Sanctioned Savagery: A History of Violence in American Football

by Michael Oriard

American football was a violent sport from its beginning as a college game in the 1870s and 1880s, in part because learning how to deal with the pain and violence, to “take it,” made men out of college boys. Michael Oriard, former NFL linebacker and professor emeritus of English, shows us that this fundamental belief persisted for more than a century, until signs of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) were found in Pittsburgh Steelers' center Mike Webster’s brain. Suddenly, the cost of “taking it” could mean long-term damage not just to the body but also to the brain. Without anyone knowing it, that risk had soared since the 1950s and 1960s, when the hardshell plastic helmet became the primary weapon for blocking and tackling, as taught by a new generation of college coaches, led by the University of Alabama’s Bear Bryant.

In this cultural history of football at nearly all levels—high school, college, and pro—Oriard traces the perennial tension between health and culture regarding football as reflected in what the public read in newspapers, magazines, and online. Through examining how we once felt and how we now feel about the game, Oriard challenges us to grapple with the possibility that football might be too violent, in an intolerable way.

Genres: Sports

304 pages, Hardcover

Published September 9, 2025

Reviews

[Madison ✨ (mad.lyreading) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked this book up as the wife of a football fan who doesn't want her kids to play football due to the long term effects this game could have on them. As someone who lived through the era of the 'concussion crisis' of the NFL, I was mostly interested in that aspect. This book goes well beyond that, historically, starting from the beginning of American football. This was interesting, but it was incredibly hard for me to understand some of the plays the author was describing. I have never played football, and I don't understand how to 'read' football. Therefore, the first half of this book was a bit of a slog for me, other than the historical analysis of how football was portrayed by the media and in cartoons. Once we got to the 1960's, however, I flew through this book. I wanted more on the concussion crisis, but I do recognize that that is not what this book was specifically about. I will be pulling information from this book out when I discuss the dangers of football with my husband when the time comes.

Thank you to the University of North Carolina Press and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.