Plot Summary
The book Friday Night Lights was published after author H.G. Bissinger spent a year in Odessa, Texas studying the Permian High School football team. The book gives readers an inside look on life in Odessa in the year 1988. At that time, the town of Odessa, a town basically run from oil drilling, was going through an economic depression because oil prices were extremely low. To get through hard times, most citizens had turned to the one great thing left in town, the high school football program. The high school football team, the Panthers, was the best team in the state, and was under the pressure of 20,000 fans and parents to succeed by making it to the state play-offs, and winning. Friday Night Lights takes a look at individual players, mostly seniors, and how each player is dealing with the stress from football as well as issues with racism, segregation, money, and where he is going with his life (see "characters" page for more info on each player). After a tragic loss, the Permian Panthers were tied with two other teams to go to the semi-finals. They went, but ended up losing. The book ends by discussing what happened after the loss in the semi-finals, and what the senior players did since their high school football careers were over.