By Andrew McGregor “Athletics, as it is conducted in many colleges today, is not even good for the handful,” University of Chicago President Robert M. Hutchins wrote in 1938. He worried about the overemphasis on sports in higher education and what the pressure for athletic profits meant for the welfare of students. “It has been…
Gitlin, Martin. Powerful Moments in Sports: The Most Significant Events in American History. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2017. Pp. 293. $38.00 hardback. $36.00 eBook. Reviewed by Jorge Iber Martin Gitlin’s work presents a series of short essays that cover some of the most significant sporting events in American history. As with all works of…
Pesca, Mike. Upon Further Review: The Greatest What-Ifs in Sports History. New York. Twelve Books, 2018. Forward by Malcolm Gladwell, notes, index. $28.00 paperback. Reviewed by Murry Nelson Upon Further Review may be the most uneven book that I have seen recently, with chapters (each 6-15 pages) by a myriad of authors on some…
Gietschier, Steven, ed. Replays, Rivalries and Rumbles: The Most Iconic Moments In American Sports. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, 2017. Pp. 205, Index. $95.00 hardcover, $17.96 e-book. Reviewed by Brett L. Abrams How appropriate during the year that Major League Baseball brought its All-Star Game to Washington, D.C., that a resident of the nation’s…
Redihan, Erin Elizabeth. The Olympics and the Cold War, 1948-1968: Sport as Battleground in the U.S.-Soviet Rivalry. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co., 2017. Pp. vii + 264. 16 unnumbered pages of plates and index. $35.00 hardcover, $3.99 e-book. Reviewed by Tony Calandrillo In The Olympics and the Cold War, 1948-1968: Sport as Battleground in the…
Snell, David Kingsley. The Baron and the Bear: Rupp’s Runts, Haskins’s Miners, and the Season That Changed Basketball Forever. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 2016. Pp. xii + 312. 20 unnumbered pages of plates and index. $29.95 hardcover, $14.99 e-book. Reviewed by Tony Calandrillo In The Baron and the Bear: Rupp’s Runts, Haskins’s Miners,…
Gems, G.R., Borish, L.J., and Pfister, G. Sports in American History: From Colonization to Globalization, Second Edition. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics, 2017. 385 pages (including images, index, and author information) US$89.00 (cloth cover). Reviewed by Matt Hodler Like many of us, I have both opted to use textbooks and not to use them when designing…
ESPN’s The Undefeated’s recently unveiled their 50 Greatest Black Athletes. The rankings inspired conversations across social media about black athletic excellence as well as the impact and historical significance of certain figures. Over the last two-weeks we asked sport historians to weigh in and offer their own Top 10 lists. A dozen scholars responded with their lists —…
By Zachary R. Bigalke Editor’s Note: This post is based on the experiences of one of our contributors, Zachary R. Bigalke, at the 2017 NASSH Convention. At the 2017 North American Society for Sport History (NASSH) Convention, held over Memorial Day weekend at Cal State University, Fullerton, there was a slew of research that advanced historical…
By Adam Criblez Editor’s Note: For a brief excerpt from Tall Tales and Short Shorts, see this post from May 18, 2017. On May 16, I celebrated the publication of Tall Tales and Short Shorts: Dr. J, Pistol Pete, and the Birth of the Modern NBA. It’s a book I never intended to write. I am…
