Hockey Book Reviews.com

Congratulations to author Gare Joyce and the fine folks at publisher Wiley. HockeyBookReviews.com has named their book The Devil and Bobby Hull as the 2011 Hockey Book of the Year! 2011 proved to be a tough year to choose a winner as there was no real runaway leader. Runner up was Jason Farris' Behind The Moves . Others that were seriously considered were  The Lives of Conn Smythe  by Kelly McParland,   The Lost Dream: The Mike Danton Story  by Steve Simmons,  Wayne Gretzky's Ghost  by Roy MacGregor,   Cornered  by Ron MacLean with Kirstie McLellan Day,   Extraordinary Canadians: Maurice Richard  by Charles Foran and  Hockey Hall of Fame Book of Treasures . I gave  The Devil and Bobby Hull  because it was the one new book that I just could not put down. The content was rich and well researched. Gare Joyce's characterization of Hull was fascinating. The book was also entertaining with stories of the NHL's Original Six ...

As the epic battles between Rocket Richard and Gordie Howe reached their zenith in the 1950s, another superstar arrived in the same stratosphere. Bobby Hull - hockey's Golden Jet - was every bit as good as his counterpart #9s. In fact, he was kind of a hybrid of the two. He had Howe's size and strength, and Richard's flare for the dramatic. He may have been the greatest player of his era, the 1960s, carrying the torch from Howe and Richard until Bobby Orr came along. Hull was pro sports first million dollar man, and he had the million dollar smile to go with it. Not unlike Wayne Gretzky after him, his personality was contagiously appealing, almost as important as his athletic prowess. He transcended the game to almost Hollywood proportions But, for a variety of reasons, Hull's lasting legacy does not measure up with the likes of Howe or Richard or Orr or Jean Beliveau. Instead he is painted as a more dastardly character. His key role in jumping to the WHA ruffled ma...