Wisconsin native Phil Hanrahan moved from Los Angeles to Green Bay to chronicle the Packers 2008 football campaign, the first season in seventeen years without quarterback Brett Favre. He is there as new starting quarterback Aaron Rodgers begins what one football writer called “the toughest job in professional sports.” Immersing himself in the worlds of team and town, Hanrahan is reborn a full-blown cheesehead: living above Vince Lombardi’s first Packers office, observing training camp practices, attending the team’s annual shareholders meeting, interviewing players, tailgating in arctic cold, shoveling snow at Lambeau for $8 an hour, celebrating Packer great Fuzzy Thurston’s 75th birthday at Thurston’s bar, and, at every turn, befriending scores of die-hard Packers fans he encounters along the way. Hanrahan also journeys far from Lambeau as well, hitting away games in New Orleans and Minneapolis and pursuing adventures in Packer Land nation-wide, from a year-round Packers bar in Scottsdale, AZ, to wide receiver Jordy Nelson’s parents’ sports bar in rural Kansas, to tiny Napoleonville, LA, hometown of cornerback Tramon Williams. Here is the first book written on the new-era Packers, the team of Rodgers, Coach Mike McCarthy, GM Ted Thompson. Featuring a new afterword that brings the Packers story up-to-date and covers their amazing triumph in Super Bowl XLV, Life After Favre chronicles one of the most dramatic seasons in Packers history while revealing, with energy, insight, and humor, the story of the NFL’s winningest franchise. The best book ever written on the Packers. —John Rehor, GreenBayPackerNation.com I’d give it an A for football fans and an A+ for Packer fans. —Rick Gosselin, Dallas Morning News Wisconsin native Phil Hanrahan moved from Los Angeles to Green Bay [to] chronicle the first season A.B. (after Brett). In the hands of an outsider (or less skilled writer), this could have been a “Gee, isn’t it charming how folks in this quaint little town love their football team” tome, but Hanrahan used access and insight to dig for deeper details that will surprise even diehard fans. He takes you from the practice field to the locker room to tailgate parties to Packers Bars nationwide, and tells the story of Favre’s exit and its impact on the state. —Drew Olson, OnMilwaukee.com Compelling.... Hanrahan doesn’t fall prey to sports-book clichés, and, as a result, Life After Favre ends up being much more a celebration of the inimitable culture that surrounds the Packers than just a look at one specific year or player. —Jason Albert, Onion AV Club , Madison ed. Freelance writer Hanrahan moved to Green Bay to live the life of a Packer fan, enhanced with a backstage press pass for player interviews.... While Hanrahan’s profile of personable new Packer quarterback Aaron Rodgers is particularly good, his strongest emphasis is on the delightful fans he meets not only in Wisconsin but also in far-flung Packer outposts in Kansas, Arizona, and Mississippi. VERDICT: A literate, fresh take [that] will be of interest to all football fans. —John Maxymuk, Library Journal Pack aficionados will dig glimpses of Green Bay’s storied past while they’re guided through [the] present. ... The book’s soul is Hanrahan’s interaction with fans. Whether he’s hanging with them in Kansas or Kiln, or shoveling brats or snow with them at Lambeau, those fans remind you that it is indeed a Packer Nation. —Howie Magner, Milwaukee Magazine Phil Hanrahan