Friday Night Lights Book Review
Submit a review of Friday Night Lights.
Include the following elements in your review:
Topic, Theme, Scope. In this element you need to discuss the subject of the book. What is the book about? What does it cover in terms of time period/years? H. G. Bissinger’s book is titled Friday Night Lights: A Town, a Team, and a Dream. What does he mean by “Friday Night Lights?” What town is the book about? What team? What dream? What year? Was the dream accomplished?
Main Idea . What do you think is the main idea that the author argues in the book? The answer to these questions may help you figure it out. What does this book tell us about high school football in Texas cities like Odessa (and Dallas for that matter) in the late-1980s? What does it tell us about race, the status of athletes, the desire to win at all costs, and the toll this takes on the players? What about our priorities? Do you think the author depicted Odessa in a positive or negative light?
Organization and Content. Take a look at the Table of Contents at the front of the book. You will see that the book is organized into a Preface, Prologue, four main sections (with each divided into chapters), Epilogue, and Afterword (and maybe even other sections depending on what edition of the book you have). Discuss the book’s organization, focusing more on the main sections and the arc of the story Bissinger is telling. Is the book organized chronologically? What does each section cover?
Sources. In talking about sources, then, you will have to talk about how Bissinger gathered the information for the book. What did he do in order to write the book?
Author. Do a little research about the author H. G. Bissinger. Who is he? What is his background? What else has he written? Has he won any awards for his writings?
Value. Address a few questions here. For what audience do you think the book was intended (professional historians, general public, high school students, other)? Did you like the book? Why/why not? As you probably know, the book was the basis of a major motion picture and a television program that ran for several years. It also prompted debates about the role of athletics in high school.
