League of Denial
The NFL, Concussions and the Battle for Truth
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Narrated by:
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David H. Lawrence XVII
About this listen
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A “meticulously documented and endlessly chilling” (The New York Times) exploration of the NFL’s decades-long attempt to deny and cover up mounting evidence connecting football and brain damage.
“A first-rate piece of reporting [that] adds crucial detail, texture, and news to the concussion story, which despite the NFL’s best efforts, isn’t going away.”—Time
ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: The Boston Globe, NPR
“Professional football players do not sustain frequent repetitive blows to the brain on a regular basis.” So concluded the National Football League in a December 2005 scientific paper on concussions in America’s most popular sport. That judgment, implausible even to a casual fan, also contradicted the opinion of a growing cadre of neuroscientists who worked in vain to convince the NFL that it was facing a deadly new scourge: chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a chronic brain disease that was driving an alarming number of players—including some of the all-time greats—to madness.
Everyone knows that football is violent and dangerous. But what the players who built the NFL into a $10 billion industry didn’t know—and what the league sought to shield from them—is that no amount of padding could protect the human brain from the force generated by modern football.
In League of Denial, award-winning ESPN investigative reporters Mark Fainaru-Wada and Steve Fainaru expose the public health crisis that emerged from the playing fields and examine how the league used its power and resources to attack independent scientists and elevate its own flawed research—a campaign with echoes of Big Tobacco’s fight to deny the connection between smoking and lung cancer. They chronicle the tragic fates of players like Hall of Fame Pittsburgh Steelers center Mike Webster, who was so disturbed at the time of his death he fantasized about shooting NFL executives, and former San Diego Chargers great Junior Seau, whose diseased brain became the target of a scientific battle between researchers and the NFL.
Based on exclusive interviews, previously undisclosed documents, and private e-mails, League of Denial is the story of what the NFL knew and when it knew it—questions at the heart of a crisis that threatens American football—and of the battle for the sport’s future.
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Critic reviews
“Meticulously documented and endlessly chilling.” (The New York Times)
“The book should come with a warning label for football fans: Watching a game will never be the same after you read it. . . . [Fainaru-Wada and Fainaru] ask tough questions of the NFL without taking their conclu- sions too far.” (NPR)
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Concussion (Movie Tie-in Edition)
- By: Jeanne Marie Laskas
- Narrated by: Hillary Huber
- Length: 9 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Jeanne Marie Laskas first met the young forensic pathologist Dr. Bennet Omalu in 2009, while reporting a story for GQ that would go on to inspire the movie Concussion. Omalu told her about a day in September 2002, when, in a dingy morgue in downtown Pittsburgh, he picked up a scalpel and made a discovery that would rattle America in ways he’d never intended. Omalu was new to America, chasing the dream, a deeply spiritual man escaping the wounds of civil war in Nigeria.
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If you know, come forth and speak.
- By Cynthia on 12-14-15
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Indentured
- The Inside Story of the Rebellion Against the NCAA
- By: Joe Nocera, Ben Strauss
- Narrated by: Dominic Hoffman
- Length: 15 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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The National Collegiate Athletic Association has come under fire. Fans have begun to realize that the athletes involved in the two biggest college sports, men's basketball and football, are little more than indentured servants. Millions of teenagers accept scholarships to chase their dreams of fame and fortune - at the price of absolute submission to the whims of an organization that puts their interests dead last.
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An Armament agnst NCAA: Enlightening, Infuriating
- By W Perry Hall on 03-15-16
By: Joe Nocera, and others
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Until It Hurts
- America’s Obsession with Youth Sports and How It Harms Our Kids
- By: Mark Hyman
- Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain
- Length: 5 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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Every year, more than 3.5 million children under age 15 require medical treatment for sports injuries, nearly half of which are the result of simple overuse. Journalist Mark Hyman investigates the evolution of youth sports from mere games to full-on quests to turn children into tomorrow's superstar athletes by pushing them beyond physical and emotional limits. Opening up a crucial discussion about the perils of youth-sports culture today, Hyman offers the solutions and answers we need.
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Are We Pushing Young Athletes Too Far?
- By Susie on 01-04-13
By: Mark Hyman
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The System
- The Glory and Scandal of Big-Time College Football
- By: Jeff Benedict, Armen Keteyian
- Narrated by: Mark Deakins
- Length: 17 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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College football has never been more popular - or more chaotic. Millions fill 100,000-seat stadiums every Saturday; tens of millions more watch on television every weekend. The 2013 Discover BCS National Championship game between Notre Dame and Alabama had a viewership of 26.4 million people, second only to the Super Bowl. Billions of dollars from television deals now flow into the game; the average budget for a top-ten team is $80 million; top coaches make more than $3 million a year; the highest paid, more than $5 million.
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Gripping Inside Look at an Industry to Itself
- By W Perry Hall on 01-23-14
By: Jeff Benedict, and others
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Going Clear
- Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief
- By: Lawrence Wright
- Narrated by: Morton Sellers
- Length: 17 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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A clear-sighted revelation, a deep penetration into the world of Scientology by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Looming Tower, the now-classic study of al-Qaeda’s 9/11 attack. Based on more than two hundred personal interviews with current and former Scientologists—both famous and less well known—and years of archival research, Lawrence Wright uses his extraordinary investigative ability to uncover for us the inner workings of the Church of Scientology.
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Shockingly Great
- By Michael on 01-27-13
By: Lawrence Wright
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It's Not About the Truth
- The Duke Lacrosse Case and the Lives It Shattered
- By: Don Yaeger, Mike Pressler
- Narrated by: Dick Hill
- Length: 10 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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What began as an off-campus team party with two hired strippers accelerated into a rape investigation - one that exposed prosecutorial misconduct, shoddy police work, an administration's rush to judgment, and the media's disregard for the facts. In It's Not About the Truth, Mike Pressler, the former Duke University lacrosse team's coach, and best-selling author Don Yaeger expose vivid details, including the day Pressler was fired.
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Highly Recommended
- By Dave on 08-08-07
By: Don Yaeger, and others
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Junior Seau
- The Life and Death of a Football Icon
- By: Jim Trotter
- Narrated by: JD Jackson
- Length: 8 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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Tiaina Baul "Junior" Seau is widely considered one of the best linebackers ever to play the game. A 10-time All-Pro and 12-time Pro Bowl selection, Seau was picked for the NFL's All-Decade Team in the 1990s. His incredible career spanned two decades, during which time he played for the Chargers, Dolphins, and Patriots. In 2012, at the age of 43, Seau committed suicide with a gunshot wound to the chest. News of his death sent shockwaves through the NFL.
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Outstanding Book!!!
- By Sherry Jones on 01-08-16
By: Jim Trotter
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Endzone
- The Rise, Fall, and Return of Michigan Football
- By: John U. Bacon
- Narrated by: Johnny Heller
- Length: 16 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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Endzone tells the story of how college football's most successful and respected program nearly lost it all in less than a decade and entirely of its own doing. It is a story of hubris, greed, and betrayal, a tale more suited to Wall Street than the world's top public university.
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Outstanding!
- By Justin on 12-21-15
By: John U. Bacon
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How to Survive a Plague
- The Inside Story of How Citizens and Science Tamed AIDS
- By: David France
- Narrated by: Rory O'Malley
- Length: 24 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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A riveting, powerful telling of the story of the grassroots movement of activists, many of them in a life-or-death struggle, who seized upon scientific research to help develop the drugs that turned HIV from a mostly fatal infection to a manageable disease. Ignored by public officials, religious leaders, and the nation at large, and confronted with shame and hatred, this small group of men and women chose to fight for their right to live by educating themselves and demanding to become full partners in the race for effective treatments.
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Read This Book!
- By Kay M Hawklee on 05-30-17
By: David France
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Game Over
- Jerry Sandusky, Penn State, and the Culture of Silence
- By: Bill Moushey, Robert Dvorchak
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
- Length: 7 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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It's a scandal that began in a place called Happy Valley. But it's not as happy as it once was, as the child-sex-abuse charges against a longtime coach and the conspiracy of silence surrounding the allegations have rocked America and Division 1 college sports. In Game Over, journalists Bill Moushey and Bob Dvorchak investigate claims of a startling cover-up within the Penn State hierarchy that attempted to protect its football legacy, quite possibly at the expense of disenfranchised children.
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Heartbreaking
- By Claire on 04-24-12
By: Bill Moushey, and others
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Polio
- An American Story
- By: David M. Oshinsky
- Narrated by: Jonathan Hogan
- Length: 14 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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This comprehensive and gripping narrative, which received the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for history, covers all the challenges, characters, and controversies in America's relentless struggle against polio. Funded by philanthropy and grassroots contributions, Salk's killed-virus vaccine (1954) and Sabin's live-virus vaccine (1961) began to eradicate this dreaded disease.
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Wonderful
- By Patricia B Tripoli on 07-22-08
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Inside Scientology
- The Story of America's Most Secretive Religion
- By: Janet Reitman
- Narrated by: Stephen Hoye
- Length: 15 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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Scientology, created in 1954 by a prolific sci-fi writer named L. Ron Hubbard, claims to be the world's fastest-growing religion, with millions of members around the world and huge financial holdings. Its celebrity believers keep its profile high, and its teams of "volunteer ministers" offer aid at disaster sites such as Haiti and the World Trade Center. But Scientology is also a notably closed faith, harassing journalists and others through litigation and intimidation, even infiltrating the highest levels of government to further its goals.
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My cup of tea.
- By MWMcCabe on 08-09-11
By: Janet Reitman
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Illegal Procedure
- A Sports Agent Comes Clean on the Dirty Business of College Football
- By: Josh Luchs, James Dale
- Narrated by: David Ledoux
- Length: 8 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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For 15 years, sports agent Josh Luchs made illegal deals with numerous college athletes, from top-tier, nationally recognized phenoms to late-round draft picks. Then, in October 2010, Luchs wrote a confessional article in Sports Illustrated, telling the truth about what he did and didn't do. Since then, he has taken on a new role: whistle-blowing, truth-telling reformer. In telling his own story, Luchs here pulls back the curtain on the real economy - and the broken system - of college football.
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Very cool!
- By Phil on 01-24-13
By: Josh Luchs, and others
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Clowns to the Left of Me, Jokers to the Right
- Opinionated Columns on American Life
- By: Michael Smerconish
- Narrated by: Michael Smerconish
- Length: 13 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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Opinionated talk show host and columnist Michael Smerconish has been chronicling local, state, and national events for the Philadelphia Daily News and the Philadelphia Inquirer for more than 15 years. He has sounded off on topics as diverse as the hunt for Osama bin Laden and what the color of your Christmas lights says about you. In this collection of 100 of his most memorable columns, Smerconish reflects on American political life with his characteristic feistiness.
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All about Smerc and who cares about the victims
- By Mark J. Rosen on 12-10-20
What listeners say about League of Denial
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Hoss
- 08-17-18
Heartbreaking
Expert storyteller, David H LawrenceXVII, delivers a heart ache presentation of our hero’s, typical big corporate cover up, and shattered players and families......couldn’t turn it off, sick that it’s still happening today.....
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1 person found this helpful
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Another Organization Stone Walls
What did you love best about League of Denial?
How detailed the story was about the Shenanigans the NFL pulled. Just unscrupulous.
Who was your favorite character and why?
I liked the Nigerian Doctor who gave the NFL hell. He is different from the nice guy depicted in the movie, which is also excellent.
What does David H. Lawrence XVII bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?
Excellent narration. However, the book is also necessary. Just too many names and details to keep straight by simply listening to the audio or seeing the movie.
Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
Oh noooooo! Impossible. Too complicated.
Any additional comments?
I am not a football fan to begin with. Now I am really not a fan.
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1 person found this helpful
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- DPM
- 03-07-14
Overall, well worth the credit
I approached this book a bit different ( more knowledgeable) than most history books I order - that of being a trial lawyer for 30 years ( personal injury) in which cause of a medical condition ( including dementia-like conditions as causally linked to head trauma) was almost always the issue. It came as no surprise, therefore, to listen that CTE as linked to NFL play was hotly debated. BUT - although I did like the book; although the narration was excellent; and the authors did a very very good job in describing the players for us, their careers and the downturn some of them faced post NFL - their bias was a bit too pronounced. Not a lot, but not insignificant either. They implied throughout that those in favor of linking CTE to football were the good doctors, those which did not were the bad doctors. Listening with " a lawyers ear" ( and I acted for people against insurance companies throughout my career) I thought it was not as clear cut as the authors would have us believe, especially as the majority of NFL players do not develop these symptoms. I also agree with the first reviewer that it was difficult to keep track of which doctor, which opinion. That is not to say, however, that I did not like the audiobook. I did. It is worth the credit.. I found it very interesting, all parts, the whole discusson, especially, to repeat myself, when the player's lives were discussed. I will follow up and research further this topic CTE and the NFL ( starting with the show that " Frontline" did on the book, available via YouTube), which for me is a good sign the book is worth reading.
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11 people found this helpful
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- bluestar
- 07-01-15
Very compelling
Loved the beginning Some of the stories are sad Some parts are repetitive Overall a great listen
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1 person found this helpful
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- Amazon Customer
- 06-16-17
A Salient Topic in the Sports Safety Discussion
The history and controversy presented herein will present one of the greatest struggles of the future of sports medicine. This book conveys the intensity and drama surrounding the concussion issue in so many American sports. It poses important questions and provides riveting history and information around the concussion culture. this is a must-read for anyone involved in the world of contact (collision) sports.
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- jonathan meharg
- 02-11-18
Shocking
This book starts with the story of Mike Webster. Any big football fan will know his sad story but the book goes into more detail and just breaks your heart for his family. I never thought I'd look at the NFL like I do the tobbacoo companies but if you read this book. Imsure you will also.
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- K. Schoff
- 11-05-17
Fantastic, moving, eye opening. Great narration!
I never leave reviews but League of Denial was so well-written and compelling that I've been moved to review it in the hopes other people will also enjoy! Incredibly well-researched and put together in a compelling story. Your heart aches for Mike Webster and his family learning what they go through.
Great narration, David Lawrence does a great job with challenging medical material. Overall this book was a great listen- educational, moving, interesting and eye-opening. Highly recommend!
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- King Hap
- 02-02-16
Wow. Great book!!!
Great book for any NFL fan, or sports fan in general. Touchy topic and this book gets deep into detail. I would 100% recommend this book.
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- Raistlin
- 02-21-15
Don't watch football much but this is compelling
Well organized book interspersing hard science with human interest. Narrator was excellent. Really delved into the history of the NFL coming to terms with concussions and liability. Thoroughly good listen for fan and non fan alike.
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- mdgaro8
- 01-09-19
Long but good
Very much enjoyed listening to this book although at times it gets very long winded. The stories of all the players and the wide range of positions in ages they encompass make you realize how much this issue will plague the NFL for years and years to come. All the while with the NFL denying and failing to admit the product on the field causes any issues
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