Showing titles in Sociology of Sports

The NBA has returned to prominence on the backs of phenoms like LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, and Kevin Garnett. The media promotes them, the shoe companies pay them, and America applauds. But how exactly do such players reach the pros? What do they give up to get there? And what happens to those who fall short?

With the triumph of England's Lionesses at Euro 2022, the women's game has been in the spotlight like never before, enjoying unprecedented media attention. But this is the result of decades of struggle to get women's football–banned by the English FA for fifty years–on a more equal footing to its male counterpart. 

Drugs in sport are big news and the use of performance-enhancing drugs in sport is common. Here, Chris Cooper, a top biochemist at the University of Essex, looks at the science behind drugs in sport. Using the performance of top athletes, Cooper begins by outlining the limits of human performance. Showing the basic problems of human biochemistry, physiology, and anatomy, he looks at what stops us running faster, throwing longer, or jumping higher. Using these evidence-based arguments he shows what the body can, and cannot, do.

A Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist pulls back the curtain on the extraordinary inner lives of America’s most obsessive sports fans. There are fans, and then there are fanatics. In this wondrously immersive look at American sports fandom, George Dohrmann travels the country to find out what...

NEW YORK TIMES bestseller Winner of the CASEY Award for Best Baseball Book of the Year National Sports Media Association Sports Book of the Year An NPR "Book of the Day" #1 New York Times bestselling author Joe Posnanski is back with a masterful ode to the game: a countdown of 50 of the most...

The Premier League is the most commercially successful football league in history, the self-proclaimed 'best league in the world'. But success has come at a cost, unbalancing the English game to a profound and damaging degree. In this revealing and eye-opening analysis, leading economist Mark Gregory reveals the breadth and depth of the problems facing our national men's game, and shows us a way to bring football home for good.

Over two unbelievable decades, the New England Patriots were not only the NFL's most dominant team, but also - and by far - the most secretive. How did they achieve and sustain greatness - and what were the costs? In It's Better to Be Feared, Seth Wickersham, one of the country's finest long form and investigative sportswriters, tells the full, behind-the-scenes story of the Patriots, capturing the brilliance, ambition, and vanity that powered and ultimately unraveled them. 

If you want relations that bring joy, fulfilment, and peace into your life. Then you’re looking at the right book. Most people have a hard time nurturing long-term, meaningful relationships. You’re exposed to new people daily at work, at the gym, or even at the supermarket. Despite this, less than one in ten interactions end up flourishing into a friendship.

Sports media superstar Clay Travis wants to save sports from the social justice warriors seeking to turn them into another political battleground. Have you ever tuned into your favorite sports highlights show, only to find the talking heads yammering about the newest Trump tweets or what an...

From the sports documentarian and executive producer of the docuseries The Religion of Sports, a memoir-meets-manifesto about the overwhelming power of sports and how they provide meaning and purpose in people’s lives all over the world. Featuring never-before-heard stories about Tom Brady...

A young man's journey through the Philippines' most unlikely obsession: Basketball. In Pacific Rims, Rafe Bartholemew, journalist, New Yorker, and veteran baller, ventures through the Philippines to investigate the country's love of basketball. From street corners where diehards fashion hoops out of old car parts to the professional league where politicians exploit team loyalties to win elections, Pacific Rims gets the story - and gets in the game.

In Soccer in American Culture: The Beautiful Game’s Struggle for Status, G. Edward White seeks to answer two questions. The first is why the sport of soccer failed to take root in the United States when it spread from England around much of the rest of the world in the late 19th and 20th centuries. The second is why the sport has had a significant renaissance in America since the last decade of the 20th century, to the point where it is now the fourth largest participatory sport in the United States and is thriving at the high school, college, and professional levels.

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Rap Year Book and Basketball (and Other Things), a clever and inventive examination of some of basketball's most iconic players, moments, games, and more. Everything in basketball is measured. Everything in basketball is counted, and...

An unflinching, all–access look at the friendship between Mickey Mantle and Billy Martin, two of the most beloved New York Yankees and two flawed heroes who battled the colliding forces of success and self–destruction. Through meticulous research and exclusive interviews with the late Mickey...

Kenny Stills is a former NFL Wide Receiver, activist, and advocate for social justice. Over a nine-year career in the league, he made his mark not only as a deep-threat playmaker but also as a fearless voice for change. Stills used his platform to protest racial injustice, standing alongside Colin Kaepernick and others to push for systemic reform. His commitment to advocacy extended beyond the field, working with grassroots organizations and engaging in community outreach to create meaningful impact.

Una historia social y cultural del deporte El deporte encierra muchas más historias que las del terreno de juego, el balón o la canasta. Porque el deporte no es, nunca ha sido, simplemente «minuto y resultado». Palanca de cambios sociales, espacio para reivindicaciones políticas, espejo...

For 140 years, women’s soccer has been a powerful global force and a vehicle for sparking change. That power has shone through 140 years of obstacles and setbacks, bans and ridicule, dismissal and devaluation. Today, investors and audiences recognize the value of women’s soccer not because it can raise money for charity or inspire young girls (although it can) but simply because it is good business. This sport and the women who play it have captured the world’s attention and will continue to advance the game—and the culture around it.

This book aims to guide parents through the challenges of youth hockey, providing insights and strategies to foster a positive environment that promotes skill development, sportsmanship, and personal growth. By focusing on the desires of buyers seeking guidance on youth hockey parenting, the book equips parents with knowledge, empathy, and practical approaches to support their young athletes.

Funny, engaging, and sharply pointed in his appraisal of the sports complex bankrupting our cities, the celebrated author of A People’s History of Sports in the United States returns with a hard-hitting indictment of big business and the corrupt practices that are ruining the sports we love.When attending a baseball game becomes a luxury reserved for the wealthy few and cities build multi-million dollar stadiums while letting their bridges crumble, the price of sports in this country demands reassessment.

As a leading political and intellectual historian and a certified fitness instructor, Natalia Mehlman Petrzela is uniquely qualified to confront the complex and far-reaching implications of how our contemporary exercise culture took shape. She explores the work of working out not just as consumers have experienced it, but as it was created by performers, physical educators, trainers, instructors, and many others. For Petrzela, fitness is a social justice issue. She argues that the fight for a more equitable exercise culture will be won only by revolutionizing fitness culture at its core.