Spanning three seasons in the mid 1980s, the United States Football League was the last serious challenge to the NFL. Featuring 18 teams, it secured multiple television deals, drew millions of fans, and launched the careers of future legends Steve Young, Jim Kelly, Herschel Walker, Reggie White, Doug Flutie, and Mike Rozier. The league had its fair share of player-coach brawls, drug abuse, and shady backroom deals, but as Jeff Pearlman details here, this enthralling sports venture could not survive the mismanagement of a hyper-ambitious owner—a New York businessman named Donald J. Trump.

"Pearlman's enthusiasm for his subject is infectious.... He has channeled his youthful affection into a raucous, well-reported, supremely entertaining ripsaw of a story."—NYTBR