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It's Better to Be Feared: The New England Patriots Dynasty and the Pursuit of Greatness

It's Better to Be Feared: The New England Patriots Dynasty and the Pursuit of Greatness

by Seth Wickersham

Liveright ·2021 ·528 pages
Best of 2021
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94/99
Top of the Pile

98/99

Critics' Rating Index

Top of the Pile

89/99

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Scholars' Citation Index

66/99

Volume of Reviews

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About This Book

Over two unbelievable decades, the New England Patriots were not only the NFL's most dominant team, but also—and by far—the most secretive. How did they achieve and sustain greatness—and what were the costs? In It's Better to Be Feared, Seth Wickersham, one of the country's finest long form and investigative sportswriters, tells the full, behind-the-scenes story of the Patriots, capturing the brilliance, ambition, and vanity that powered and ultimately unraveled them. Based on hundreds of interviews conducted since 2001, Wickersham's chronicle is packed with revelations, taking us deep into Bill Belichick's tactical ingenuity and Tom Brady's unique mentality while also reporting on their divergent paths in 2020, including Brady's run to the Super Bowl with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Raucous, unvarnished, and definitive, It's Better to Be Feared is an instant classic of American sportswriting in the tradition of Michael Lewis, David Maraniss, and David Halberstam.


Reviews

"Patriots fans will revel in all the little-known backstories, while all football fans and readers seeking astonishing success stories will relish this, too."

Robert St. John· Booklist Read review ↗ Top of the Pile

"a superlative sports book full of intimate, fly-on-the-wall reporting, savvy insights and deft, page-turning writing ..."

Edward Kosner· The Wall Street Journal Read review ↗ Top of the Pile

"he humanizes Brady, Belichick and the Patriots owner Robert Kraft for outsiders in a way that can be exceedingly difficult ...This is Belichick as Walter White rather than Heisenberg, and Brady with intimate moments of self-awareness about his career and personal life."

Oskar Garcia· The New York Times Read review ↗ Top of the Pile

"He also serves up the best account of 'Deflategate' ..."

Kirkus Read review ↗ Top of the Pile

"Wickersham's book is an honest, sprawling, meticulously reported, and beautifully written portrayal of perhaps the greatest and probably the most unlikely dynasty in modern professional sports."

Chad Finn· The Boston Globe Read review ↗ Top of the Pile

"Reporters have breathlessly covered the Patriots over the years, leaving little room for new reveals, but Wickersham advances the ball with anecdotes that unpeel the personalities of the franchise's significant figures."

Mark Selig· The Washington Post Read review ↗ Top of the Pile

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