If hockey is the portrait of who we are, it isn't a pretty picture.
Funny, irreverent, argumentative: In this dazzling cultural autopsy of our national pastime, Bruce Dowbiggin shows how the game reflects--and distorts--ideas about who we are. Or who we think we are. In the process, he takes on issues like fighting and violence, globalization, anti-Americanism, separatism versus federalism, greed and racism.
"[I]nsightful, angry, caustic, funny and exasperating--somewhat like the man himself. This isn't just a screed, but a thoughtful and honest look at who we are, at heart, hockey and all."--Catherine Ford
"[T]he most profound book of the 2008 crop. These thoughtful essays are purposely designed to be provocative. Some stances will make you mad, while others you will agree with, perhaps surprisingly. All will make you think, and undoubtedly feel passionate about whichever side of the debate you find yourself on."
--hockeybookreviews.ca
"Dowbiggin... has written a terrific new book about this country's love affair with hockey."--Steven Paikin, The Agenda
"Dowbiggin is an exhilarating thinker and a very eloquent spokesman on behalf of his ideas. Myself, I think he should be asked to deliver the Massey Lectures."
--Paul Quarrington, author, King Leary
"I'll have nothing more to say to this coward...."
--Don Cherry, Hockey Night in Canada
"Bruce Dowbiggin is one of the great hockey chroniclers of our time."
--David Adams Richards, winner of the Governor General's Award for fiction