From Publishers Weekly
For longevity, no athlete in a contact sport has matched hockey's Gordie Howe, who played professionally as a right wing for 35 years, with a two-season hiatus, from age 17 to 52. In that career, spent mostly with the Detroit Red Wings, he set dozens of records, but the most noteworthy are the scoring of 801 goals in regular season play, winning the trophy for most valuable player six times, being named to NHL all-star teams 21 times and playing on the same squad as two of his sons. Born in 1928, and raised in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, one of nine children of a poor family, Howe was preternaturally shy as a child and not much less so as an adult. He started to skate and play hockey before he was six and was recognized as an outstanding talent in his early teens. MacSkimming (On Your Own Again) spends too many words trying to prove that Howe was better than Maurice Richard and Wayne Gretzky, but this unauthorized bio will still have wide appeal for hockey fans. Photos. Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Booklist
Long before Gretsky, Messier, and even before the original Hull, there was a big, raw-boned kid from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, who was the most celebrated hockey player of his era. Amazingly, his era began in 1946 with the Detroit Red Wings and ended 34 years and 32 seasons later with the Hartford Whalers. When Gordie Howe retired, he was 52 and still an effective National Hockey League player. In between, he led the league in goals scored five times and in points six times, was a 12-time all-star, and claimed six Most Valuable Player awards. MacSkimming approached Howe about an authorized biography but instead went forward with this unauthorized version. No matter. It's far superior to the hero-worshiping, gee-whiz, then-we-played, ghostwritten autobiographies so popular today, but at the same time, it never strays into Kitty Kelly territory. Howe has his darker side: there were plenty of on- and off-ice battles with coaches and owners. MacSkimming reports them all, but he also captures Howe's sense of fun and makes it clear that the man lived to play hockey. Howe's enthusiasm for the game is omnipresent, from his very poor childhood with borrowed skates and makeshift sticks to his later years when he came out of a two-year retirement to play with his son in the upstart World Hockey Association. Must reading for hockey fans. Wes Lukowsky


Book Description
This richly illustrated, thoroughly researched and completely unauthorized biography takes readers behind the legend of the great Gordie Howe. Signed by the Detroit Red Wings at 16, Gordie became a six-time leading scorer, a six-time Hart Trophy winner as the most valuable player, and he surpassed Rocket Richard’s NHL goals record to reach an amazing total of 801 — unmatched for years until Gretzky finally caught up to his mentor and idol. Gordie also includes a new introduction in this recreation of the glory of hockey's golden age.

FROM THE PUBLISHER