North Dallas Forty

The story of eight harrowing days in the chaotic life of a professional football player, North Dallas Forty, originally published in 1973, exposes an NFL rife with corruption, drugs, sex, and violence. His body already racked with multiple injuries, Phil Elliot (played by Nick Nolte in the major film of 1978) is a cynical tight end hooked on painkillers and other mind-altering substances who must choose between enduring abuse by crazed coaches and depraved teammates or giving up his dreams of glory. This graphic story explores the disturbing relationship between violence in the football stadium and violence in American culture itself. "[Gent] balances shock with humor, irony with warmth, detail with insight, and ends up with a book that easily transcends its subject matter." - Dick Schaap, ESPN