Alabama Showdown: The Football Rivalry Between Auburn and Alabama

An Alabama native and contributing editor of Esquire, Norman uses the traditional rivalry between the state's biggest schools to show how pervasive a religion football has become thereand, by extension, elsewhere in the South. His book focuses on the two weeks before the 1985 contest, a particularly significant one for both colleges and their coachesAlabama's Ray Perkins, trying to continue the tradition established by his legendary predecessor ""Bear'' Bryant, and Auburn's Pat Dye, hoping for a third straight win over his toughest competitor and aided by future Heisman Trophywinner Bo Jackson. The game itself gets little space, but Norman carefully places it in its historical context, as a reminder of a time when Alabamians had little to be proud of except their university gridiron teams. Photos not seen by PW. (October 3)