num_pages: 371
description: Return once again to the timeless account of the Permian Panthers of Odessa--the winningest high-school football team in Texas history. Odessa is not known to be a town big on dreams, but the Panthers help keep the hopes and dreams of this small, dusty town going. Socially and racially divided, its fragile economy follows the treacherous boom-bust path of the oil business. In bad times, the unemployment rate barrels out of control; in good times, its murder rate skyrockets. But every Friday night from September to December, when the Permian High School Panthers play football, this West Texas town becomes a place where dreams can come true. With frankness and compassion, H. G. Bissinger chronicles a season in the life of Odessa and shows how single-minded devotion to the team shapes the community and inspires--and sometimes shatters--the teenagers who wear the Panthers' uniforms.
language: English
title: Friday Night Lights: A Town, a Team, and a Dream
titlecomplete: Friday Night Lights: A Town, a Team, and a Dream
genres: Biography, Football, Nonfiction, School, Sports, Adult, Banned Books, High School, Journalism, History
ratings_count: 58791
places: Texas, Odessa, Texas
publisher: Da Capo Press