Undefeated

Jim Thorpe and the Carlisle Indian School Football Team

By: Steve Sheinkin

Narrated by: Mark Bramhall

When superstar athlete Jim Thorpe and football legend Pop Warner met in 1904 at the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania, they forged one of the winningest teams in American football history. Called "the team that invented football," they took on the best opponents of their day, defeating much more privileged schools such as Harvard and the Army in a series of breathtakingly close calls, genius plays, and bone-crushing hard work.

But this is not just an underdog story. It's an unflinching look at the persecution of Native Americans and its intersection with the beginning of one of the most beloved―and exploitative―pastimes in America, expertly told by nonfiction powerhouse Steve Sheinkin.

Truly Moving

A great recount of the first true American athlete. You suffer with him throughout his young life and through his adult life as he attempts to prove his worth in a land to which his people first owned, only to find themselves (in all accounts) as outcasts and enemies. Mr. Thorpe never truly felt himself as a free and equal man, even though there were no equals.

So much I didn’t know or even thought about

I was a pop warner player. I love every moment. The experience continues to help me be a better person 60 years later. I was sad to read of the betrayal

The Army game was wonderful

Fantastic history on America's best athlete

Great story, great narration, great book. A great look on what His generation went through.

Great untold story

Jim Thorpe rubbed shoulders with many of the great American legends of the 20th century. Too bad the times he lived in did not afford him to take his rightful place among them. Only now does it become clear what his struggle was and the contributions that he and his teammates made to the modern game of football that America loves.

Truly undefeated

Great story about the hardships of Native Americans and the stuff they went through to ingrate into modern society, as well as a cool bibliographical story about a famous athlete named Jim Thorpe