This is a great rarity: a sports history book that is superbly written and researched. It no doubt helps that D'Arcy Jenish, as well as being a Habs follower, is also a historian ("Epic Wanderer", about David Thompson and the Mapping of the Canadian West, is one of his books). His history of the Canadiens is founded on new interviews and an exhaustive search through a century's worth of newspapers, which gives his work both factual authority and a vivid immediacy. It reads at an exciting pace. The chapters on recent developments, and what went on behind closed boardroom doors, are fascinating. And he doesn't let his love of the team blind him to its mistakes and missteps over the years. A surprisingly revealing introduction by Bob Gainey is a nice bonus.