It's the quintessential American story: how Vince Lombardi, the son of an immigrant Italian butcher, rose to the top, and how his character and will to prevail transformed him, his wife, his children, his players, his sport, and ultimately the entire country. It is also a vibrant football story, abundant with accounts of Lombardi's thrilling life in that world, from his playing days at Fordham in the 1930s to the glory of coaching the Green Bay Packers in the 1960s. And it is a study of national myths, and what biographer Maraniss calls the fallacy of the innocent past.