Johnson, Scott. Association Work: Whitten, Porter, and the Course of Interscholastics. Bloomington, IL: Illinois High School Association/National Federation of State High School Associations, 2018. Pp. 406. Notes, bibliography, and index. $29.95 hardback. Reviewed by Robert Pruter Association Work: Whitten, Porter, and the Course of Interscholastics is an important work of sport history. High school sports…
Beston, Paul. The Boxing Kings: When American Heavyweights Ruled the Ring. Lanham (MD): Rowman & Littlefield, 2017. pp. 357.$36.00 Hardback. Reviewed by Cian Manning. Paul Beston, managing editor of the City Journal and contributor to the boxing website The Sweet Science, in his study The Boxing Kings: When American Heavyweights Ruled the Ring…
Norwood, Stephen H., Ed. New York Sports: Glamour and Grit in the Empire City. Fayetteville: The University of Arkansas Press, 2018. Pp. viii+425. Notes, Contributors, Index. $27.95 paperback. Reviewed by Ari de Wilde and Melvin L. Adelman New York Sports: Glamour and Grit in the Empire City is another work in the Sport, Culture &…
Rossi, John P. Baseball and American Culture: A History. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2018. Pp. xii + 255. Bibliography and index. $65 hardback, $28 paperback. Reviewed by Dain TePoel John Rossi’s Baseball and American Culture: A History beckons earnest readers of baseball scholarship with a title suggesting the book will deliver cultural and historical…
Donner, Richard. Inside Moves. 1980. Goodmark Productions Incorporated. Film. Reviewed by Jon Hart ‘Tis the season for the “best of” lists. When the best sports movies of all-time are listed, there’s one gem that’s overlooked. Perhaps it’s because Inside Moves, which was released in 1980, doesn’t resort to the usual sports movie tropes. In fact,…
Pearlman, Jeff. Football for a Buck: The Crazy Ride and the Crazier Demise of the USFL.New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, 2018. $18.30 paperback. Review By Jon Hart This review originally appeared on Stadium Journey. Re-posted with author permission. Prolific author Jeff Pearlman, @jeffpearlman, has written eight books. By his own admission, he had the…
Coffino, Michael J. The Other Classroom: The Essential Importance of High School Athletics. Pp. 199. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2018. $28.00 Softcover. Reviewed by Jorge Iber As someone who has spent 30+ years working in the educational field (five years as a high school teacher, the rest at colleges and universities), the notion of…
By Jon Hart Imitating sports personalities could be a sport on to itself. Of course, Comedian Billy Crystal performed hilarious impressions of Muhammad Ali and Howard Cosell. More recently, comic Frank Caliendo imitated NFL coach Jon Gruden. When U.S. Open champ Novak Djokovic retires from the court, he could headline a Las Vegas variety show,…
Pesca, Mike. Upon Further Review: The Greatest What-Ifs in Sports History. New York. Twelve Books, 2018. Forward by Malcolm Gladwell, notes, index. $28.00 paperback. Reviewed by Murry Nelson Upon Further Review may be the most uneven book that I have seen recently, with chapters (each 6-15 pages) by a myriad of authors on some…
Sumner, David E. Fumbled Call: The Bear Bryant-Wally Butts Football Scandal That Split the Supreme Court and Changed American Libel Law. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2018. 11 b/w photographs, acknowledgments, four appendices, chapter notes, bibliography, index. Pp. 234. $35.00 softcover. Reviewed by Michael T. Wood In Fumbled Call, David E. Sumner recounts the events surrounding the…
Sport in American History 