Colin Fleming, Boston Globe:
A modern-day, single-team cousin to the classic 1966 “The Glory of Their Times,” the key literary effort of the first half of baseball’s history. … Stokes your capacity for sports-based wonder. … The beloved ’04 Red Sox now have the first important book to document their achievement, efficacy, and, really, folklore. … The archival stuff is a delight. … Reading along to testimony of one sports miracle after another, you become dubious that all of this actually could have happened.

Pete Chianca, Gatehouse Media (Danvers, MA):
Lovingly constructed … quotes that get into the heads of the players and manager – not to mention the GM, owners, medical staff and even the bat boy. Through their testimony, the smaller dramas behind the series all coalesce into a broader overarching story about grit, determination and sheer boneheaded luck. You know exactly what’s going to happen, and yet you still feel the bumps rise on the back of your neck. … [M]uch more than a souvenir for Sox fans. It’s a historical document that, behind all the game-time drama, reverberates with a love of the sport that would resonate with any baseball lover. Maybe even a Yankee fan.

The Feathered Quill:
Rather than simply write a dry synopsis of each game, the authors chose to incorporate a vast quantity of quotes by those who were there: the players, coaches, front office, the medical staff, and members of both the Yankees and the Cardinals. A few paragraphs of text, then it’s on to the comments from those who lived each moment. … The reader comes away with a true sense of the strategies behind various decisions, what the players were thinking, play by play, the tension, stress, anxiety, and best of all, the relief and elation. Don’t Let Us Win Tonight should be added to every Sox fan’s library!

Andy Kirkaldy, Addison (Vt.) Independent:
The authors seem to have left no stone unturned in researching “Don’t Let Us Win Tonight” … The result is a wealth of detail that enhances, but never detracts, from the incredible story. I would say the same of their prose. Wood and Nowlin let the tale tell itself … Description of the game action is both concise and precise, and they typically use quotes to highlight the drama and significance of plays. … I’ll be passing on my copy to my daughters, and then they will know what it was like to watch those games.

Jeff Moon, Fenway Fanatics:
Almost every moment is magnified to a greater degree. Dave Roberts doesn’t just steal second base in Game Four of the ALCS; Wood and Nowlin recreate the entire scene using narratives from Roberts, Kevin Millar, Bill Mueller, Terry Francona, Joe Torre, and even Chris Cundiff, the Red Sox bat boy. Through their words, you can almost feel the cold air of that October night, see the clock inching just past midnight, hear the fans cheering, and see Roberts taking off for second as Mariano Rivera makes his move to the plate, on his way to igniting the comeback. … Even though we know how the tale ends, with Boston enjoying its first World Series championship in 86 years, we still feel the tension and emotion channeled through the anecdotes and observations that pepper each page, making it an easy and enjoyable read not just for Sox fans but for all baseball fans.

Dr. Harvey Frommer, Sports Book Shelf:
Don’t Let Us Win Tonight by Allan Wood & Bill Nowlin celebrates and re-creates the 2004 incredible playoff run of the Boston Red Sox. Carefully crafted, filled with succinct and insightful interviews, the terrific tome is just perfect for all Red Sox fans and for that matter all sports fans.

Robert Birnbaum, The Daily Beast:
Historic pennant races make for compelling narratives, none more fantastic than the fairy tale 2004 Red Sox season. … Memories of David Ortiz’s slugging heroics, bourbon fueled pregame rituals, Dave Roberts’s stolen base, Curt Shilling’s blood stained sock, and Kevin Millar’s manic enthusiasm all recall the first and perhaps most profound championship by the long benighted Red Sox.

Mike Olmstead, Newport (Vt.) Daily Express:
A griping read … Wood and Nowlin connect the narrative with a perfect sense of transitional phrasing, all the while keeping the reader engrossed in the action. … A must-read for members of Red Sox Nation.

Don Laible, Utica Observer-Dispatch:
Captivating … An outstanding oral history … Relive the baseball party of a generation, all over again, in the pages of Don’t Let Us Win Tonight.

Bill Ballou, Worcester Telegram & Gazette:
Reliving the Red Sox’ successive triumphs in the 2004 postseason never seems to get old for their fans, and a new book is out doing just that — reliving 2004. It is named “Don’t Let Us Win Tonight” by Allan Wood and Bill Nowlin, perhaps the best of the many Red Sox historians through the years.

Budd Bailey, Sports Book Review Center:
Allan Wood and Bill Nowlin, who have written several books each, [have] scored a hit … Red Sox fans will certainly be happy to relive October, 2004, all over again, and “Don’t Let Us Win Tonight” doesn’t disappoint in that sense. Just keep away from Yankee fans.

Boston Magazine:
Ten years after the Sox creamed the Cardinals in the World Series, two sportswriters look back on how a team that hadn’t won a championship in almost a century raced to the top of the heap. Wood and Nowlin mined accounts from everyone involved, from players to administrators to the doctor who saved Curt Schilling’s ankle.

Dave Morris, The Globe and Mail, “Report on Business”:
Boston’s Bambino curse ended 10 years ago. But after an 86-year drought, what’s a decade? Relive it all, including Schilling’s #bloodysock.