Review of The 1960s in Sports

Coverdale, Miles Jr. The 1960s in Sports: A Decade of Change. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield, 2020. Pp. 371. Black and white photos, index, bibliography, and notes. $75 hardcover. Reviewed by Richard A. Macales “During the turmoil of the 1960s, the world of sports provided a positive distraction for the American people.” – Author Miles…

Review of Loving Sports When They Don’t Love You Back

Luther, Jessica and Kavitha A. Davidson. Loving Sports When They Don’t Love You Back: Dilemmas of the Modern Fan. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2020. Pp. 328. Notes & Index. $26.95 hardcover. Reviewed by Noah Cohan This being 2020, an annus horribilis if there ever was one, Earthlings—and especially Americans—have a lot to reconsider. Since…

Review of Sport and the Neoliberal University

King-White, Ryan, ed. Sport and the Neoliberal University: Profit, Politics, and Pedagogy. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2018. Pp. 242. Notes, index, and 3 figures. $37.95 paperback, EPUB, and PDF. $34.95 Kindle. Reviewed by Jorge Iber Given California Governor Gavin Newsom recently signing the Fair Pay to Play Act into law, a review of…

Review of The Athletic Experience at Historically Black Colleges and Universities

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…

Review of Changing the Playbook

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…

Review of Democratic Sports: Men’s and Women’s College Athletics during the Great Depression

Austin, Brad. Democratic Sports: Men’s and Women’s College Athletics during the Great Depression. Fayetteville, AR: The University of Arkansas Press, 2015. Pp. 268. Notes, essay on sources, and index. $29.95 paperback. Reviewed by Cat Ariail In recent years terms such as “fairness” and “justice” have dominated debates about college sports. While defenders of the status…

Review of Indian Spectacle

Guiliano, Jennifer. Indian Spectacle: College Mascots and the Anxiety of Modern America. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2015. Pp. 194. Notes and Index. $80.00 cloth. $27.95 paper. Reviewed by Andrew McGregor Most Americans are familiar with the controversy surrounding American Indian mascots, best exemplified by the current pushback against the NFL’s Washington Redskins. Few,…