Hawkins, Billy; Cooper, Joseph; Carter-Francique, Akilah; Cavil, J. Kenyatta (eds.) The Athletic Experience at Historically Black Colleges and Universities: Past, Present, and Persistence. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2015. Pp. 270. Index, About the Editors, About the Contributors. $75 hardcover, $64.49 e-book. Reviewed by Kristy L. McCray It is only appropriate to begin this post…
Swanson, Krister. Baseball’s Power Shift: How the Players Union, the Fans, and the Media Changed American Sports Culture. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2016. Pp. xvii + 287. Notes, Bibliography, and Index. $29.95 Hardback. Reviewed by Nick Sacco As an enthusiastic fan of the St. Louis Cardinals baseball team, I was saddened and disappointed to…
By Dain TePoel At any given moment, someone is attempting to cross the United States on foot. Likely, that person is not alone. In fact, the website USA Crossers lists 279 individuals who have accomplished the feat of a transcontinental walk or run from the U.S. east coast to west coast, or vice versa, between…
By Andrew D. Linden In early 2014, I received a Facebook notification about an upcoming initiative in sport history. Andrew McGregor posted a message to the North American Society for Sport History’s (NASSH) Grad Student Facebook page about a new academic blog he wished to launch. Promoted as a “place for junior faculty and graduate…
Soderholm-Difatte. The Golden Era of Major League Baseball: A Time of Transition and Integration. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2015. Pp. 217. Notes and index. $38 hardcover. Reviewed by Sylvio Lynch III Much of the baseball lore within American popular consciousness views mid-20th century baseball through the mostly black-and-white, grainy, smiling superstars of the era.…
Schultz, Jaime. Moments of Impact: Injury, Racialized Memory, and Reconciliation in College Football. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska, 2016. Pp. 216 + 25 photographs. $40.00 hardcover. Reviewed by Matt Follett Jaime Schultz’s Moments of Impact: Injury, Racialized Memory, and Reconciliation in College Football examines how college football, race, public history, and memory are interrelated by…
This post is a part of a new series, “Sport History Rewind.” In this series, contributors revisit and reevaluate important texts to determine the degree to which their analyses, arguments, research, and influence resonate in the field today. Of particular concern is how well the works fit into historiographical debates and compare with more recent…
During the 2016 annual meeting of the National Council on Public History (NCPH), I co-organized a working group on sport and public history with an emphasis on sport museums. This group discussed a lot of issues related to sport and public history, such as the question of audience uniqueness, the role of the body, gendered sport,…
Luke, Bob. Integrating the Orioles: Baseball and Race in Baltimore. Jefferson, NC: McFarland and Co., 2016. Pp. 216. Notes and index. $29.95 paperback. Reviewed by Chuck Westmoreland Frank Robinson, the 1961 National League (NL) Most Valuable Player, arrived in Baltimore after the Cincinnati Reds made one of the most baffling trades in baseball history. From…
Fantastic Lies (2016). Directed by Marina Zenovich. Lightbox. ESPN Films. 103 minutes. Reviewed by Lindsay Parks Pieper My thoughts on the Duke Lacrosse case have changed. When news of the rape allegations first broke in March 2006, I was a junior at Virginia Tech and a member of the varsity lacrosse team. I immediately defended…
Sport in American History 