Their Life's Work: The Brotherhood of the 1970s Pittsburgh Steelers, Then and Now Hardcover – October 29, 2013

LOVE the Book, LOVE it ,what time it was. Wasn't into the game until 197when a very good friend and I were living together and he said winter is long and would like it if we catch the games on sunday once in a while together in the apt,Well at first I was a little reluctant, So one night that year in preseason the Steelers were on playing against the Redskins, Chuck you pick one and if they win you get a 6 pack and if the Redskins win he would get the 6 pack well the Steelers wow and from then I became a fan. 74 they won it all and I was Steeler crazy until after they beat the Cardinals didn't care seeing what tomlin was doing and the game just isn't the game anymore far to much celebrity by grown men acting like little children and what they address greatness as today they truly have no understanding of the word greatness not a clue

Hands down one of the very best books on football I've ever had the privilege of reading! As a child of the 70s, I too was drawn to this team of the decade. With the innocence of believing that this team of champions were all friends and cared deeply for each other, I expected to learn of locker room rivalries, racial tensions and other discord that reveal themselves in most adult environments. Imagine my surprise to learn that indeed, the players on this great team truly did love and care for each other, and still do so to this day. Sure, Bradshaw had his challenges finding his comfort zone with the fans and Coach Noll; something that continues to distance him from the team and his teammates to this day, but his story and circumstance prove to be the exception rather than the rule. Yes, we examine the full scope of Mike Webster's career, from his sensational rookie year in 1974 all the way up until the day Chuck Noll advised him to get on 'with his life's work', and then through his heartbreaking decline, eventual death and post-mortem finding of CTE. It's all here: The good, the bad and the tragic, based upon extensive interviews with the players, the Rooney family and the wives, ex-wives, children and widows of those who were blessed to be Steelers during a time when Pittsburgh became the city of champions. Like Roger Kahn's 'The Boys of Summer', Gary Pomerantz's work here is a labor of love, an in-depth account of life on the Steelers teams of this era and superior sports non-fiction. A must-read for any Steelers fan, NFL fan, football fan, or those longing to reconnect with that wild and crazy decade of the 70s, this book will take you back!

This book is great but heartbreaking in many respects. The invincible warriors of the greatest team of all time turned out to be humans after all. Some were more successful...Stallworth, Bradshaw, Swan, Harris, Blount, Russell, Wagner...but others were heartbreakingly more fragile....Webster, Courson, Fuqua, Furness, Holmes....and simply human. Those stories are not what a fan of the Steelers wants to hear. And in spite of the sad outcome of several of the team I think the thing that I hated the most was hearing about how the team organization changed after Art Rooney Sr. (The Chief) died. While he had loyalty to the players {the story about Rocky Bleier is well known} and the players had tremendous respect and loyalty to him, when his son Dan took over there was much less of that. Perhaps it was just business to him whereas to Art Sr. it was family. And Dan's own family was treated in many ways no better than the team. And while one review above simply referred to Noll as taciturn, it became obvious he was simply a cold-hearted SOB who cared little for his players. Bradshaw had an extremely strained relationship with Noll which he speaks about to this day. And when Harris left the team and someone asked Noll about Franco, he simply said "Franco Who?" This about the best running back the team ever had. As a Steeler fan since before the Immaculate Reception, it was very painful to learn that this team that received so much love and respect from its fans is no longer and perhaps never was what the fans thought it was.

I was a Dallas Cowboys fan as a kid but respected the dominance of the 70s Steelers in the same way Dodgers of the 40s-50s did the Yankees. The author brings the reader along on a dual tract of the team's history under the ownership of the Rooney family, with Art Sr and Art Jr at the helm. We learn about the Rooney's high standing with the populace and the eventual hiring of Chuck Noll as coach and how the foundation of the Dynasty began with the selection of Noll's first No. 1 pick: Joe Greene.Any fan of football will appreciate the anecdotes of the trials, triumphs, and tragedies that befell the players during and after their career. "Their Life's Work" is the football equivalent of Roger Kahn's "Boys of Sumer." A must read and a classic!

This book is without a doubt THE BEST Book about Sports I have ever read, in fact, it is the best book I have ever read other than The BibleI am a lifelong Steelers fan and I have read several books about the greatest team ever, the Chuck Noll lead Steelers of the 70's and early 80's, none compare to this masterpiece that delves into not only the Football side of things but the lives and successes off the field by so many like John Stallworth, Lynn Swann, Terry Bradshaw, Franco Harris, LC Greenwood, Joe Greene, Mel Blount, Donnie Shell, Tony Dungy and also the toll that football took on guys like Mike Webster (My idol and in my opinion the greatest center to ever play the game bar none) Jefferson Street Joe Gilliam who both died much too young.Thank You Gary Pomerantz for a true Masterpiece that all Steelers fans and true football fans should read.The greatest team ever assembled in the NFL by the greatest coach and one of the finest owners of any sport who in my opinion was years ahead of the curve in race relations and fighting for equality that should have been embraced years earlier. Thank You Mr Rooney and Thank You Chuck Noll for changing the lives of many and brightening a city and giving hope to so many when the economy was failing and not much good was happening to the wonderful city of Pittsburgh.

Good read,book quality is'nt great though,can easily tear

Great book.

GOOD BOOK

A must for steelers fans.

If you like the Steelers and you like reading about sports personalities, you will like this book. Tackles both the positive and negative of the 1970's Steelers.