All-American, explores the process of self-discovery and growth in a young athlete, emphasizing sports as a potential means of character development. In addition to offering a physical and strategic test, athletic contests present moral choices that challenge the fundamental integrity of the participants.

Determined to apply to the playing field the precepts of fair play that he has learned at home, Perry treats athletic contests as special, but not dominant, elements in a larger field of action. Although his emotions and ideas are not fully developed, Perry's instincts for justice, his essential decency, and his natural physical gifts suggest Thomas Jefferson's vision of the natural aristocrat. Perry leads by example and accepts the responsibility that accompanies his unusual talent.

The narrative follows Perry very closely, and he is the only fully developed character in the book. The other characters exist only in the context...