Malcolm Gladwell wrote an essay in The New Yorker years ago about how race influences and infiltrates sports (I'm sure you can find it in The New Yorker archives by searching for Malcolm Gladwell and race/sports). This book left me feeling the same way that article did. The essays examine situations, dynamics, and events in a way that gets you thinking. Although I didn't agree with some of the arguments, I found myself saying "yes" and nodding as I read. I appreciated the historical connections and explanations as well. This collection sits nicely on the bookshelf with a number of great books about race in sports.

This academic and scholarly review of race and sports from social, political, historical, and other constructs is one worth reading. Each essay is well written and well researched. Most of the popular sports are examined: baseball, boxing, football. I would like to read about race and tennis, particularly during the advent of the Williams sisters. However, this omission does not detract from the quality of this body of work. A very worthy read. ( )

overall, it seemed that this book did not go that in depth into important matters of race relations in major sports either professional or amateur. And, despite the fact that it sounds like it is about race in general it focuses mostly on African-Americans and not on any other race. The concept of race in sports is intriguing but this book didn't live up to the premise. ( )

Race in American Sports is a collection of essays on the effects race plays in the sports forum in the collegiate and professional levels. These essays cover present day experiences as well as early 20th century happenings. Whether the reader agrees or disagrees with the essays, he can't deny they are thought provoking and oftentimes very blunt in the way the facts are presented. I enjoyed several of the essays but found some of them hard to read. Due to grammatical errors, I was rereading passages too often to make sense of the material. I found myself reading and watching for mistakes rather than reading for information. I realize most of the books from Early Reviewers at LibraryThing are advance uncorrected proofs. This book of essays was not marked as such and in fact had a publication date from May 2014. I doubt I will be rereading this book in future. ( )

Race in American Sports in an anthology of academic essays, mostly academic in tone, that explore race from an interdisciplinary perspective. Essays include discussions on racism and stereotypes in regards to Native American mascots, the general marginalization of women's sports and this relationship with black culture, and the struggles black athletes have on college campuses (this last topic is one of my favorites because I teach at the college level and see my black athletes struggle). While no one anthology can hope to cover all discussions of race in today's sports, this collection is a good place to start. ( )