Rating: 
Summary: Texas vs. Texas A&M. What the hell else do you want?
Review: My disclaimer - I graduated from Texas some 10 years ago.Does't really matter because this book is fair to both sides and I learned something about the history of this storied rivalry. I was also surprised at how fun this book turned out even with the cloud of 9/11 and lingering effects of the tragic A&M Bonfire accident. Stratton acknowledges both respectfully, but keeps things moving. Make no mistake, Texas and A&M football are center stage here, but the culture and image both carry almost upstage them. Stratton, an admitted transplanted "Okie", takes you through a season the tumult each team sees (at different times) and leaves the reader on the other side having experienced and learned what this whole damn thing is all about. Must read for Longhorns, Aggies, and any fan of football and good writing.
Rating: 
Summary: Culture war
Review: W.K. Stratton undermines his argument a little bit -- or perhaps just reinforces the paradoxical nature of the "blood feud" between the University of Texas and Texas A&M -- by noting that these days, the hick-versus-city slicker stereotypes no longer really apply. Both schools recruit the same kinds of high school students, graduates of both are, in turn, headhunted by the same companies, and relatively few A&M students really even have any contact with anything "agricultural" any more. But despite that demographic fact, the truth remains that U.T. versus A&M is a Big Thing in the Lone Star State. As a Texan with family connections to both schools (I attended a neutral third-party university in San Antonio myself) as well as to Stratton's native Oklahoma, I really enjoyed his exploration of this feud that transcends mere football and has become a true Texas culture war. I came away from this title with a sense that Stratton focused more on the distinctives on Texas A&M and its unique culture than he did on the U of Texas. Aggies would have an obvious explanation for this, and maybe it's just a false impression on my part, but his descriptions of A&M -- often funny, frequently insightful, and occasionally moving -- were very memorable. And while the author injects himself into the story fairly regularly, it's not a distraction. On the whole, this book would be a fun read, I'd imagine, for any fan of college football and its classic rivalries. For a Texan, however, I think it becomes something even more than that. Texans who are neither Horns nor Aggies will recognize quite a bit of their beloved homeland here. And partisans of these two schools will find their allegiances strengthened and pride reinforced, even while the other side becomes, maybe, a bit more human, a bit less caricature. And everyone will have a good time. I don't think you can ask a lot more from a book than that.
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