THE GAME, by George Howe Colt, is the build up, the playing, and the aftermath of the 1968 college football match between Harvard and Yale. With it's storied rivalry, proud alumni, and tumultuous societal times, this game was impactful on so many levels. It was about David versus Goliath, war versus peace, a group of young individuals unifying into a whole, and just a great time in history to play a truly great game. The game still resonates with many of the players an spectators today, 50 years after the game, which is a testament to what a special moment the game really was.
Colt spends more than the first half of the book setting the scene. He describes many of the players and coaches on both sides and portrays the time on Harvard and Yale's campuses along with the countries sentiments as well. While a goo bit of that was quite compelling to read about, the defining of the political times I felt kind of went down a rabbit hole of war and anti-war activism more than necessary for this kind of book. Colt also walks the reader through the season Yale and Harvard have in 1968 leading up to the their game against each other. As with any college football team, there are waves of good and bad occurrences throughout the season and Colt does a good job riding those waves in the book. I did find myself yearning to get to the game already at times, but once the games begins in the book, it gets good and only gets better and better right up until the end.
Extremely enlightening to read about Harvard versus Yale in 1968 and the world around it, THE GAME will be enjoyed certainly by any college football fan, but I think it's historical significance carries a larger weight the can connect to people of any age.

A detailed account of how the Vietnam War impacted players, coaches and administrations within the Ivy League.

There were many changes within these schools, their students, faculty and sports programs during those turbulent days. An out of control drug culture, sexual promiscuity, the list goes on. Quite surprising to learn of the war’s significant impact on this preppy culture.

The rivalries between the schools, the players’ and coaches’ personal stories and the description of the football competition itself were enlightening and at times inspirational. The schools had to adjust to the times as well as the players. The most interesting of note was the football team remained a politics-free zone despite the impact of the war.

George Howe Colt strikes just the right tone in this wonderful look at the 1968 Harvard-Yale game that ended, famously, in a Harvard "victory" -- 29-29. Before describing the exciting end to the game, though, Colt takes us on a tour of 1968 America, Harvard and Yale. It was a time when these two great educational institutions were catching up with what was happening elsewhere in the country. It was a time of conflicts, and the players for both schools were as conflicted as anyone else. It was a time when a Saturday afternoon football game could play out like something from another era, or another planet. Highly recommended for anyone who enjoys social history, and of course, college football.

This was a fantastic read! I attended Yale in the mid-1980s, and reading about a successful Yale football team was quite a surprise.

This book revolves around the Harvard/Yale Football game of 1968. The game itself was epic--finishing with a last-minute, come-from-behind rally by Harvard to end in a 29-29 point tie (according to Colt, Yalies still consider it a loss, while Harvard alum think of it as a win), but Colt doesn't just focus on the game, but also on the society within which it occurred. He discusses the events that were taking place within American society at the time-the anti-Vietnam War movement, the Civil Rights movement, the assassinations of MLK and Robert Kennedy, and he uses this as a backdrop for the experience of the players on these two football teams.

The experience of the players from both schools sheds light on the tumult of the times, and the difficulty of bringing change to each of these venerable (hide-bound?) institutions. Colt does an excellent job of addressing the issues of the time by examining the personal experiences of individual players, and his description of the game play is fantastic. I am not a big football fan, but I had no trouble following the progress of the game and was riveted, even though I already knew the results.

I think that this book will be enjoyed by people who wouldn't normally read a book about sports, and I recommend it highly.

I read an advanced reading copy from Scribner via NetGalley. Thanks!