Branson, Douglas M. Greatness in the Shadows: Larry Doby and the Integration of the American League. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2016. Pp. 336 + Photographs, Tables, Notes, Bibliography, Index. $34.95 Hardcover. Reviewed by Josh Howard As Douglas Branson himself admits, Greatness in the Shadows is not a biography. Instead, his work is an analysis of the literature—or…
Wangerin, David. Distant Corners: American Soccer’s History of Missed Opportunities and Lost Causes. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2014. Pp. xiv+240. Index and 18 halftones. $50.50 clothback, $24.95 paperback and electronic book. Reviewed by Zachary R. Bigalke Over the summer, the United States hosted the Copa America Centenario, as the South American championships expanded to 16…
By Kyle Kusz For the past year, I’ve been reading, collecting articles, taking notes, and generally doing what academics do trying to carefully make sense of the specific cultural ideas, logics, and performances that orient the wave of white supremacy that Donald Trump has stoked and ridden since he surprisingly emerged from the Republican primaries…
By Kate Aguilar “What is happening today amounts to a revolt by the black athlete against the framework and attitudes of American sport, and that such a thing could occur in his own pet province has astonished the white sports follower. The reason for the astonishment is that the man in the grandstand knows nothing…
Frei, Terry. March 1939: Before the Madness. Guilford, CT: Lyons Press, 2016. Pp. 237 + Notes, Bibliography, Index, Appendices. $16.95 paperback. Reviewed by Murry Nelson Here was a book that I had very mixed feelings about. First, the topic was timely, focusing on the first NCAA Tournament, then called the National Association of Basketball Coaches…
Tonight, the Carolina Panthers will run onto the field at the Sports Authority Field at Mile High to take on the defending Super Bowl champion Denver Broncos. There are many on-the-field stories of interest. Can the Broncos continue their dominance from last season without the now retired quarterback Peyton Manning? How will Northwestern alum Trevor Siemian fare in…
By Andrew McGregor Football found its way to Oklahoma during the 1890s. The game flowed naturally into the Sooner state, invading its borders like the schooners that raced in during the land rush. Students at the fledgling territorial university took up the activity alongside baseball, with the encouragement of chemistry professor Edwin DeBarr, when the…
Eric Reed, Selling the Yellow Jersey: The Tour de France in the Global Era. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 2015. Pp. 251. Notes, index, 19 halftones, 1 map, and 3 tables. $45.00 hardback. Reviewed by Cian Manning Eric Reed, an associate professor of history at Western Kentucky University, analyses how the French related to…
By Hunter Hampton College football is the most powerful sport in America. I am serious. College football holds more power than the NFL, NBA, PGA, etc. It is not that it owns a day of the week, or its TV revenue, or its number of teams. I’m confident in this argument because college football holds…
By Cat Ariail After returning from the 1948 Olympic Games in London, the U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) sought feedback from athletes, presumably to use such information to improve logistics for future international competitions. Frances Kaszubski, a shot putter and discus thrower, took full advantage of this opportunity. She composed a ten-page letter, detailing the indignities…
Sport in American History 