Bayne, Bijan C. Martha’s Vineyard Basketball: How a Resort League Defied Notions of Race and Class. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2015. Pp. xv + 213. $40.00 clothback. Reviewed by Tyran Kai Steward In 1975, Universal Pictures released the blockbuster film Jaws, the Steven Spielberg-directed American thriller based on Peter Benchley’s 1974 novel of the…
Thrasher, Christopher David. Fight Sports and American Masculinity: Salvation in Violence from 1607 to the Present. Jefferson, NC: McFarland Publishing. Pp. 300. Notes and Index. $45.00 clothback. Reviewed by Matthew Hodler “Ambitious” is the first word that came to mind upon reading this book’s title and preface. Christopher David Thrasher, to his credit, attempts to…
By Kate Aguilar The second thing people who understood Miami had in common was the realization that the real and the fake, the dream and the nightmare, the hope and the despair, were inseparable- that, in Miami, the good always came wrapped up in the bad. ~T. D. Allman, Miami: City of the Future (1987) On August…
Osmond, Gary and Murray Phillips, eds. Sport History in the Digital Era. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2015. xii + 279. Notes, Index. $60 Clothback. Reviewed by Andrew McGregor Digital history and the digital humanities often seem like opaque buzzwords conceived by young, tech-savvy scholars trying to gain a foothold in an increasingly competitive academic…
Dutee Chand plans on running in the 2016 Rio Olympic Games. After a year of withstanding intense public scrutiny, during which she remained sidelined, the nineteen-year-old Indian sprinter can now lace up her spikes and return to the international track and field scene. Women’s 200 meters respective silver and bronze medal winners from India Asha…
By Erica Zonder, Guest Contributor It has been a tough year for NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. Most recently, the discipline he imposed on Tom Brady for allegedly deflating footballs, discipline that he himself, as a “neutral” arbitrator, upheld during the subsequent arbitration process, was tossed by a Federal District Court judge. “Deflategate” was, to borrow…
Crepeau, Richard C. NFL Football: A History of America’s New National Pastime. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2014. Pp. 256. Notes, bibliography, and index. $95.00 clothback, $19.95 paperback. Reviewed by Andrew D. Linden Throughout this weekend, football is king. On Thursday, the Patriots defeated the Steelers, with an impressive performance by embattled quarterback Tom Brady.…
By Andrew D. Linden and Lindsay Parks Pieper There is much to criticize in the National Football League (NFL). From the deplorable off-field antics of the players to the inherent brain-damaging violence of the sport, the NFL stands as a powerful bastion of immorality. Despite the apparent and much-discussed transgressions of the league, many scholars…
By Matt Follett In Hoover, Alabama, from July 13-16, SEC players and coaches fielded questions concerning Xs and Os, records and predictions, and even fashion during the SEC Media days. Due to the Charleston, South Carolina, killings and subsequent Confederate flag debate, reporters at the SEC Media days also broached the relationship between the flag…
Black, Jonathan. Making the American Body: The Remarkable Saga of the Men and Women Whose Feats, Feuds, and Passions Shaped Fitness History. Lincoln: Nebraska University Press, 2013. Pp 264. Introduction, notes, and index. Hardcover: $27.95 Reviewed by Adam Copeland With the summer coming to a slow, hot close, the ubiquitous obsession with six-pack abs and…
Sport in American History 