Last night I finished up this book on Joe Montana and Steve Young’s quarterback controversy. It was a good trip down memory lane, especially for me as I was a young kid when this storyline was at its zenith.

Here’s a little information on the book from Amazon.

In this revealing, in-depth look at the NFL’s greatest quarterback controversy, Adam Lazarus takes readers into the locker room and inside the huddle to deliver the real story behind the rivalry– when Joe Montana and Steve Young battled on and off the field and forged one of the finest football dynasties of all time. From 1987 to 1994, the two future Hall of Famers spurred each other on to remarkable heights, including three Super Bowl wins and four MVP awards, and set new standards for quarterback excellence.

The two men couldn’t have been more different in background, personality, and playing style, and their competition created as much tension as it did greatness, forcing Montana to prove that he was still the game’s best quarterback and Young to prove that he was a worthy successor.

Released in 2012, this book is pretty new and it was a great opportunity for me to catch up on one of the most important rivalries in NFL history. I use the word “rivalry” because it was a battle. Montana and Young’s competitive nature led to the constant battle between the two for playing time.

This book details both quarterbacks’ start in college all the way to the end of the rivalry at Montana’s retirement.

But was the book good? Did it provide me information I never knew about these two?

This book was designed for a certain audience. If you lived through the 1980s and 1990s, witnessed the entire storyline unfold before your eyes, maybe this book isn’t for you. But if you don’t remember much from it or were born after the battle ended, this is the perfect book.

For me, I knew all the details I needed to know about this story so I was curious as to what the book would provide me. Inside, it’s filled with quotes from newspaper writers, film interviews archived over the past 30 years from key figures in the story. From coach Bill Walsh to teammates Jerry Rice and Dwight Clark, this book made you feel like you were living through the entire experience in the locker room in under 300 pages.

It read like a history book to me. And I like that. Instead of a storyline, it was more of pages filled with details on Montana’s injury and quotes from teammates on the QB battle. That’s what it gave me. But instead of reading through it like a documentary, the book instead gave me facts and details. I learned a lot more about Montana’s injuries and it gave me perspective on the challenge the coaches had to deal with for both players.

Would this be a book I recommend for 49ers fans? Absolutely. But is this a must read book for them? Not necessarily.

I think the best way to describe this book is that it gives you the history of the rivalry. Plain and simple, the book takes you back to 1979 and from there, you’re watching 15 years of 49ers history unfold before your eyes. From there, you’re seeing all the action and emotions from all angles in the quarterback battle.

If you’ve seen the story before, then you can pass on it. But if you want to go down memory lane one more time and relive the glory and pain of the 49ers and the cornerstone of their success, the book is worth a read. There, the myth and legend of these two quarterbacks’ struggle becomes a reality.