Crimson in Triumph

By Joe Bertagna '73

Stephen Greene Press; 365 pp.; $39.95

THERE'S ALWAYS been something wonderful about working backwards, something almost deliciously sinful.

Like eating dessert before eating your vegetables.

Like watching Hogan's Heroes reruns on TV before studying for your history final.

Like reading the last page of a book before reading the main text. Or something like that.

The magic--and financial potential--of the backwards maxim has not been lost on Joe Bertagna '73, one-time Harvard hockey goalie and Harvard sports enthusiast.

You see, Bertagna recognized that scores of current and former athletes would pick up his Crimson chronicle at the bookstore and flip straight to the end.

Hence 69 pages worth of "Major H Winners" at the back of Crimson in Triumph, 69 pages worth of subliminal, ego-buttering, hard sell.

Now, nobody's going to go back and eat their lima beans after the apple pie.

But after Mr. Letterwinner '57 takes his personal copy home--and after the allure of seeing his name in immortal print wears off--he had better turn back to the beginning of Bertagna's book or risk missing out on a visual and historical treat.

Lest anyone forget, the book's title is drawn from the fight song "Harvardiana," a ditty by Raymond G. Williams '11:

With Crimson in triumph flashing

'Mid the strains of victory