MixedThe Wall Street JournalThere is nothing here that we have not seen or heard, even though there are many things left to learn about the Mannings. It would be fascinating to know how, for example, in the embrace of the sort of wealth and fame and idolatry enjoyed by today’s football stars, Peyton and Eli turned out to be generally reasonable, sensible, sane and good-humored men. They are far from perfect, but they haven’t been soured by all the attention. The most striking thing about In the Name of the Father, in fact, is its almost total reliance on the work done by others. Mr. Ribowsky spoke with no one in the Manning family and with none of the Mannings’ close friends. There are only a handful of interviews cited here, all quite briefly and none of which shed much light ... Instead of a deep dive, In the Name of the Father offers a digest of mainstream journalism, a summary of the three Manning careers. Every season they played, from college through the pros. Every game. Much of it tedious, empty of meaning ... This isn’t to suggest that there is no value in being reminded of the Mannings’ phenomenal playing careers ... There is, after all, some virtue in having all of this transcendence gathered up in one place.
Paul Andrew Hutton
PositiveThe Wall Street JournalThe tension between the two principles of coexistence or vengeance, embodied in Whitman and the Tucson militia, animates Paul Andrew Hutton’s compendious frontier history, The Apache Wars ... There is much to like in Mr. Hutton’s book. His prose is equal to the vastness of his landscape and the clash of so many era-defining personalities...Mr. Hutton is also terrier-like in his persistence in tracking and deconstructing every significant skirmish in the conflict, and there are plenty of them. In terms of colorful characters, there is an embarrassment of riches ... The weakness in Mr. Hutton’s book arises from one of its strengths: the very thoroughness of his researches into the long Apache war can sometimes make for tedious reading ... Where The Apache Wars really shines is in the richness of its details, well researched and deeply understood.
