New Books in Sports

Nicholas Thompson, "The Running Ground: A Father, a Son, and the Simplest of Sports" (Random House, 2025)

04 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode, Nicholas Thompson, CEO of The Atlantic, and University of Puerto Rico professors Jeffrey Herlihy-Mera and Maritza Stanchich, dis...

Shameem Black, "Flexible India: Yoga's Cultural and Political Tensions" (Columbia UP, 2023)

23 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Yoga has offered the Indian state unprecedented opportunities for global, media-savvy political performance. Under Modi, it has promoted yoga tourism ...

Adam Henig, "Baseball's Outcast: The Story of Ron LeFlore" (Bloomsbury, 2026)

20 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

When twenty-three-year-old Ron LeFlore played his first organized baseball game, it was in a yard at the State Prison of Southern Michigan where he wa...

Jerry West and Jonathan Coleman, "West by West: My Charmed, Tormented Life" (Little, Brown and Co, 2011)

16 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

He is one of basketball's towering figures: "Mr. Clutch," who mesmerized his opponents and fans. The coach who began the Lakers' resurgence in the 197...

Pavel Brunssen, "The Making of 'Jew Clubs': Performing Jewishness and Antisemitism in European Football and Fan Cultures" (Indiana UP, 2025)

09 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Today we are joined by Pavel Brunssen, a Research Associate and Alfred Landecker Lecturer at the Research Center on Antigypsyism at Heidelberg Univers...

Jordan Treske, "Building the Milwaukee Bucks: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Oscar Robertson, and the Rapid Rise of an NBA Franchise, 1968-1975" (McFarland, 2025)

08 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In three short years, the Milwaukee Bucks went from merely an idea to NBA champions. What started as a quest by Marvin Fishman and eventually Wesley P...

Robert Parish with Jake Uitti, "The Chief: The Story of the Boston Celtics’ Most Enigmatic Icon" (Triumph, 2026)

02 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

A memoir of basketball, dedication, and longevity from Boston Celtics legend Robert Parish Growing up in the heart of Louisiana, Robert Parish and hi...

Alan McDougall, "Dreams and Songs to Sing: A People's History of Liverpool FC from Shankly to Klopp" (Cambridge UP, 2025)

24 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Today we are joined by Alan McDougall, Professor of History at the University of Guelph, and the author of Dreams and Songs To Sing: A People’s His...

Michael James Roberts et al., "Roll and Flow: The Cultural Politics of Skateboarding and Surfing" (San Diego State UP, 2024)

05 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In Roll and Flow: The Cultural Politics of Skateboarding and Surfing (San Diego State UP, 2024),  Michael James Roberts, Kristin Lawler, and Dav...

Ofer Idels, "Embodying the Revolution: The Hebrew Experience and the Globalization of Modern Sports in Interwar Palestine" (Rutgers UP, 2025)

04 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Join Rabbi Marc Katz for a powerful and unexpected conversation with historian Ofer Idels author of Embodying the Revolution: The Hebrew Experience...

Seth S. Tannenbaum, "Bleacher Seats and Luxury Suites: Democracy and Division at the Twentieth-Century Ballpark" (U Illinois Press, 2026)

03 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Celebrated as a democratic space for all Americans, the major league ballpark in fact privileged the middle- and upper-class white male fan while t...

David M. Henkin, "Out of the Ballpark: How to Think about Baseball" (Oxford UP, 2026)

18 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

All over the world, masses of people watch, follow, document, and obsess over baseball. Everything remarkable about the impact of baseball derives fro...

Brian Hallstoos, "Sol Butler: An Olympian's Odyssey through Jim Crow America" (U Illinois Press, 2026)

17 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

A superstar in both football and track and field Sol Butler pioneered the parlaying of sports fame into business prosperity. In Sol Butler: An Oly...

Claire Nicolas, "Une si longue course: Sport, genre, et citoyenneté au Ghana et en Côte d’Ivoire (années 1900-1970)" (Presses Universitaires de Rennes, 2024)

11 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Today we are joined by Claire Nicolas, a chercheuse du Fonds National Suisse at Basel University, a holder of a prestigious Ambizione Research Grant, ...

Chris Washburn and Ron Chepesiuk, "Out of Bounds: From Broken NBA Dreams to Redemption" (WildBlue Press, 2025)

09 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Highly promising basketball player Chris Washburn was selected third overall in the 1986 NBA Draft by the Golden State Warriors. But a chance encounte...

Jonathan Wilson, "The Power and the Glory: The History of the World Cup" (Bold Type Books, 2025)

08 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

As the world prepares for the 2026 World Cup, Jonathan Wilson’s new book, The Power and the Glory: The History of the World Cup (Bold Type Books, ...

Todd Cleveland, "Africa and the Olympics: Winning Away from the Podium" (Ohio UP, 2024)

07 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

At the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games (held in 2021 due to COVID-19), the fifty-four African countries that participated finished the tournament with the lo...

Thomas Aiello, "Return of the King: The Rebirth of Muhammad Ali and the Rise of Atlanta" (U Nebraska Press, 2025)

30 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Return of the King: The Rebirth of Muhammad Ali and the Rise of Atlanta (U Nebraska Press, 2025) tells the story of Muhammad Ali’s return to th...

Sara Petrosillo, "Hawking Women: Falconry, Gender, and Control in Medieval Literary Culture" (Ohio State UP, 2023)

19 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Fantastic and informative talk with Sara Petrosillo of the University of Evansville about her new book, Hawking Women: Falconry, Gender, and Control ...

Luiz Guilherme Burlamaqui, "The Making of Global FIFA: Cold War Politics and the Rise of João Havelange to the FIFA Presidency, 1950-1974" (De Gruyter, 2023)

14 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Today we are joined by Luiz Guilherme Burlamaqui, author of The Making of Global FIFA: Cold War Politics and the Rise of João Havelange to the FIFA ...

Chris Boucher, "Harry "Bucky" Lew: A Biography of the First Black Professional Basketball Player" (McFarland, 2026)

11 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Harry "Bucky" Lew leapt over pro basketball's color wall in 1902 and continued to integrate every single role in the game over the next 25 years. He w...

Bruce Berglund, "The Moscow Playbook: How Russia Used, Abused, and Transformed Sports in the Hunt for Power" (Triumph Books, 2026)

10 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

An eye-opening account of how Russia's leaders have used sports as a political tool to solidify their global power "Victories in sport do more to cem...

Ashley Brown, "Serving Herself: The Life and Times of Althea Gibson" (Oxford UP, 2023)

03 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

From her start playing paddle tennis on the streets of Harlem as a young teenager to her eleven Grand Slam tennis wins to her professional golf career...

How to Fix Baseball with author Jane Leavy

27 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

For hard-core baseball folks, for anyone who cares for the future of the game, veteran baseball writer Jane Leavy compels attention with her provocati...

David Fleming, "A Big Mess in Texas: The Miraculous, Disastrous 1952 Dallas Texans and the Craziest Untold Story in NFL History" (St. Martin's Press, 2025)

21 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Today we are joined by David Fleming, Peabody-nominated correspondent for Meadowlark Media, longtime ESPN senior writer, and author of A Big Mess in ...

Dylan Taylor-Lehman, "Going Rackless: Chicago’s Amateur Pool Players and the Quest for Glory in the Biggest Tournament in the World" (3 Fields Books, 2025)

07 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Playing every angle for a shot at the big time, Chicagoans venture to area pool halls to perfect their games and navigate league play for a shot at th...

Natalie Porter, "Girl Gangs, Zines, and Powerslides: A History of Badass Women Skateboarders" (ECW Press, 2025)

27 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

A vibrant, meticulously researched celebration of the women and non-binary skateboarders who defied a hostile industry and redefined skateboarding aro...

John A. Camacho and Zack Hamilton, "Sports Chaos: Exploring the Reasons Behind Expert Business, Legal, and Moral Decisions" (2025)

24 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

What happens when sports decision-making collides with business interests, legal battles, and moral dilemmas? Sports Chaos dives into the unpredictabl...

Anastasija Ropa, "The Medieval Horse" (Reaktion Books, 2025)

05 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Anastasija Ropa joins Jana Byars to talk about The Medieval Horse (Reaktion, 2025), a book that explores the role of horses across the medieval wor...

Javier Wallace, "Basketball Trafficking: Stolen Black Panamanian Dreams" (Duke UP, 2025)

26 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Every year, hundreds of international student athletes arrive in the U.S. chasing their basketball dreams — many on F-1 student visas. But for some ...

Scott Beekman, "The Last Gladiator: William Muldoon and the Making of American Sports" (U Texas Press, 2025)

27 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

William Muldoon was an infamous athlete whose prowess, savvy, and chicanery across his six-decade career led him to wealth, cultural importance, and p...

Aaron L. Miller, "Basketball in Japan: Shooting for the Stars" (Routledge, 2024)

21 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Today we are joined by Aaron Miller, Lecturer in Kinesiology at California State University, East Bay and the author of Basketball in Japan: Shooting...

Wade Davies, "Native Hoops: The Rise of American Indian Basketball, 1895-1970" (UP of Kansas, 2020)

31 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The game of basketball is perceived by most today as an “urban” game with a locale such as Rucker Park in Harlem as the game’s epicenter (as wel...

Tackling the Everyday: Race and Nation in Big-Time College Football

28 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Big-time college football promises prestige, drama, media attention, and money. Yet most athletes in this unpaid, amateur system encounter a different...

Doug Levy, "Hero Redefined: Profiles of Olympic Athletes Under the Radar" (Clever Cleever, 2025)

22 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Heroes aren’t just the ones who bring home medals. Hero Redefined: Profiles of Olympic Athletes Under the Radar (Clever Cleever, 2025) delves int...

Matthew Goodman, "The City Game: Triumph, Scandal, and a Legendary Basketball Team" (Ballantine Books, 2019)

17 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The 1949-50 CCNY Beavers basketball team were one of the unlikeliest of champions in sports history. CCNY was a tuition-free in Harlem, New York, inte...

César Brioso, "Last Seasons in Havana: The Castro Revolution and the End of Professional Baseball In Cuba" (U Nebraska Press, 2019)

04 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Today we are joined by César Brioso, author of the book Last Seasons in Havana: The Castro Revolution and the End of Professional Baseball In Cuba (U...

Brendan O'Meara, "The Front Runner: The Life of Steve Prefontaine" (HarperCollins, 2025)

15 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In the fifty years since his tragic death in a car crash, Steve Prefontaine has towered over American distance running. One of the most recognizable a...

Joseph Darda, "Gift and Grit: Race, Sports, and the Construction of Social Debt" (Cambridge UP, 2025)

07 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In 1998, Bill Clinton hosted a town hall on race and sports. 'If you've got a special gift,' the president said of athletes, 'you owe more back.' Gif...

Julia Brock, "Closed Seasons: The Transformation of Hunting in the Modern South" (UNC Press, 2025)

06 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In a unique and personal exploration of the game and fish laws in Alabama, Georgia, and Mississippi from the Progressive Era to the 1930s, Julia Brock...

Christopher Clarey, "The Warrior: Rafael Nadal and His Kingdom of Clay" (Grand Central Publishing, 2025)

24 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In The Warrior: Rafael Nadal and His Kingdom of Clay (Grand Central Publishing, 2025) Christopher Clarey illuminates the skill and determinat...

Jack Black and Joseph S Reynoso eds., "Sport and Psychoanalysis: Sport and Psychoanalysis: What Sport Reveals about Our Unconscious Desires, Fantasies, and Fears" (Lexington Books, 2024)

18 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Sport and Psychoanalysis: What Sport Reveals about Our Unconscious Desires, Fantasies, and Fears (Lexington Books, 2024) explores the intersection...

Harrison Browne and Rachel Browne, "Let Us Play: Winning the Battle for Gender Diverse Athletes" (Beacon Press, 2025)

08 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The debate over the inclusion of gender diverse people in sport has become the latest battleground in the fight for basic human rights and equality. T...

Joshua K. Wright, "The NBA's Global Empire: How the League Became an International Powerhouse" (McFarland, 2025)

01 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Joshua K. Wright, The NBA's Global Empire: How the League Became an International Powerhouse (McFarland, 2025)  During the 1992 Summer Olym...

Andrew Forbes, "McCurdle's Arm: A Fiction" (Invisible Publishing, 2024)

01 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In this NBN episode, host Hollay Ghadery speaks with Andrew Forbes about his phenomenal novella, McCurdle’s Arm: A Fiction (Invisible Publishing, ...

Gennifer Weisenfeld, "The Fine Art of Persuasion: Corporate Advertising Design, Nation, and Empire in Modern Japan" (Duke UP, 2025)

28 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Commercial art is more than just mass-produced publicity; it constructs social and political ideologies that impact the public’s everyday life. In ...

Dionne Koller, "More Than Play: How Law, Policy, and Politics Shape American Youth Sport" (U California Press, 2025)

18 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Tens of millions of children in the United States participate in youth sport, a pastime widely believed to be part of a good childhood. Yet most child...

Elyssa Ford and Rebecca Scofield, "Slapping Leather: Queer Cowfolx at the Gay Rodeo" (U Washington Press, 2023)

12 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

What would a rodeo open to anyone and everyone look like? In their new book, Slapping Leather: Queer Cowfolx at the Gay Rodeo (U Washington, 2023),...

Courtney M. Cox, "Double Crossover: Gender, Media, and Politics in Global Basketball" (U Illinois Press, 2025)

11 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

As they compete in leagues around the world, elite women’s basketball players continually adjust to new cultures, rules, and contracts. Courtney M....

Brian M. Ingrassia, "Speed Capital: Indianapolis Auto Racing and the Making of Modern America" (

10 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The 1909 opening of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway marked a foundational moment in the history of automotive racing. Events at the famed track and ot...

Katie Rose Hejtmanek, "The Cult of CrossFit: Christianity and the American Exercise Phenomenon" (NYU Press, 2025)

21 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

CrossFit in the United States has become increasingly popular, around which a fascinating culture has developed which shapes everyday life for the peo...

Jonathan D. Cohen, "Losing Big: America's Dangerous Sports Gambling Boom" (Columbia Global Reports, 2025)

20 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In 2018, the United States Supreme Court opened the floodgates for states to legalize betting on sports. Eager for revenue, almost forty states have d...

Maurice Jackson, "Rhythms of Resistance and Resilience: How Black Washingtonians Used Music and Sports in the Fight for Equality" (Georgetown UP, 2025)

12 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In the Nation's Capital, music and sports have played a central role in the lives of African Americans, often serving as a barometer of social conflic...

Christian Sheppard, "The Ancient Wisdom of Baseball: Lessons for Life from Homer's Odyssey to the World Series" (Greenleaf, 2025)

10 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Who are you, how are you supposed to live, and what about happiness? Answers to age-old questions are offered in classic myths about heroes, gods, and...

Jason Cannon, "A Time for Reflection: The Parallel Legacies of Baseball Icons Willie McCovery and Billy Williams" (Rowman & Littlefield, 2025)

01 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Professional baseball has featured a bevy of superstars over the past century and a half, but only a few of them have impacted their sport and cities ...

D. D. Miller, "Eight-wheeled Freedom: The Derby Nerd's Short History of Flat Track Roller Derby" (Wolsak and Wynn, 2016)

31 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

NBN host Hollay Ghadery chats with author D. D. Miller about the fascinating sport of roller derby. As the Derby Nerd, Miller covered roller derby sin...

Tracie Canada, "Tackling the Everyday: Race and Nation in Big-Time College Football" (U California Press, 2025)

22 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Big-time college football promises prestige, drama, media attention, and money. Yet most athletes in this unpaid, amateur system encounter a different...

Mike Sielski, "Magic in the Air: The Myth, the Mystery, and the Soul of the Slam Dunk" (St. Martin's Press, 2025)

26 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The evolution of basketball, and much of the social and cultural change in America, can be traced through one powerful act on the court: the slam dunk...

Stan Bunger, "Mornings with Madden: My Radio Life With An American Legend" (Triumph, 2024)

08 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

John Madden is synonymous with football. He was the television face and voice of the nation's most popular sport, the namesake of its best-selling spo...

Michael Ray Richardson, "Banned: How I Squandered an All-Star NBA Career Before Finding My Redemption" (Sports Publishing, 2024)

18 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Michael Ray Richardson was a star in the making. After a stellar collegiate career at the University of Montana, where he was voted first team All-Big...

John Eglin, "The Gambling Century: Commercial Gaming in Britain from Restoration to Regency" (Oxford UP, 2023)

27 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

John Eglin talks with Jana Byars about The Gambling Century: Commercial Gaming in Britain from Restoration to Regency (Oxford UP, 2023). Gambling ...

Neil Atkinson, "Transformer: Klopp, the Revolution of a Club and Culture" (Canongate, 2024)

20 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

How did Jurgen Klopp change Liverpool? In Transformer: Klopp, the Revolution of a Club and Culture (Canongate, 2024), Neil Atkinson, host of The A...

Bob Kuska, "Balls of Confusion: Pro Baskelball Goes to War (1965-1970)" (From Way Downtown, 2024)

17 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Balls of Confusion: Pro Basketball Goes to War(1965-70) is the first of a two-part story about one of the most transformative events inpro basketball...

Postscript: Violence, Consent, and Coercion in American Football

16 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Last week, the press focused on what the press repeatedly characterized as an “ugly” fight between American college football players that broke ou...

Voices Part 1: Hut-Hut-Hike

02 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In this first episode of a three-part series called Voices, we’re listening to the sound of American football—specifically the role of voices in ...

Daniel S. Goldberg, "Tackle Football and Traumatic Brain Injuries: Law, Ethics, and Public Health" (Johns Hopkins UP, 2024)

25 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Football is the national game in the United States – and many families and friends bond over their love of the sport. While few people play professi...

Angelique Chengelis, "Michigan Vs. Everybody: Inside the Wolverines’ 2023 National Championship Season" (Triumph Books, 2024)

17 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In Michigan Vs. Everybody: Inside the Wolverines’ 2023 National Championship Season (Triumph Books, 2024), The Detroit News' Angelique Chengelis ...

Seth E. Jenny et al., "Routledge Handbook of Esports" (Routledge, 2024)

09 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The Routledge Handbook of Esports (Routledge, 2024) offers the first fully comprehensive, interdisciplinary study of esports, one of the fastest gr...

Mirin Fader, "Dream: The Life and Legacy of Hakeem Olajuwon" (Hachette, 2024)

02 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

It’s now the norm for NBA and collegiate teams to have international players dotting their rosters. The Olympics are no longer a gimme for Team USA....

Richard Moss, "Tale of Two Halves: The History Of Football Video Games" (Bitmap Books, 2024)

01 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Painstakingly researched and written by football-obsessed writer and experienced game journalist, historian, and documentarian Richard Moss – author...

Nathan Kalman-Lamb and Derek Silva, "The End of College Football: On the Human Cost of an All-American Game" (UNC Press, 2024)

27 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In The End of College Football: On the Human Cost of an All-American Game (UNC Press, 2024), Nathan Kalman-Lamb and Derek Silva offer an existential...

Larry E. Holmes, "Win or Else: Soviet Football in Moscow and Beyond, 1921–1985" (Indiana UP, 2024)

25 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In Win or Else: Soviet Football in Moscow and Beyond, 1921-1985 (Indiana University Press, 2024), Larry E. Holmes shows us how Soviet football cult...

Brad Balukjian, "The Six Pack: On the Open Road in Search of Wrestlemania" (Hachette, 2024)

18 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In 2005, Brad Balukjian left his position as a magazine fact-checker to pursue a dream job: partner with his childhood hero, The Iron Sheik (whose rea...

Jamie Michaels and Doug Fedrau, "Christie Pits" (Dirty Water Comics, 2019)

07 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

A gritty ride through Toronto's immigrant neighbourhoods, Christie Pits (Dirty Water Comics, 2019) tells the incredible true story of when young Jew...

Uroš Kovač, "The Precarity of Masculinity: Football, Pentecostalism, and Transnational Aspirations in Cameroon" (Berghahn Books, 2022)

30 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

A compelling work that explores the lives and aspirations of young footballers with deep nuance and insight, The Precarity of Masculinity: Football, ...

Jennifer Domino Rudolph, "Baseball as Mediated Latinidad: Race, Masculinity, Nationalism, and Performances of Identity" (Ohio State UP, 2020)

10 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In her incisive study Baseball as Mediated Latinidad: Race, Masculinity, Nationalism, and Performances of Identity (Ohio State University Press, 2020...

Julie Kliegman, "Mind Game: An Inside Look at the Mental Health Playbook of Elite Athletes" (Rowman & Littlefield, 2024)

23 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In growing numbers, athletes are speaking up about their struggles with mental illness—including high-profile stars such as Michael Phelps, Kevin Lo...

Ben Kaplan and Danny Parkins, "Pipeline to the Pros: How D3 Small-College Nobodies Rose to Rule the NBA" (Triumph Books, 2024)

24 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Today I talked to Ben Kaplan about his new book (co-authored with Danny Parkins) Pipeline to the Pros: How D3 Small-College Nobodies Rose to Rule t...

Kristin J. Jacobson, "The American Adrenaline Narrative" (U Georgia Press, 2020)

14 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Kristin J. Jacobson In her new book, The American Adrenaline Narrative (University of Georgia Press), Kristin Jacobson considers the nature of peril...

Adam Berg, "The Olympics that Never Happened: Denver '76 and the Politics of Growth" (U Texas Press, 2023)

12 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

If you don't recall the 1976 Denver Olympic Games, it's because they never happened. The Mile-High City won the right to host the winter games and the...

Aaron Fischman, "A Baseball Gaijin: Chasing a Dream to Japan and Back" (Sports Publishing, 2024)

07 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Like many American boys, Tony Barnette yearned to one day make it to “The Show,” playing baseball professionally. The Arizona State pitcher was dr...

Jaakko Stenros and Markus Montola, "The Rule Book: The Building Blocks of Games" (MIT Press, 2024)

04 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

How games are built on the foundations of rules, and how rules—of which there are only five kinds—really work. Board games to sports, digital game...

Adam J. Criblez, "Kings of the Garden: The New York Knicks and Their City" (Three Hills, 2024)

26 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In Kings of the Garden: The New York Knicks and Their City (Three Hills, 2024), Adam J. Criblez traces the fall and rise of the New York Knicks betw...

Jerry Grillo, "Big Cat: The Life of Baseball Hall of Famer Johnny Mize" (U Nebraska Press, 2024)

17 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Johnny Mize was one of the greatest hitters in baseball’s golden age of great hitters. Born and raised in tiny Demorest, Georgia, in the northeast G...

Robert M. Jarvis, "Gambling Under the Swastika: Casinos, Horse Racing, Lotteries, and Other Forms of Betting in Nazi Germany" (Carolina Academic Press, 2019)

09 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Although much has been written about the Nazis, one aspect of their rule has been all but overlooked: gambling. While philosophically opposed to gambl...

Kieran File, "How Language Shapes Relationships in Professional Sports Teams: Power and Solidarity Dynamics in a New Zealand Rugby Team" (Bloomsbury, 2022)

05 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

While the topic of relationships in professional sports teams is gaining greater attention from researchers and practitioners, the role that coach and...

Adam Lazarus, "The Wingmen: The Unlikely, Unusual, Unbreakable Friendship Between John Glenn and Ted Williams" (Citadel Press, 2023)

27 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

It was 1953, the Korean War in full throttle, when two men—already experts in their fields—crossed the fabled 38th Parallel into Communist airspac...

Rachel S. Gross, "Shopping All the Way to the Woods: How the Outdoor Industry Sold Nature to America" (Yale UP, 2024)

26 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Rachel S. Gross's Shopping All the Ways to the Woods (Yale University Press, 2024) tells the fascinating history of the profitable paradox of the A...

David Ostrowsky, "Roberto Alomar: The Complicated Life and Legacy of a Baseball Hall of Famer" (Rowman & Littlefield, 2024)

22 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Roberto Alomar was not just a five-tool Hall of Famer; he was a magician on the diamond, a generational talent whose defensive wizardry left teammates...

Piotr Florczyk, "Swimming Pool" (Bloombury, 2024)

12 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

This instalment of the Object Lessons series focuses on the Swimming Pool (Bloomsbury, 2024). The book explores the pool as a place where humans see...

Ben Rothenberg, "Naomi Osaka: Her Journey to Finding Her Power and Her Voice" (Dutton, 2024)

07 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In July 2021, Naomi Osaka—world number 1 women’s tennis player—lit the Olympic Cauldron at the Tokyo Olympic Games. The half-Japanese, half-Amer...

Alex Squadron, "Life in the G: Minor League Basketball and the Relentless Pursuit of the NBA" (U Nebraska Press, 2023)

05 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Welcome to the G League--the official minor league of the National Basketball Association. Life in the G: Minor League Basketball and the Relentless...

Bill Meiners, "Sport Literate" and "Game: A Sport Literate Anthology" (2023)

23 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

William Meiners is a writer, editor, and teacher living in Mount Pleasant, Michigan. He created Sport Literate as a graduate student at Columbia Coll...

Natalia Mehlman Petrzela, "Fit Nation: The Gains and Pains of America's Exercise Obsession" (U Chicago Press, 2023)

20 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Today we are joined by Natalia Mehlman Petrzela, Professor of History at The New School, and author of Fit Nation: The Gains and Pains of America’s...

Rich Cohen, "When the Game Was War: The NBA's Greatest Season" (Random House, 2023)

13 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Four historic teams. Four legendary players. One unforgettable season. The 1980s were a transformative decade for the NBA. Since its founding in 1946,...

Michelle J. Manno, "Denied: Women, Sports, and the Contradictions of Identity" (NYU Press, 2023)

23 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Women’s college basketball is big business—top teams bring in millions of dollars in revenue for their schools. Women’s NCAA games are broadcast...

Lindsay Sarah Krasnoff, "Basketball Empire: France and the Making of a Global NBA and WNBA" (Bloomsbury, 2023)

19 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Today we are joined by Dr. Lindsay Krasnoff, who is an historian, specializing in global sport, communications and diplomacy. She is also the Director...

David Steele, "It Was Always a Choice: Picking Up the Baton of Athlete Activism" (Temple UP, 2022)

12 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Today we are joined by the sports journalist David Steele, who has written for the Sporting News, AOL, the Baltimore Sun and the San Francisco Ch...

Jeffrey S. Gurock, "Marty Glickman: The Life of an American Jewish Sports Legend" (NYU Press, 2023)

09 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

For close to half a century after World War II, Marty Glickman was the voice of New York sports. His distinctive style of broadcasting, on television ...

Genealogies of Modernity Episode 1: Climbing the Mountains of Modernity

05 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

We all know many stories about how modernity came about. But what does it mean to be “modern”? This episode comes at the question through the test...