Sports Culture

The nineteenth century saw the American circus move from a reviled and rejected form of entertainment to the “Greatest Show on Earth.” Circus Life by Micah D. Childress looks at this transition from the perspective of the people who owned and worked in circuses and how they responded to the new incentives that rapid industrialization made possible.

HOOP MUSES will take us through time—literally. We begin in the future, in 2072, on the night of the WNBA’s 75th Anniversary, as New York Liberty phenom Jacklyn Jones is paid a visit by one of basketball’s long-ago (wink, wink) greats. This unlikely duo then goes on a sweeping, roundtrip adventure through basketball history, starting at the very beginning: Springfield, 1891.

For the Birds offers listeners a glimpse behind the binoculars and reveals birders to be important allies in the larger environmental conservation movement. With a wealth of data from in-depth interviews and over three years of observing birders in the field, environmental sociologist Elizabeth Cherry argues that birders learn to watch wildlife in ways that make an invaluable contribution to contemporary conservation efforts. She investigates how birders develop a “naturalist gaze” that enables them to understand the shared ecosystem that intertwines humans and wild animals.

At the 2016 Rio Olympics, Ibtihaj Muhammad smashed barriers as the first American to compete wearing hijab, and made history as the first Muslim American woman to medal. Her inspiring journey from a young outsider to an Olympic hero is a relatable, memorable, and uniquely American tale of hard work, determination, and self-reliance.

Skating on Thin Ice exposes the culture of toxic masculinity in professional hockey and suggests how sport and society can change the narrative on sexual assault and violence.

With every touchdown, home run, and three-pointer, star athletes represent an American dream that only an elite group blessed with natural talent can achieve. However, Kimball concentrates on what happens once these modern warriors meet their untimely demise. As athletes die, legends rise in their place.

Immerse yourself in the compelling world of fantasy sports with Fair Play. This essential guide skillfully ties together the knots between sportsmanship, ethics, and respectful communication in online sports leagues. Dive into Chapter 1 and soon, you'll grasp the captivating spirit of fantasy sports and the importance of respect and sportsmanship in these dynamic realms. As you delve further in Chapter 2, the significance of ethical play reveals itself, enlightening you on the subtle balance between competitiveness and fair play. Fair Play proceeds to underscore the vitality of respectful ...

The millions of fans who watch World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) programs each year are well aware of their role in building the narrative of the sport. #WWE: Professional Wrestling in the Digital Age explores the intersections between media, technology, and fandom in WWE's contemporary programming and business practices. In the Reality Era of WWE (2011 to the present), wrestling narratives have increasingly drawn on real-life personalities and events that stretch beyond the story-world created and maintained by WWE.

When Gerald Eskenazi started reporting, sports journalism had a different look than it does today. Eskenazi gives a behind-the-scenes look into the journalistic techniques that go into crafting a story, as well as the pitfalls reporters fall into. There are cautionary tales of journalistic excess, as well as moments of triumph such as the time Eskenazi got Joe Namath to open up to him by admitting he was a sportswriter who knew nothing about football. Along the way, Eskenazi discusses interviewing other reluctant subjects and writing under the intense pressure of a deadline.

In Praise of Famous Horses is an A-Z companion to perhaps the most loved of all domesticated animals. The book's entries include a wealth of unexpected, fascinating and serendipitous information, from horse-slang phrases to horses in British pub signs and from the horse in advertising to the horse as a food item. Themes such as the horse in warfare and the horse in folklore abound.

The war seems a long way away to Maggie Flanagan. Her brother is somewhere across the sea, flying to protect England from the Germans and the Italians. But Maggie is more interested in kicking the footy and finding out who's going to play for St Kilda this season. When the war comes to Australia and Maggie sees what she's sure is a Japanese spy plan in the skies of Melbourne, it all gets very real. The Japanese attack Australia up north and American soldiers start appearing on the streets. Worst of all, it looks like the football season will be cancelled!

The New York Times and Washington Post bestselling author turns his expertise to a subject that has never been fully explored, delivering a highly entertaining game changer that uses brand-new research to show us why being a sports fan is good for us individually and is a force for positive change in society. Fans is a passionate reminder of how games, teams, and the communities dedicated to them are vital to our lives.

Take your equally horrible pick as you debate and decide between survival strategies. Will you make it out alive? Fun facts will keep kids listening, interested - and strategizing!

The bicycle is a vestige of the Victorian era, seemingly out of pace with our age of smartphones and ridesharing apps and driverless cars. Yet we live on a bicycle planet. Across the world, more people travel by bicycle than by any other form of transportation. Almost anyone can learn to ride a bike—and nearly everyone does. In Two Wheels Good, writer and critic Jody Rosen reshapes our understanding of this ubiquitous machine, an ever-present force in humanity's life and dreamlife, and a flashpoint in culture wars for more for than 200 years.

''Because it's there''. Today the question ''why do this?'' is included in nearly every mountaineering story or interview. Meanwhile, interest in climbing is steadily on the rise, from commercial mountaineering and climbing walls in university gyms and corporate workplaces to the flood of spectacular climbing imagery in advertising, cinema, and social media.

Get outside with this audiobook that shows how explorers have found their way around the planet for thousands of years. Hear about the ancient Polynesians who tracked the stars and waves to sail precise paths through the ocean. Or the Age of European Exploration navigators who used compasses and dead reckoning to reach the New World. And learn the science behind radar and modern-day GPS satellites. Then discover how to do it yourself! Up your adventure game and learn to find north and south by reading the trees, make a simple compass, use the stars to tell time, and more.

Prepare your family for a wild voyage filled with hilarious, weird, intriguing, and super awesome facts that extends every subject from science to sports, dinosaurs to space, food and games, oceans and marine life, inventions and discoveries, technology and landmarks, and more! Guaranteed to amaze and baffle even the brightest members of your household!

The New York Yankees. The Boston Red Sox. For a hundred years, no two teams have locked horns as fiercely or as frequently, and no two seasons frame the colossal battle more perfectly than 2003 and 2004. Now, with incredible energy and access, leading sports columnist Mike Vaccaro chronicles the history of the greatest rivalry in sports, and the two stunning American League Championship Series that define a century of baseball.

Today, we primarily use these tiny computers called cellphones that fit in our pockets to help us navigate. It's never been easier to know exactly where you are and find a route to where you want to go. Still, these fancy computers can have their fair share of problems. Batteries run out of charge, GPS lose signal outside of cities, and they can run out of data. This is where this fantastic yet simple tool comes in handy.

Every kindergarten soccer player gets a trophy. Many high schools name dozens of seniors as valedictorians - of the same class. Cars sport bumper stickers that read "USA - Number 1." Prizes proliferate in every corner of American society, and excellence is trumpeted with ratings that range from "Academy Award winner!" to "Best Neighborhood Pizza!" In Everyone’s a Winner, Joel Best - acclaimed author of Damned Lies and Statistics - shines a bright light on the increasing abundance of status in our society and considers what it all means.