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…
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…
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…
Gaines, Bob. Christy Mathewson, The Christian Gentleman: How One Man’s Faith and Fastball Forever Changed Baseball. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2015. Pp. x+218. Illustrations, notes, appendices, works cited, and index. $38.00 hardback. Reviewed by Paul Putz Renowned for his pinpoint accuracy and his “fadeaway” pitch, Christy Mathewson’s baseball exploits are well known. He ended…
Nathan, Daniel A., ed. Rooting for the Home Team, Sport, Community and Identity, Champaign, University of Illinois Press, 2013. 237 pages, $25 paperback. Reviewed by Peter Marquis This review originally appeared in “Aesthetics of Theory in the Modern Era and Beyond /Photographie documentaire,” Transatlantica: revue d’études américaines 2 (2014). Reproduced with permission from Transatlantica and…
Gildea, Dennis. Hoop Crazy: The Lives of Clair Bee and Chip Hilton. Fayetteville: The University of Arkansas Press, 2013. xx+322. Notes, bibliography, index, and appendices. $34.95 clothback. Reviewed by Russ Crawford Every basketball fanatic should read this book. Not because Hoop Crazy: The Lives of Clair Bee and Chip Hilton is well researched and written;…
Chudacoff, Howard P. Changing the Playbook: How Power, Profit, and Politics Transformed College Sports. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2015. Pp. Xii+198. Notes and index. $95.00 clothback, $22.00 paperback. Reviewed by Alexander D. Hyres At the 1951 NCAA Convention, University of Pennsylvania athletic director Francis Murray observed, “This very dramatic part of our educational picture…
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