"[O]ne of the great sports books ever written…. [P]repare to be stunned by how fresh and compelling [Steelers history] looks with Mr. Pomerantz's near-maniacal research, searing interviews, and more of the highly polished writing for which he's become famous and esteemed…. By parts history, comedy, tragedy and sweeping 40-year epic, Pomerantz's is a loving work that somehow refrains from being romantic, never flinching from the brutal realities of both the game and too real brutalities of some of its greatest players…. As with David Maraniss' "When Pride Still Mattered," a monumental work about Vince Lombardi, Mr. Pomerantz has taken a story way overtold and done it the way everyone wished they had.” (Gene Collier
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
"I've been waiting for a book, written in an exhilarating and cogent and intelligent way, on the best football team of my adult life, and now it's here. I loved the Steelers way back when, and now that I know them in their middle age and beyond, I love their story. That's not just because Joe Greene and Terry Bradshaw and Jack Lambert are compelling figures. It's because Gary Pomerantz wrote it the way Roger Kahn wrote 'Boys of Summer.' This book will be 'Men of Fall' for my football generation.'' (Peter King, senior writer, Sports Illustrated.)
"What sets
Their Life's Work well above other books that tell us about teammates in their glory and their dotage, is that Gary Pomerantz not only brings such flair to the Steelers' glory days, but he also instructs us so vividly how, in football, teammates don't just grow old, they grow in pain and fear." (Frank Deford)
"What has become of the best team ever? Pomerantz has the story, the lowdown and the afterglow. A wealth of prime Steeler stuff." (Roy Blount Jr., Author of About Three Bricks Shy of A Load)
"Their Life's Work is that rare book that is brutally authentic, vigorously reported, smoothly written, and hauntingly sympathetic all at the same time. Sport , coach, team, city, sensibility all powerfully rendered." (David Maraniss, Author of When Pride Still Mattered: A Life of Vince Lombardi)
"Their Life's Work is a behind the scenes and revealing look at what I consider one of the three greatest NFL football teams since World War II. Having competed against the 1970s Pittsburgh Steelers, I didn't think it was possible to learn more about this team, but Gary Pomerantz has uncovered so many intriguing details on how this great ball club was masterfully put together, along with fascinating new insights into the great characters who played on these championship teams, I see them in a new light. This is one great football book." (Ernie Accorsi, Former General Manager of the New York Giants, Cleveland Browns, Baltimore Colts)
“This is a special book about a special moment in a special town. You cannot understand one of America's great cities today without understanding the special place the Steelers hold in Pittsburgh—and, unless you have season tickets, you cannot fully understand Pittsburgh without
Their Life's Work.” (David M. Shribman, Executive Editor, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and The Pittsburgh Press)
"
Their Life’s Work will be compared to Roger Kahn’s
The Boys of Summer (1972), a nostalgic look back at the 1950s Brooklyn Dodgers. As good as
Boys is, this is better. . . A wonderful book." (
Booklist (starred))
“Gary Pomerantz's
Their Life's Work: The Brotherhood of the 1970s Pittsburgh Steelers is the vessel in which the current generation can travel back to those days and immerse itself in the history of this franchise…. [A] dramatic, inspiring and wondrous tale of brotherhood, camaraderie and spirit…. It's the text book for Steelers 101. It's the Bible for Steelers Spirituality 201. It's the reading material necessary to pass a citizen's test for entry into Steeler Nation, and all residents should be issued it upon their arrival.” (Neal Coolong
Behind The Steel Curtain)
"Pomerantz has written what may be the definitive book of the 1970s Steelers." (Scott Brown
ESPN)
"Pomerantz has just done a terrific job writing about the city, the Rooneys, everybody that mattered on that team. … It's just fascinating" (Rush Limbaugh
The Rush Limbaugh Show)
"The author calls the Steelers of the late '70s the best team ever, and it's hard to argue. Four Super Bowls in six seasons, an 80-22-1 record, a dozen Hall of Famers, and a dozen more unforgettable characters. Pomerantz tracked them down the way Roger Kahn did in the baseball classic "The Boys of Summer" and lets them speak their peace. It's lively, moving and tragic." (
Portland Oregonian)
"
Their Life's Work is a thoroughly reported and clearly written account of the Steelers' sensational '70s, framed through the "brotherhood" of the players and their interplay with the owners." (John Allison
Pittsburgh Quarterly)
"There have been many books written about the 70's Steelers. But it’s hard to find one better than
Their Life’s Work." (
Football Outsider.com)
“Pomerantz is a smooth story teller and the pages fly by like Lynn Swann in his prime.” (Mike Patterson
The Oklahoman)
“[An] excellent new book . . . A necessary read for anyone with an interest in the Steelers and professional football. There are many great pleasures to be had in the company of these men – in the tales of their youth and now in their later years. What may surprise you, as it did me, is just how moving the story of the 1970s Steelers remains.” (Kristofer Collins, Pittsburgh Magazine)
“Here is a book as hard-hitting and powerful as the ‘Steel Curtain’ dynasty that Pomerantz depicts so deftly. It’s the NFL’s version of
The Boys of Summer, with equal parts triumph and melancholy. Pomerantz’s writing is strong, straightforward, funny, sentimental and blunt. It’s as working class and gritty as the men he writes about.” (Top 10 Sports Books of 2013) (Bob D’Angelo, The Tampa Tribune)