From Darkness to Dynasty: The First 40 Years of the New England Patriots
About this audiobook
Love them or hate them, what the New England Patriots have been able to do over the past fifteen years is nothing short of remarkable. In addition to their four Super Bowl championships, the Patriots have the best coach in the league, a smart and savvy front office, and a future Hall of Fame quarterback who is internationally recognized as the face of the NFL. The longer the Patriots continue to dominate on the field as well as in the media and the American pop culture landscape, the harder it becomes for anyone to remember them as something other than a model franchise and the ultimate paradigm of success and accomplishment.
Anyone, that is, except for Jerry Thornton. It wasn’t always sunshine and roses for the Patriots; in fact, for the bulk of their existence, it was exactly the opposite. Though difficult to fathom now, the New England Patriots of old weren’t just bad—they were laughably bad. Not so long ago, the Pats were the laughingstock of not only the NFL but also the entire sporting world.
From Darkness to Dynasty tells the unlikely history of the New England Patriots as it has never been told before. From their humble beginnings as a team bought with rainy-day money by a man who had no idea what he was doing to the fateful season that saw them win their first Super Bowl, Jerry Thornton shares the wild, humiliating, unbelievable, and wonderful stories that comprised the first forty years of what would ultimately become the most dominant franchise in NFL history.
Witty, hilarious, and brutally honest, From Darkness to Dynasty returns to the thrilling, perilous days of yesteryear—a welcome corrective for those who hate the Patriots and a useful reminder for those who love them that all glory is fleeting.
About the author
Jerry Thornton is a founder of Barstool Sports and a cohost of the daily Dale & Holley Show on WEEI, Boston’s leading sports radio station. In addition, Jerry is a standup comic who won the Boston Comedy Riot competition and has worked colleges and clubs all around New England. He has appeared on HBO’s Emmy Award–winning The Curse of the Bambino and Comcast Sports New England and has written for ColdHardFootballFacts.com.
Michael Holley is the author of the New York Times bestsellers Patriot Reign, Never Give Up (with Tedy Bruschi), and Red Sox Rule. He was a Boston Globe sportswriter for ten years, and he is the cohost of The Big Show on Boston sports radio station WEEI. Holley lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with his wife and two sons.
Chris Andrew Ciulla is a versatile performer with over 50 audiobook credits to his name. The genres of his titles range from mystery/thriller to sci-fi, to fantasy and romance. He also excels at sports-related nonfiction, being a former sports radio host and frequent show guest. He's a boxing expert who is a commentator for professional matches. In addition to frequent film, television, and on-camera commercial work, Chris has voiced characters for the popular video game titles Fallout 4 and Mafia III, and can be heard in national commercial campaigns. AudioFile magazine reviewed a recent performance: "Narrator Chris Ciulla adopts a slight accent to illustrate her Lithuanian roots and adds a slight tremulousness to his timbre so that Ona sounds old but still spry and spirited... Ciulla's open performance and slightly hurried pacing for the boy perfectly translate his unfiltered but sweet nature... Quinn didn't always fulfill his parental responsibilities but Ciulla makes his fundamental decency and kindness clear to the listener."
