Undefeated

Undefeated: Jim Thorpe And The Carlisle Indian School Football Team by Steve Sheinkin, 280 pages

“Native American Jim Thorpe became a super athlete and Olympic gold medalist. Indomitable coach Pop Warner was a football mastermind. In 1907 at the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania, they forged one of the winningest teams in American football history. Called "the team that invented football," they took on the best opponents of their day, defeating much more privileged schools in a series of breathtakingly close calls, genius plays, and bone-crushing hard work. Sheinkin provides a true underdog sports story -- and an unflinching look at the U.S. government's violent persecution of Native Americans and the school that was designed to erase Indian cultures.” This was fascinating.  I knew nothing about Tbhorpe and very little about Pop Warner beyond his name.  The book read more like a story than a work of non-fiction, which made it fun to read, but it also imparted a lot of information, about the people, the history of football, and about the schools in general and Carlisle in particular.  This is a great book for history and sports buffs.