Kingdom Quarterback

Praise

“A lively sports narrative” —Wall Street Journal

“Sportswriters Dent and Dodd cover three subjects in writing that is lively, vivid, well-organized, understandable to non-football-oriented readers, and up-to-the minute.” —Booklist (STARRED REVIEW)

“[A] riveting look at the plight of a midwestern city through the prism of a star athlete.”
—Publishers Weekly (STARRED REVIEW)

“[L]ively and meaningful… Chiefs fans will find this a revelation, and urban planners might learn a thing or two, too.” —Kirkus

“Mark Dent and Rustin Dodd write a story here that is bigger than Patrick Mahomes — and it’s hard to imagine ANYTHING being bigger than Patrick Mahomes. They tell the remarkable history of a thoroughly American city and its pathway to the center of professional football.”—Joe Posnanski, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Why We Love Baseball

“Does a man make a city, or does a city make a man? Fortunately, the extraordinary Kingdom Quarterback explores both questions with rigorous detail and compassion. Dent and Dodd have written a smart meditation on race, class, geography, and of course, football. This deeply-researched book will leave you with more appreciation not just for the transcendent superstar that is Mahomes, but the city that has embraced him. —Mirin Fader, New York Times bestselling author of Giannis

“Kingdom Quarterback is a brilliant weave of football and urban sociology, popping with illuminating detail and as smart about Kansas City as it is about the meaning of Patrick Mahomes.” —David Maraniss,  Pulitzer Prize winner and New York Times bestselling author of Once in a Great City: A Detroit Story

“Kingdom Quarterback is an instant sports classic. There’s never been a player like Patrick Mahomes, and this book somehow pins his crazy magic to the page while spinning a yarn for the ages, tracing his unlikely rise to the NFL and showing how his jaw-dropping abilities are transforming the game. Epic stuff.” —Jason Fagone, national bestselling author of The Woman Who Smashed Codes: A True Story of Love, Spies, and the Unlikely Heroine Who Outwitted America’s Enemies
 
“Kingdom Quarterback dives deep into the visionaries, villains, and prophets who built Kansas City — the hard heart of America. It’s a history lesson with soul, and makes the case for how pro football not only fits into the country we’ve built for ourselves, but for better or worse, embodies it.” —Eric Nusbaum, author of Stealing Home: Los Angeles, the Dodgers, and the Lives Caught in Between
 
“Patrick Mahomes is a civic treasure — the embodiment of Kansas City’s highest aspirations, and the walking rebuttal to the darkest moments of its past. Kingdom Quarterback is the book that explains why. Mark Dent and Rustin Dodd take readers on an enlightening and entertaining walk through past and present, through speakeasies and locker rooms, through systemic racism and into the mind of a football genius, deftly telling the intertwined stories of a uniquely skilled quarterback and a uniquely American city. There is still no earthly explanation for what Mahomes can do. But this book shows why he matters.” —Michael Rosenberg, senior writer, Sports Illustrated, and author of War As They Knew It: Bo Schembechler, Woody Hayes, and America in a Time of Unrest