A Civil War, Army vs. Navy: A Year Inside College Football's Purest Rivalry by Feinstein, John - c1996

Boston, MA: Little, Brown and Company, c1996. First Edition. First Printing. Hardcover. Very good/Very good. 25 cm, 412 pages. Illustrations. Index. Inscribed by the author. John Feinstein (born July 28, 1956) is an American sportswriter, author and sports commentator. A Civil War: Army vs. Navy is a book published in 1996 by popular sports author John Feinstein. In it, Feinstein writes about his experiences spending time with both American football teams of the United States Military Academy (Army) and the United States Naval Academy (Navy) during the 1995 season, leading up to the annual Army-Navy Game at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. It follows the members of each football team throughout the season, through the highs and lows of the season. Neither team was eligible for the Commander-in-Chief's Trophy as the United States Air Force Academy team had defeated both Army and Navy earlier in the year to retain the trophy. On a cold, blustery day at Veterans Stadium, Army defeated Navy 14-13 to win their fourth straight Army-Navy Game. Derived from a Kirkus review: Feinstein chronicles the 1995 season of the West Point and Annapolis football teams. To Cadets and Midshipmen alike, no other event during the year means as much as the chance to wrest honor from their rival academy. Feinstein recounts how rigid military discipline and withering academic standards combine to make football at West Point and Annapolis unlike football at any other division I schools. Going into the 1995 season, Army and Navy seemed to be headed in opposite directions. Rocked by a series of academic scandals and other tragedies, Navy's morale was low. The West Point team, by contrast, seemed to be brimming with optimism and spirit. During the course of the season, however, both teams played with grit and skill. For Navy, however, the season's real goal was to break Army's recent stranglehold on the series. Army also had a lot at stake: namely, the chance for the team's seniors to be the first Cadet class since 1948 to go 4-0 against Navy.