By Andrew McGregor Spatial history has been slow to come to sport history. Although the spatial turn has been underway for several decades, changing how historians analyze, view, and present history, sports are often left out of major mapping projects. A quick look through the projects completed by the Stanford University Spatial History Project and the…
Curry, Graham, and Eric Dunning. Association Football: A Study in Figurational Sociology. London: Routledge, 2015. Pp. 192 + index. $148.00 hardback, $53.95 paperback. Reviewed by Zachary R. Bigalke It is natural to long for a concise and clear historical timeline, to be able to easily and definitively explain the chain of events that lead to…
Gerald R. Gems, Boxing: A Concise History of the Sweet Science. New York: Rowman & Littlefield, 2014. Pp. 343, notes, bibliography, and index, black and white photographs.$40.00 hardback. Reviewed by Mac Ross In Boxing: A Concise History of the Sweet Science, Gerald R. Gems provides one of the most robust and ambitious history of the…
By: Roberto José Andrade Franco Boxing has long been a sport for the lower-classes which, for most of its early history was illegal and practiced in secrecy to avoid arrests. However in the late 1800s there was a change in who practiced boxing. This shift came from a variety of reasons including a movement away…
Tenney, John Darrin. Baseball in Territorial Arizona: A History, 1863-1912. Jefferson, NC: McFarland and Company, Inc., Publishers, 2016. Pp. 196. Bibliography, Notes, and 23 Photos. $29.95 paperback. Reviewed by Jorge Iber At the very start of his work, John Darrin Tenney describes for readers the extensive research conducted in order to produce this brief tome,…
Corzine, Nathan Michael. Team Chemistry: The History of Drugs and Alcohol in Major League Baseball. Illinois: University of Illinois Press, 2016. Notes, Selected Bibliography, Index. Pp. 248. $95.00 cloth, $19.99 paperback. Reviewed by Mercedes Townsend Earlier this month, we witnessed the Cubs win its first World Series since 1908, breaking the infamous “Billy Goat Curse.” The…
By Massimo Foglio During World War II, more than 425,000 German prisoners were housed in 700 camps and a myriad of satellite sub-camps throughout the United States. The agreement with the British government stipulated that the Germans would live and work in the States until the end of the conflict, when they would then eventually…
By Patrick Salkeld I started to write and research for this paper in February 2016 after I submitted a proposal for the inaugural Gender and Sexuality Studies Conference held at the University of Central Oklahoma in September 2016. I already planned to write about Robbie Rogers and his contribution to global history when he came…
Stark, Douglas. Wartime Basketball: The Emergence of a National Sport during World War II. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 2016. Pp. 384. Notes, appendices, and index. $34.95 hardback. Reviewed by Cat Ariail As the Golden State Warriors marched toward 73 wins last season, basketball fans debated whether the Dubs were the greatest basketball team…
Leifer, Neil (with Diane K. Shah). Relentless: The Stories Behind the Photographs. Focus on American History Series. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2016. pp400 + 276 photos. $45. Reviewed by Andrew R.M. Smith Make no mistake—Neil Leifer entered the sports world through its stomach. His job as a delivery boy for the Stage Deli, erstwhile…
Sport in American History 