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THIS IS ABOUT THE FINAL YEAR OF THE GREAT DYNASTY OF THE BOSTON CELTICS FROM 1950′S THRU THE 1960′S. ALONG THE WAY THE AUTHOR TELLS A LITTLE ABOUT EACH PLAYER INCLUDING GM RED AUERBACH.ONE OF THE HIGHLIGHTS DISCUSSED ARE THE RACISM GOING AROUND NOT ONLY IN BOSTON BUT IN JUST ABOUT EVERY MAJOR CITY IN THE USA. I ALSO FOUND THE COVERAGE CONCERNING RUSSELL VS WILT VERY WELL WRITTEN AND TO ME THE MOST INTERESTING PART OF THIS VERY GOOD BOOK. IT CENTERS MOSTLY AROUND BILL RUSSELL, AS WE FOUND OUT THAT HE IS INDEED VERY HUMAN ALONG WITH BEING THE ULTIMATE TEAM PLAYER. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS FOR ALL BASKETBALL AND ESPECIALLY CELTIC FANS. WELL WORTH READING.

As a native Bostonian, I can say that a book on the Celtics’ most enduring triumph is more than welcome. Anyone who grew up in Boston in the 1950′s and 1960′s knew that the Celtics were just about at the end of their championship run. After Philadelphia ran the Celtics out of the 1967 playoffs in five games, it was clear that a power shift of major proportions had taken place between the two teams, with Boston on the “down” elevator. The 1968 title was, at the time,their most improbable, their defeat of the 76ers after trailing in the East Finals 3-1 an unprecedented achievement. Their 1969 title dwarfed the noble 1968 entry, and Thomas Whalen has submitted a welcome and long-overdue work on the subject. As an African-American, having attended regular-season and playoff games at the Boston Garden, I can say that Mr. Whalen, if anything, muted the issue of race in Boston. The Garden could be quite an unhospitable place for people of color, not only for spectators, but for visiting and Celtic players as well. Boston’s entire history of race relations was prologue for the city’s Ragnarok in the 1970′s when the buses rolled into the “wrong” neighborhoods. Boston was a tense place after Martin Luther King’s assassination, an event which figured largely in the early stages of the Celtics-76ers’ playoff series between April 5-19, 1968. The 1968-69 Celtics seemed worn out, a Frank Sinatra opening the show for someone else. Mr. Whalen does a commendable job of taking the reader through the successive stages of the playoffs. I wish, though, that he had devoted more space to the Boston-New York Eastern Conference Final, especially the nerve-wracking sixth game. The Celtics’ reward was to be an historic pairing with the “greatest team ever assembled”: the mighty Los Angeles Lakers with Chamberlain, Elgin Baylor, and Jerry West. How could L.A. lose? An entire chapter devoted to the great seventh game would have been the cherry topping on the sundae. The flaws in the book may be relatively few, but they are, unfortunately, glaring. On page 114, the author writes that the pass stolen by John Havlicek which elevated him to icon status on April 15, 1965 “was intended for [Wilt] Chamberlain.” That’s a major error of fact. The Celtics were leading the Philadelphia 76ers 110-109 with just four seconds showing on the clock. Hal Greer’s pass was intended for Chet Walker. Chamberlain was posted along the baseline, guarded by Bill Russell. Philly had basically four options on the play, including a return pass from Walker to Chamberlain for an easy, series-clinching dunk. Mr. Whalen also writes that the Celtics’ late-season 108-73 humiliation to the Lakers occurred at the L.A. Forum; wrong: it was at Boston Garden, where the 14,171 who showed up jeered the Green mercilessly. The mis-spellings of names [Bob Pettit and Dave Gavitt are two] should never occur in a major work; it’s the kind of carelessness which forces the casual [or dedicated] reader to wonder if the author is as conversant with his subject as the book’s jacket implies. Another drawback is the overwhelming use of footnotes. They are the scholar’s tool, but forcing the reader to keep two places in the book, constantly jumping from the text to the source and back again, severely hampers one’s reading enjoyment. After more than 100 pages, I simply gave it up and stuck to the text. I also found the writing derivative, lapsing into the “sportspeak” of the 1950′s and 1960′s magazines, like Sport and Sports Illustrated. It is probably unfair to compare Mr. Whalen, an academic, with David Halberstam, a professional historian, who, in my opinion, has written the two-finest books on pro basketball: “The Breaks of the Game,” and “Playing For Keeps.” In the latter, Mr. Halberstam crafted a splendid account of the Chicago Bulls’ final NBA title without the benefit of a promised interview with Michael Jordan. Mr. Whelan interviewed only one-third of the 12-man Celtic roster; why not the others, or, at the very least Russell, Sam Jones, and Havlicek, plus Red Auerbach? For those who remember that grand spring of 1969, however, the book is more than a worthwhile read, and for the millions of Celtic “fans” who weren’t aware of the team before Larry Bird hit town in the fall of 1979, this book can serve as a gazetteer about the NBA’s whistle-stops in its early manifestation; an on-point but far-too-brief analysis of an unhappy city and its tortured history of race relations; and a documentary about American sport’s most majestic team as it stared down its Gotterdammerung in an epic struggle in a seventh game far, far from the Boston Garden, on May 5, 1969.

This is a wonderful book about a time, a group of men, one great man, and a team for the ages. It is possibly the best “sports book” I have ever read (there have been many), and I’m not even a Celtics fan or from Boston! I give this my highest recommendation, a shining example of how history is stranger (and much more intriguing) than fiction. Read this one!

I’m not really a sports person, but I could not stop reading this book.

I found myself drawn into the stories that Goudsouzian tells. One is the story of Bill Russell himself, an amazing athlete and quirky personality who rose to be one of the greatest basketball players of all time and a founder of the Celtics mystique.

But this is not simply a biography of one man. Goudsouzian also narrates the civil rights movement and the “rise of the black athlete” through the story of Russell’s life. Like all good books about a single person, Goudsouzian puts Russell the man into his times to show how each shaped the other. Russell became a crusader for racial equality and black pride both in his on-the-court play and his off-the-court life. This is also the tale of the evolution of modern sports and how basketball went from being a small-time enterprise to an enormous cultural influence in America, thanks in large part to men like Russell.

Goudsouzian is a master historian who has done an amazing amount of research, but he’s also a fabulous writer. The book sizzles with a “you-are-there” style of sports writing that puts the reader into the heat of the action. At the same time, Goudsouzian is able to step back with the historian’s breadth of vision to show us what it all means and why the life of this one man — impressive on its own terms — points to larger themes in American history.

This book is a must-read for anyone interested in recent US history, especially African-American history, as well as the history of sports in America.

In an era when the NBA is about individuals (Kobe, Shaq), reading a book about a true team is very refreshing. To a man, the players on the 1968-69 Boston Celtics talk about defense, rebounding, and meshing their abilities with those of their teammates. Not one of them is concerned about how many points he scored on a given night, only about whether the team won. It’s also very interesting to read about an

I feel the book’s strength is that you receive in-depth portraits of many of the star’s who played for the Boston Celtics in addition to their announcer Johnny Most. In addition we are also provided with descriptions of Wilt Chamberlain and other NBA stars during this time period. Chamberlain, by the way, acquired his nickname “The Big Dipper” by having to often duck when entering through a doorway. However, the title suggests a concentration on the 1968-1969 season, and only the chapters on the playoffs at the end of the book provide us with this information. I enjoyed the book, but I found much of the same information in Bob Cousy’s book and Red Auerbach’s recent book. In addition, former St. Louis Hawks’ superstar, Bob Pettit, the first man to score 20,000 points, had his name spelled incorrectly both times it appeared in the book and also in the index. If you enjoy the Celtics I’m quite sure you will enjoy the book, but I found it to be repetitious in what I found in other books. It is, indeed, unfortunate that this great Celtics team often played before a half empty Boston Garden before fans who really didn’t appreciate what they had representing their city.

With all due respect to Michael Jordan, this book in a profile of, if not the greatest player, certainly the greatest winner in NBA history. If scoring all the points with all the fanciest moves is the criteria for determining greatness, then Jordan is your guy. If winning the championship darn near every year of your career, both college and pro, then you have to go with Russell. The book goes into where Russell “decided to win in college” and did nothing but win the rest of his playing days. Mr. Russell was never particularly popular with fans nor with writers and ne never particularly cared. As long as he had the respect of his teammates and his team won the game, that was what was most important to Mr. Russell. An excellent book.

I’m a Huge Laker Fan&always Brag&speak when talk comes for the All-time Greatest I say Wilt,Magic,Kareem&Shaq take your pick.but I do think alot of Bill Russell&the Man was the Ultimate Team champion.He was so Ground-Breaking on so many levels&thsi Book points this out&more. a Great reflection&also speaks alot about the time Period&the Many Obstacles that Bill Russell had to endure.

No basketball player defined the sixties the way that Bill Russell did. From 1959 to 1969, Russell led the Boston Celtics to ten NBA championships, including eight straight.* During this period, Russell was the central force of the greatest dynasty in the history of the sport. The Celtics helped transform the NBA from an obscure professional basketball league into a prominent sport that has become an important part of American popular culture and entertainment.

Russell’s Celtics revolutionized the NBA. Before he joined the Celtics in 1956, professional basketball was essentially a lily-white, slow, earthbound sport. But Russell helped change all of that. He infused a black aesthetic into basketball and altered the patterns of the game. The changes could be seen in the way Russell rebounded the ball: he flew into the air, snatched the ball off the rim, and in one motion whipped an outlet pass to Bob Cousy or K.C. Jones, igniting a fast-break. Traditionally, basketball coaches taught their players never to leave their feet on defense. Russell ignored this rule. He leaped off the parquet floor and blocked shots, frustrating and intimidating shooters. Sometimes he simply jumped and caught a player’s errant shot in midair. Russell’s defense stretched the possibilities of the game. He cultivated a faster and more athletic sport.

In Aram Goudsouzian’s King of the Court, we learn that Russell challenged racial boundaries on and off the court. When he arrived in Boston in December 1956, Russell was the only black player on the Celtics and only 15 African Americans held roster spots in the NBA. Russell was not the first black player in the league, but he was the NBA’s first black superstar. Over the course of his thirteen seasons, Russell and the Celtics symbolized integration in American life. By 1969, Russell’s last season, the NBA had become a predominantly black sport.

But Russell refused to believe that his integrated teams were evidence of racial progress in America. Goudsouzian documents the courtside racial taunts that Russell heard, the hate mail he received, and the discrimination he faced in the South and in Boston. Goudsouzian is a master storyteller whose vivid narrative shows how Russell embodied the tensions of the civil rights movement and how he confronted racial discrimination. In King of the Court, readers will learn how Russell became one of the first outspoken, politically active black athletes in America, at a time when athletes avoided controversial social and political issues. Russell’s defiant behavior off the court challenged traditional standards of behavior for black athletes, paving the way for younger, more militant black athletes.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in learning about Russell, the history of the NBA, or the civil rights movement. Goudsouzian covers it all: the Wilt-Russell rivalry, the commercial growth of professional basketball, Russell’s relationship with Red Auerbach, his involvement in the civil rights movement, the explosive racial history of Boston in the 1960s and 1970s, and the legacy of the Celtics’ dynasty. This is unquestionably one of the best sport biographies written in the last decade. Don’t take my word for it. Read it yourself.

*Russell won 11 total championships in 13 seasons.

For those of us who were lucky enough to be around New England in the 1960′s the incredible championship run of the Boston Celtics was a wonder to behold. Imagine winning 11 World Championships in 13 years! I really don’t think many of us truly understood the magnitude of what was being accomplished. And needless to say, it’s a pretty safe bet that there will never be anything like it again in professional sports.

“Dynasty’s End: Bill Russell and the 1968-69 World Champion Boston Celtics” recalls the incredible accomplishments of Bill Russell, Sam Jones, John Havlicek and the rest of the cast that completely dominated the sport for more than a decade. While the focus is ultimately on the Celtics improbable 1968-69 championship season author Thomas Whelan has done a nice job of filling us in on the history of this storied franchise. It is really quite stunning when you realize that for many years the Celtics were winning championship after championship on a shoestring budget and were rarely able to sell out the building. You begin to understand just how smart Red Auerbach really was. Whelan also recalls great fondness longtime Celtics radio announcer Johnny Most. He truly was one of a kind and really was an intregal part of the Boston Celtics story.

While Whalen gives us the lowdown on all of the significant Celtics players of the period he hones in on Hall of Famer Bill Russell. Here was a multi-talented player with an extremely complex personality who toward the end of his storied career would have the distinction of becoming player-coach of the Celts. Some of the stories and anecdotes about Russell are absolutely priceless. Whalen also profiles many of the Celtics key adversaries of the day including Elgin Baylor, Bill Bradley, Billy Cunningham and of course Bill Russell’s arch-rival Wilt “The Stilt” Chamberlain. Suffice to say that Russell had his way with the 7’1″ Chamberlain more often than not.

“Dynasty’s End” is a well written book destined to be enjoyed by history buffs and basketball fans alike. It is a snapshot of a different era in the country as a whole and professional sports in particular. A worthwhile read!

I’ve been a fan of Goudsouzian’s work since I came across his seminal biography of Poitier a few years ago. I admired that book as a successful effort at chronicling Poitier’s career and personal relationships without descending to the cheap but all-too-common trick of sensationalizing his romantic life and Hollywood connections in order to move books. In King of the Court, Goudsouzian maintains the same even, academic tone to his work. His account of Russell’s basketball career is thoroughly researched but not overlong at 280 pages. The author’s writing style is succint yet engaging. In terms of content, I particularly liked how Goudsouzian intertwined accounts of Russell’s successes in sport with commentary on the racial and political climate of the times. In this way he paints a balanced portrait of Bill Russell as both athlete and cultural symbol. Overall an excellent read.

I heard about this book in a Sports Illustrated capsule. The subject matter has always fascinated me — despite the fact they were defending champs and had won 10 of the previous 12 years, I still consider them the most unlikely (and for that reason compelling) champs in NBA history.

The subject matter is no secret: the Celtics had won most improbably in 1968 by overcoming a 3-1 deficit against the defending champion Sixers – who still had Wilt, and were one year removed from their unbelievable 1967 season, which was arguably the greatest team ever assembled. In ’69, the Celtics failed to win their division for the fourth straight year and were in fact the lowest seed in the playoffs. Not only were the Sixers still a force but Baltimore and New York were very much improved. Faltering down the stretch and injury-riddled, the team pulled together for one last run, culminating in an unthinkable game 7 win over Wilt, Jerry West, Elgin Baylor, and the Lakers in LA. Russell retired on top (and STAYED retired), as so few other athletes ever have.

The book is well-written and the author does an excellent job of setting the tone of the era and the city, particularly its indifference to the Celtics and the racist environment that existed. Additionally, the principals’ background information was interesting and informative.

In short, if you are interested in NBA history in general or want to read an inspirational story of people working together to reach a common goal, get this book.