Customer Reviews

Wellington: The Maras, the Giants, and the City of New York

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The title is a bit deceiving as it's more a year by year history of the Giants than a biography of Wellington Mara. Of course, Mara was intricately involved in the history of the Giants, so there is a lot about him in here. However, most subjects are covered very broadstroke as the Giants have a long history - covering the whole span was a pretty big job in itself. There's also some interesting content in the begining on Mara's father, Tim, the Giants' founder.

Overall, it's not a bad read and recommended for anyone who wants to know about the history of the Giants.

PS There's a handful of proof reading errors. They don't detract from the book, but they are unusual to see.

As a lifelong Giant fan, I was really looking forward to reading this book on their long-time owner, Wellington Mara. Although many aspects of the volume were interesting, I ultimately came away from the book feeling disappointed.

The author crams in a lot of facts (dates, names, etc.), but at the expense of readability. Toward the end, he takes up several pages listing each of Wellington and Ann Mara's children, mentioning where they went to school, what they do for a living, their spouse's names (along with their school and occupations), the dates and locations of their marriages, and even who the officiant was that performed the ceremony. I didn't find this information pertinent to the book. It almost felt as if the author needed to add this "extra" material to meet his word count.

For me, the most enjoyable parts of the volume were Devito's discussion of Timothy J Mara (Wellington's father), the early days of the Giants, and the formation of the league. The first third of the book pretty much deals exclusively with Timothy J Mara and his exploits. Therefore, the title of this book is misleading.

There were numerous typographical errors throughout the book - to the point that I found it distracting. For example, on page 251, Devito refers to John Mara's wife, Denise Walker. In the following paragraph, her last name is listed as "Walter." Any decent copyeditor should have caught those kinds of mistakes.

I felt as if the author glossed over a lot of potentially interesting topics. Granted, it is hard to condense nearly 100 years of history into a 300-page volume. However, it was really unnecessary to repeat (several times) the exchange between Wellington and Frank Gifford about how they felt like "father" and "son" to one another.

I struggled with the author's writing style. At times, it felt as if he was jumping all over the place, with no real sense of direction. It seemed as if he was going for a chronological history of the Giants, but because he would go back and forth, the text was hard to follow sometimes.

I really wanted to like this volume. I really did. I feel as if this book could have been so much more, but the bad editing and writing style really hindered it.

This book tells the history of one of the classiest men in the history of not only the NFL, but all of sports. Even those of you who are not Giants fans could appreciate Wellington's contributions to the NFL after reading this book. It's so much more than just a Giants history lesson (as so many books before it unfortunately are).

Only glaring issue was the score for Superbowl XXI was wrong -- ouch!

Overall this is absolute must read for Giants fans of all ages. "Wellington" reminded me why I live and die with this team.

The story about the Maras and the New York Giants is a must for any fan. I purchased for my landlord who grew up in New York and he loved the book. I received it very promptly and in good condition.

This book appeals to the NY Football Giants fan and the die hard NFL fan who wants to learn about the early days of the League. Mr. Mara was a man who put League before team, something not seen these days in the league. Mr. Mara was a man who was there for his players, not only in a professional relationship but as mentor and father figure. Mr. Mara is sorely missed, but we can see his name "The Duke" stamped on today's game ball. To see why, and lots of other great stories, read this book.