the literary world from both sides of the divide, both as a writer and as a reader, and I’m happiest in the borderlands. So, it seems, are authors like Jonathan Harr, Michael Lewis, and Erik Larson.

Corban's book list on true stories that are as fun to read as fiction

Corban Addison Why did Corban love this book?

I’ve always had a fascination with America’s political capital, Washington, D.C.—the way it brings together some of the most brilliant and bombastic people in the universe, the way it serves as a petri dish of high-minded principles and low-brow appetites, the juxtaposition of glittering surface and seamy underside that made the early seasons of House of Cards so binge-able. In This Town, Mark Leibovich brings D.C. to life in a story that is at once stomach-churning, rage-inducing, and laugh-out-loud funny. If you’ve ever wondered what Washington is really like behind all the flag-waving and politicking, the talking points, and stage lights, this is the book for you.

By Mark Leibovich,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked This Town as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A #1 New York Times bestseller!

From the New York Times bestselling author of Big Game: The NFL in Dangerous Times

Washington D.C. might be loathed from every corner of the nation, yet these are fun and busy days at this nexus of big politics, big money, big media, and big vanity. There are no Democrats and Republicans anymore in the nation's capital, just millionaires. Through the eyes of Leibovich we discover how the funeral for a beloved newsman becomes the social event of the year; how political reporters are fetishized for their ability to get their names into the…


Book cover of When Pride Still Mattered: A Life of Vince Lombardi
Book cover of Baseball America 2023 Prospect Handbook
Book cover of Seeing Red: The Red Auerbach Story

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