Hockey History Books
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Have you had a chance to read any of the Duff book yet? I’m really looking forward to starting that one.
I'm going to have to get that Leafs book. I just bought the new Gare Joyce book on the Young Leafs (not really history) and the WHA book The Rebel League: The Short and Unruly Life of the WHA. Once I get through those, I'm going to have to pick up that Leafs book though.
Currently reading The Rebel League..like right now. I set the book down to check HF. I’ve had it for years but finally got around to reading it. I’m half way through the book and am really enjoying it.
seventieslord
Student Of The Game
- Jan 22, 2007
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Kelly Hrudey also has an autobiography out that was released recently. I’ll pick it up eventually but the fact that he works for CBC almost makes me think it will basically be a “fluff” type of biography where he just talks about how much he loved his teammates and such. I feel like he won’t really touch on anything remotely close to interesting or controversial. That’s not to say that autobiographies have to be controversial to be good, but it always helps knowing they can pretty much write about whatever the hell they want and tell whatever stories they want. When it’s a player that currently has a job like Hrudey does, I can’t see it being interesting in that sense. Know what I mean? In my mind it just means they feel they’re limited in what they can write about.
seventieslord
Student Of The Game
reckoning
Registered User
- Jan 4, 2005
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While I haven't read it cover-to-cover yet, I'm a bit disappointed that the Leaf oral history book seems to rely almost totally on quotes from newspapers or books, as opposed to new interviews. It's understandable with the older seasons, but even into the 70s, 80s and 90s it's the same format. It's still a beautiful book that would be a great summary of the teams history for most Leaf fans. But for the hardcore history enthusiasts on this board, there's not much new information there.
I'm about halfway through The Ranger book (We Did Everything But Win) and absolutely love it. It may have a limited appeal as it clearly targeted at Ranger fans of the Francis era; but any fan of 70s hockey (like myself) will find lots of interesting stories here.
I'm about halfway through The Ranger book (We Did Everything But Win) and absolutely love it. It may have a limited appeal as it clearly targeted at Ranger fans of the Francis era; but any fan of 70s hockey (like myself) will find lots of interesting stories here.
seventieslord
Student Of The Game
Hmm, i browsed it in the store and thought that its reliance on primary sources was its strength.
reckoning
Registered User
- Jan 4, 2005
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Oh the book is definitely well researched. I don't mean to sound too negative about it. It's just that books with the phrase "oral history" in the title are usually comprised from new interviews done by the author with several people, similar to Dick Irvin's book on the Habs back in the early 90s.
The First Season: 1917-18 And The Birth Of The NHL.
Got it in the mail yesterday. Looks pretty interesting. There is a chapter dedicated to teams, player profiles, the playoffs, Stanley Cup final etc..
- Jan 22, 2007
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Nice little surprise with one of my finds yesterday:
On the first page I noticed signatures by Ken Dryden, Gump Worsley, Claude Mouton - the book’s author and former Habs director of public relations in the 70’s and 80’s and an unknown fourth party. I’ve actually had pretty good luck with book signatures, also having unknowingly acquired Wayne Gretzky and Tony Esposito autographs over the years.
Anyways, does anyone have any idea whose signature is listed 2nd, under Mouton and above Dryden? I have no idea and I’ve been trying to figure it out. It’s driving me nuts!
The book is: The Montreal Canadiens - An Illustraded History of A Hockey Dynasty (1987).
On the first page I noticed signatures by Ken Dryden, Gump Worsley, Claude Mouton - the book’s author and former Habs director of public relations in the 70’s and 80’s and an unknown fourth party. I’ve actually had pretty good luck with book signatures, also having unknowingly acquired Wayne Gretzky and Tony Esposito autographs over the years.
Anyways, does anyone have any idea whose signature is listed 2nd, under Mouton and above Dryden? I have no idea and I’ve been trying to figure it out. It’s driving me nuts!
The book is: The Montreal Canadiens - An Illustraded History of A Hockey Dynasty (1987).
Doctor Coffin
This may hurt a bit...
- May 23, 2013
- 461
- 194
Doctor Coffin
This may hurt a bit...
- May 23, 2013
- 461
- 194
I have read hundreds of hockey books, and the ones I like best are ones that have their facts correct - details are important to me for some reason, present things as completely and honestly as possible (can't stand fluff), and provide the reader with information that isn't common knowledge. Among my favorites are autobiographies by Theoren Fleury, Phil Esposito (though this could have used a little tightening up factually) and Bill Gadsby. I like Jacques Demers' book as well, but may miss some of the finer points here and there as French isn't my native language.
JMCx4
#91 and counting ...
I finished reading Clint Malarchuk's "A Matter of Inches: How I Survived in the Crease and Beyond" early this week. Short on hockey tales, long on angry & crazy & depressing life stories. I'm hoping a friend of mine who is a long-time Sabres fan will find more of a connection to it than I did.
JMCx4
#91 and counting ...
I just completed The Last Hockey Game, by Bruce McDougall. The book's title refers to the 6th & final game of the 1967 Stanley Cup Finals in Toronto, but the content is far less descriptive of the game as it was played & far more descriptive of the lives of the Maple Leafs and Canadiens players & coaches & owners of the time. The author's intent appears to be to establish this "Last Game" before initial NHL expansion as a sad ending to a great era in hockey, but I feel like he became consumed with details (drawn from hundreds of existing hockey books that he cites in the 12 pages of his "Notes on Sources" entry at the end) and lost focus on the point of the book as he wrote. I felt like I would've enjoyed the book more if the game play content could have been separated for reading together, rather than a couple of paragraphs of action interrupted by many pages of personal backgrounds & future stories of the principals in Game 6. A long-time Maple Leafs fan is likely to get more enjoyable reading from McDougall's book than a Canadiens fan, as the majority of the personal stories cover Toronto team personnel of the time. Otherwise, the rest of us might get more out of jotting down some other book titles from the "Notes on Sources" to build a more satisfying reading list.
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Found The Patricks: Hockey’s Royal Family (1980, hardcover) at a local thrift shop today. Snagged it for $3. Looking forward to reading that one. Looks interesting. Same author that wrote the Cyclone Taylor book that I own and have yet to read.
I already have Empire Of Ice, but thought another PCHA related book for the collection doesn’t hurt.
I already have Empire Of Ice, but thought another PCHA related book for the collection doesn’t hurt.
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