Review of Horse Racing the Chicago Way

Steven A. Riess, Horse Racing the Chicago Way: Gambling, Politics and Organized Crime, 1837-1911. (Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 2022). Reviewed by Nicholas E. Sarantakes As the title indicates, Steven A. Riess studies the rise and fall of horse racing in Chicago in Horse Racing the Chicago Way: Gambling, Politics and Organized Crime, 1837-1911.  However, as the…

Review of The Gold in the Rings

Stephen R. Wenn and Robert K. Barney. The Gold in the Rings: The People and Events that Transformed the Olympic Games. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2020. Pp. 360. Photographs, notes, bibliography, index. $24.95 paper, $14.95 ebook. Reviewed by Nicholas E. Sarantakes In the historiography of American sport, there are many sub-fields and topics. Most sport historians…

Review of Earl Campbell: Yards After Contact

Price, Asher. Earl Campbell: Yards After Contact. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2019. Pp. 344. 12 photos, notes, and index. $27.95 hardcover. Reviewed by Nicholas Evan Sarantakes It is difficult to explain how much Earl Campbell dominated American football in the late 1970s.  For roughly three years, he was the player in the sport. In…

Review of Three Seconds in Munich

Sweet, David A. F. Three Seconds in Munich: The Controversial 1972 Olympic Basketball Final. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2019. Pp. 225. Bibliography, illustrations, index, and source notes. $29.95 hardback. Reviewed by Nicholas Evan Sarantakes The President of the United States was livid.  Richard Nixon was meeting with his chief of staff, H.R. “Bob” Haldeman, and…