Monsters: The 1985 Chicago Bears and the Wild Heart of Football

An Amazon Best Book of the Month, November 2013:Monsters: The 1985 Chicago Bears and the Wild Heart of Football is a touching portrait of what is arguably one of the best--and most colorful--football teams ever. But Rich Cohen, better known as an essayist and editor than a sports writer, brings together an oral history of the Bears (featuring many well-known football figures, including Coach Mike Ditka), the evolution of the game and the league, and glimpses of his own childhood growing up in Chicago into a seamless narrative. Monsters is one of those rare books that transcends its topic without surrendering its enthusiasm for it. Cohen's perspective is both cogent and ambivalent. For example, he describes the quaterback as "a man in pain." He writes, "Via his suffering, we witness our own suffering at a safe remove. We eat chips and drink beer as he's lacerated, stepped on, stomped, taunted, concussed." Monsters is the rare sports book you can recommend to a non-fan as well as the biggest die hard. Really, you could recommend it to anyone who would enjoy a beautifully written, deeply human story. --Kevin Nguyen