Professional Football Researchers Association Forum

There seem to be a few but, frankly, I don't know if they're any good. Does anybody have any recommendations on books about Jerry Jones, warts and all? Not a Jones-sanctioned puff piece. Jeff Pearlman's book on the '90s Cowboys is pretty great and covers Jones's background, but I wasn't sure if a good standalone biography existed.

The Boys by Skip Bayless is good, though some believe its pro-Jones and anti-Johnson. I felt the book was fair to both, though Jones might have gotten more credit as a "GM" than he should have.

Oszuscik wrote: ↑Mon Oct 20, 2025 4:16 pm There seem to be a few but, frankly, I don't know if they're any good. Does anybody have any recommendations on books about Jerry Jones, warts and all? Not a Jones-sanctioned puff piece. Jeff Pearlman's book on the '90s Cowboys is pretty great and covers Jones's background, but I wasn't sure if a good standalone biography existed.

I have two, but I haven't read either one:

King of the Cowboys, Jim Dent (1995)
Playing to Win, David Magee (2008)

Of the two, I'd bet that Dent's book is not a "puff piece"; OTOH, it's thirty years old.
Magee's book sounds like it could be a puff piece, but again, I haven't read either, so I can't say for sure. It's also a bit dated.

You might check your local library to see if they have one or both. Good luck.

fgoodwin wrote: ↑Fri Oct 24, 2025 8:50 pm

Oszuscik wrote: ↑Mon Oct 20, 2025 4:16 pm There seem to be a few but, frankly, I don't know if they're any good. Does anybody have any recommendations on books about Jerry Jones, warts and all? Not a Jones-sanctioned puff piece. Jeff Pearlman's book on the '90s Cowboys is pretty great and covers Jones's background, but I wasn't sure if a good standalone biography existed.

I have two, but I haven't read either one:

King of the Cowboys, Jim Dent (1995)
Playing to Win, David Magee (2008)

Of the two, I'd bet that Dent's book is not a "puff piece"; OTOH, it's thirty years old.
Magee's book sounds like it could be a puff piece, but again, I haven't read either, so I can't say for sure. It's also a bit dated.

You might check your local library to see if they have one or both. Good luck.

I have Dent's book. It is definitely not a puff piece. It's a pretty good biography on Jones, and Pearlman used it as a source for his book.

It was written in the spring of 1995, so it was written at a time of uncertainty- Barry Switzer had completed his first year as coach with a disappointing loss to San Francisco in the NFC Championship Game, and Jones was locked in an ongoing dispute with other owners about revenue sharing. Some of it is dated, but there's also a chapter where Jones imagines a new Texas Stadium with conveniences that wrre unheard of in 1995. Pretty good prophecy.