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A PEOPLE'S HISTORY OF SPORTS IN THE UNITED STATES
By: Dave Zirin
250 Years of Politics, Protest, People, and Play
New Press
September 2008
On Sale: September 1, 2008
320 pages
ISBN: 1595581006
EAN: 9781595581006
Hardcover
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Non-Fiction Sports
From the author Robert Lipsyte calls "The best young sportswriter in America," a rollicking, rebellious, myth- busting history of sports in America that puts politics in the ring with pop culture. In this long-awaited book from the rising superstar of sportswriting, whose blog "The Edge of Sports" is read each week by thousands of people across the country, Dave Zirin offers a riotously entertaining chronicle of larger-than- life sporting characters and dramatic contests and what amounts to an alternative history of the United States as seen through the games its people played. Through Zirin's eyes, sports are never mere games, but a reflection ofβand a spur towardβthe political conflicts that shape American society. Half a century before Jackie Robinson was born, the black ballplayer Moses Fleetwood Walker brandished a revolver to keep racist fans at bay, then took his regular place in the lineup. In the midst of the Depression, when almost no black athletes were allowed on the U.S. Olympic team, athletes held a Counter Olympics where a third of the participants were African American. A People's History of Sports in the United States is replete with surprises for seasoned sports fans, while anyone interested in history will be amazed by the connections Zirin draws between politics and pop flies. As Jeff Chang, author of Can't Stop Won't Stop, puts it, "After you read him, you'll never see sports the same way again."
 Media BuzzNews and Notes - September 18, 2008
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