Fields of Friendly Strife

Set in the context of the evolving game of football and America’s mobilization for WWI, Fields of Friendly Strifetells the story of the players and teams from the military training camps of WWI that played in the 1918 and 1919 Rose Bowls. We follow the Camp Lewis and Mare Island teams through the 1917 season, culminating in the 1918 Rose Bowl, before the players complete their training and ship to Europe, seeing action at Belleau Wood, the Meuse-Argonne, and in Flanders. Back home, a new set of servicemen train for war while playing in the 1918 season, which is upended by the federalization of America’s colleges and the Spanish Flu. By season’s end, teams from the Great Lakes and Mare Island training camps battle in the 1919 Rose Bowl, completing one of the most remarkable periods in the history of American football. Fields of Friendly Strifefollows these men after the war, tracing their impact on the game of football-including the development of the NFL-as well as America’s military.