TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Author and die-hard Bama fan Winston Groom has written a lively illustrated history of the team that has dominated college football and has been ranked consistently among the best in the nation, now with 13 national championships to its credit, with the publication of “The Crimson Tide: The Official Illustrated History of Alabama Football, National Championship Edition.”

Beginning in 1892, when William G. Little first introduced the game at the Capstone, to the stellar 2009 season during which the Crimson Tide went undefeated and won first the SEC Championship against poll-favorite Florida and then the BCS National Championship against Texas, this story includes all the illustrious moments, players, teams and coaches, fans and stats that collectively make Alabama a proven winner, time after time.

This revised and updated National Championship Edition, published by The University of Alabama Press, contains new chapters to cover the dark days at the beginning of the 21st century (2001-2006) and the dawn of the Nick Saban era (2007-2010); a new foreword by Allen Barra; updated appendixes for all-time lettermen, game records, bowl appearances, national and SEC championships; more than 60 new full-color photographs; and new sidebars on the historic Heisman Trophy win by Mark Ingram and Jeremiah Castille’s view of Alabama’s championship tradition.

Groom claims that updating the original edition of “The Crimson Tide,” which ended with the 1999 season, was imperative.

“From a miserable 3-8 season as the decade began,” Groom states, “to undefeated national champions at its end, this is a worthy story of purgatory and redemption that is both remarkable and thrilling.”

Groom, a graduate of The University of Alabama, is a novelist and historian. He is the author of 15 books, including the best-selling “Forrest Gump.”

He also wrote the acclaimed Vietnam War novel “Better Times Than These,” the prize-winning “As Summers Die” and the Pulitzer Prize nominee “Conversations with the Enemy.”

He has also written six books of American history. He lives with his wife and daughter in Point Clear.

Allen Barra has been a columnist and feature writer for the Wall Street Journal since 1995. He is the author of “The Last Coach: A Life of Paul “Bear” Bryant.

The University of Alabama Press, celebrating its 65th anniversary in publishing, is one of the largest and fastest-growing publishers in the South.

It publishes more than 100 books a year in archaeology, military history, Judaic studies, literary criticism, communication, sports, civil rights, religion, Southern history and regional topics.