Sociology: sport and leisure Books

Book Synopsis''MASTERFUL'' Time Out''REVELATORY'' Scotland on Sunday''GLORIOUSLY READABLE'' Metro''FASCINATING'' Independent ''EXCELLENT'' Telegraph''ABSORBING'' GuardianWinner of the British Sports Book AwardsFootball Book of the YearThe fifteenth anniversary edition, fully revised and updated, of Jonathan Wilson''s modern classic.In the modern classic, Jonathan Wilson pulls apart the finer details of the world''s game, tracing the global history of tactics, from modern pioneers right back to the beginning, when chaos reigned. Along the way, he looks at the lives of great players and thinkers who shaped the sport, and probes why the English, in particular, have proved themselves unwilling to grapple with the abstract.Fully revised and updated, this fifteenth-anniversary edition analyses the evolution of modern international football, including the 2022 World Cup, charting the influence of the great Spanish, German and Portuguese tacticians of the last decade, whilst pondering the effects of football''s increased globalisation and commercialisation.Trade ReviewA masterful work, It's all deliciously nerdy - a cross between a coaching manual and a social history - and if its publication helps foster a flowering of interest in the tactical and analytical side of the game in this country, it could be the best thing to have happened to English football in years.**** * TIME OUT - book of the week *Facts and stats, plus anecdotes, interviews and Wilson's deft touch with football-speak, give colour to a subject that can be a little dry and all-too confusing for those watching (and often those picking the side). * CQ *For a detailed analysis of how a single striker became the norm throughout football, you had better read Jonathan Wilson's excellent new book about tactics. -- Patrick Barclay * SUNDAY TELEGRAPH *[A] fascinating history of tactics, a book that is guaranteed to enhance your football watching; your team may still lose, but you'll have a far better idea why they did. * INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY *This must surely go down as one of the most revelatory sports books of the year, as well as one of the best, who would have thought that a book charting the history of football tactics and strategy, from the 1870s to the present day, could be so engrossing and entertaining. * SCOTLAND ON SUNDAY *Absorbing and informative * GUARDIAN ON LINE *A gloriously readable, eccentric and informative trawl through the changing tactical mindsets and formations that have helped shape the beautiful game. * METRO *You will never read a more entertaining or erudite history of tactics * SUNDAY TELEGRAPH-CHRISTMAS BOOKS *This is a masterful piece of research and lives up to the claim to be nothing less than "a history of football tactics"... Facinating * SCOTSMAN -Books of the Year *a fascinating analysis of the way the game has evolved tactically from the 1970s until the last season... as a summary of the first 140 years of football tactical history, it is hard to imagine a more readable or thorough effort. * IRISH EXAMINER *

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Book Synopsis"By taking a look at themes which span the globe, such as ancient rituals, rites of passage, business, pain, perfection and sacredness, this is a book which manages to encompass what it is to be human." — Amateur Photographer “Astounding” - Aesthetica Magazine “A visual extravaganza” - New York Times Why do we play games? That is the question Belgian photographer Hannelore Vandenbussche decided to explore, travelling to numerous countries to roam the world of sports, passion, athletic competition, transition, and emancipation. The athletes she portrays keep old traditions alive or carve out new territory, perform rituals, and celebrate with boisterous parties centred around their games. Meet Buzkashi players astride their horses in Central Asia, Donga stick fighters in Ethiopia, Tarahumara runners in Mexico, big wave surfers in Nazaré, and many other athletes in these unusual sports. These unique photographs capture athletes from both indigenous cultures in remote parts of the globe and from familiar, Western cultures. They poignantly convey how old traditions are kept alive and new ones are carved out, how rites of passage, ritual, and celebration are all part of the culture of play. Human Playground showcases a hugely diverse range of sports from places as far-flung as Mongolia and Madagascar, from jockeys in Dubai to land divers in Vanuatu. This extraordinary book of photographs is dedicated to a subject that is being presented in an entirely new way.Trade ReviewIdris Elba Says New Sports Show 'Human Playground' Changed His Idea of 'What Human Beings Can Do' - People"By taking a look at themes which span the globe, such as ancient rituals, rites of passage, business, pain, perfection and sacredness, this is a book which manages to encompass what it is to be human." - Amateur Photographer"Channel your inner child and remember how it feels to exert yourself just for the thrill of it." - National Geographic Traveller"The sheer variety of exhilarating activities presented in this volume…is astounding." - Aesthetica Magazine"A visual extravaganza." - New York Times"While modernisation poses a threat to many of these ancient sports, Hannelore presents them in a way that captures their vitality, and her photography is as energetic as the sports it depicts. Each frame launches us into the heart of the action." - WhyNow"The book is a celebration of sports and games, and the culture of play around the world." - Robb Report Singapore"Making the best photographs of a sport in action meant forming bonds with her subjects and sometimes diving into the mix herself." - Professional Photographer

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Book SynopsisA lavishly illustrated revised edition of the ’70s cult book, updated by the author and with a bold new design and contemporary images. Before Franklin Foer, Bill Bryson, and Simon Kuper wrote about soccer, best-selling author and highly respected academic Desmond Morris became a director of a soccer club in order to properly analyze the world’s most popular sport. In this revelatory book, Morris shares his experiences, guiding the reader through the marked tribal components of soccer, from the life of a team, the players, and their supporters to its symbols, rites, and rules. The Soccer Tribe is a tribute to the game, seen from the perspective of a lifelong fan and specialist. The book is divided into forty-four short chapters, each examining a vital aspect of the life of the Soccer Tribesmen. Included are Rituals (the taboos and punishments, goals and strategies); Heroes (their skills and superstitions, triumphs and defeats); Trappings (balls, costumes, banners an

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Book SynopsisTraces Japan's coffee craze from the turn of the twentieth century, when Japan helped to launch the Brazilian coffee industry, to the present day. This title shows how coffee and coffee spaces have been central to the formation of Japanese notions about the uses of public space, social change, modernity, and pleasure.Trade Review"Required reading for coffee's true believers and industry insiders." -- Oliver Strand T: The New York Times Style Magazine "You'll find your eyes opened beyond the new and storied cafes you've heard of and into regional corners and paradoxical tastes." Serious Eats "A fascinating 130-year illumination of Japan's deeply rooted sipping culture." LA Weekly "This excellent book combines academic rigour with lively descriptions and compelling prose." Times Higher Education "Provides an engaging and often personal account of Japanese coffeehouses... Highly recommended." -- R. R. Wilk, Indiana University Choice "Merry White has whiled away many hours in cafes in Japan in her professional role as an anthropologist, and wishes to communicate the diversity and intimacy one can experience in them." Times Literary Supplement (TLS) "Perhaps this isn't really a review, more a recommendation - all I can really say is that I enjoyed it, and ... you'll probably enjoy this too." Jimseven "This book will certainly give you ... a lot of new knowledge and maybe a whole new perspective on Japanese culture." Yum "Coffee Life in Japan provides a novel and significant study on contemporary Japanese life." -- Willa Zhen, Culinary Institute of America Journal Of American-East Asian RelationsTable of ContentsIllustrations Preface 1. Coffee in Public: Cafe's in Urban Japan 2. Japan's Cafe's: Coffee and the Counterintuitive 3. Modernity and the Passion Factory 4. Masters of Their Universes: Performing Perfection 5. Japan's Liquid Power 6. Making Coffee Japanese: Taste in the Contemporary Cafe' 7. Urban Public Culture: Webs, Grids, and Third Places in Japanese Cities 8. Knowing Your Place Appendix: Visits to Cafe's, an Unreliable Guide Notes Bibliography Acknowledgments Index

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Book SynopsisSHORTLISTED FOR FOOTBALL BOOK OF THE YEAR AT THE SPORTS BOOK AWARDS 2025LONGLISTED FOR THE WILLIAM HILL SPORTS BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARDA New Statesman Book of the YearA Sunday Times Sports Book of the YearA hilarious examination of the football commentary language we all understand but don''t know why WHSBOTY 2024 Reading PanelThe long-awaited follow-up to Football Clichés, Adam Hurrey''s cult classic about the language of football.So enjoyable ... fascinating and deliciously nerdy. FourFourTwoAdam Hurrey is the best observer of football culture in the world. He has a knack for either encapsulating something that''s always nagged at you or nailing something you can''t believe you haven''t noticed before. Elis JamesThe funniest, smartest book on the language of football. It sends out a message, silences the doubters and lets its football do the talking ... a Rolls-Royce of a book. David Goldblatt***Does language evolve? Yes, it does.Will it ever be acceptable for a football commentator to call a shot that bounces before it goes in ''a screamer''? No, it will not.As the self-appointed world expert on the subject, Adam Hurrey sets off to define the definitive rules of the language of football.He will answer the big questions such as: is it acceptable to say a player is ''breaking their silence'' (it''s complicated), can headers can be ''lashed'' (anatomically impossible), whether a penalty shootout could ever be described as ''late drama'' (truly abhorrent), how many games constitute a ''bumper'' day of Premier League action (minimum of eight) and just how big a deficit constitutes ''a mountain to climb'' (certainly not Liverpool going 1-0 down at home to Wolves in the third minute, Sky Sports).Along the way, Hurrey examines some case studies of how the football media has reached saturation point - the transfer rumour mill, the futile art of big-match previewing, the rise of (and backlash against) football jargon - and how its language has evolved to keep the machine going.Have we let the football lexicon spiral out of control? In finding out, this book will be exactly as gloriously pedantic as it sounds.

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Book Synopsis''A powerful argument, and practical advice, on the importance of reclaiming your leisure time to live a happier and more fulfilling life'' - Gretchen Rubin, New York Times bestselling author of Better Than Before and The Happiness ProjectEncroaching work demands - coupled with domestic chores, overbooked schedules, and the incessant pinging of our devices - have taken a toll on what used to be our free time: the weekend. With no space to tune out and recharge, every aspect of our lives is suffering: our health is deteriorating, our social networks (the face-to-face kind) are dissolving and our productivity is down. The notion of working less and living more has given way to the belief that you must be ''on'' 24/7.Tired of suffering from Sunday-night let down, award-winning journalist Katrina Onstad pushes back against this all-work-no-fun ethos. Onstad follows the trail of people, companies and countries vigilantly protecting their time oTrade ReviewToo often we race through the week, only to find our weekends packed with countless errands and never-ending to-do lists. Before we know it, we've lost sight of what really makes us happy. In The Weekend Effect, Katrina Onstad offers a powerful argument, and practical advice, on the importance of reclaiming your leisure time to live a happier and more fulfilling life -- Gretchen Rubin, New York Times bestselling author of Better than Before and The Happiness ProjectThe Weekend Effect is a call to action - or even better - a call to inaction. It proves its case that by staking a claim to your weekend, your work and home life (and your health and wellbeing) benefit every day of the year. Take the time to read it like I did, over a weekend. It's a great way to start -- Kirstine Stewart, media and technology executive and author of Our TurnMasterfully researched and beautifully written, The Weekend Effect urgently makes the case that our hard won free time is essential to our survival, and needs to be reclaimed. Pick up this book, and get ready to rekindle your love of the weekend! Your emails can wait until Monday -- David Sax, author of The Revenge of AnalogToo often work and technology erode our ability to connect meaningfully face-to-face, intruding into the critical time we need to recharge ourselves. In Katrina Onstad's insightful and compelling book, THE WEEKEND EFFECT, she offers an urgent call to arms on the essential need to take back our weekends -- Dallas Hartwig, NY Times bestselling co-author of It Starts With FoodIn our frenetic era of total work devotion and breathless busyness, the idea of making time for leisure has become almost a sacrilege. But Katrina Onstad makes a compelling case in her terrific new book, The Weekend Effect, that true leisure - time for reflection, connection, play and joy - knits together the social fabric of community, soothes the weary soul and, at heart, is what makes life worth living. A welcome romp of a read -- Brigid Schulte, award-winning journalist and author of the New York Times bestselling Overwhelmed and director of The Better Life Lab at New AmericaThe Weekend Effect is a fastidiously researched book detailing how we collectively lost the art of weekending well... Onstad provides plenty for the stressed and time-poor to mull over -- Tanya Sweeney * Irish Times *

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Book SynopsisEd Aarons is a sports journalist for The Guardian who has been an expert on African football for more than a decade. Born in Croydon, south London in 1981, he fell in love with it while watching a Roger Milla-inspired Cameroon lose to England in the quarter-final of the 1990 World Cup. He has built a reputation for being one of the best of the new generation of football journalists in the country, with particularly close links to African players in the Premier League.

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Book SynopsisOriginally published in 1978, this book was one of the first to recognize the importance of sports as a lens on the fundamental structure of societies. In this reissue, Guttmann emphasizes the many ways that modern sports, dramatically different from the sports of previous eras, have profoundly shaped contemporary life.Trade ReviewA pioneering work in a field remarkably little touched... For any future writer about the philosophy or the sociology of sport in general, this book will be required reading. -- Julian Symons Times Literary Supplement The chief advantage that Guttmann has over other sports theoreticians is a willingness to employ the techniques of modern rhetoric in creating some order out of the ideological confusion now swirling around his subject. He is a definer, a synthesizer, a causal analyst, as well as an arguer and a counter-arguer. Virginia Quarterly [Guttmann's] lucid, original, stimulating, blessedly jargon-free book does something to lighten our darkness. His pleasant, incisive style reflects a mind uncluttered by prejudice or ideology. -- Brian Glanville London Sunday TimesTable of ContentsPlay, Games, Contests, SportsFrom Ritual to RecordCapitalism, Protestantism, and Modern SportWhy Baseball Was Our National GameThe Fascination of FootballIndividualism ReconsideredConclusionAfterword. From Ritual to Record: A Retrospective Critique

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Book SynopsisVideogames are a unique artistic form, and to analyse and understand them an equally unique language is required. Cremin turns to Deleuze and Guattari's non-representational philosophy to develop a conceptual toolkit for thinking anew about videogames and our relationship to them. Rather than approach videogames through a language suited to other media forms, Cremin invites us to think in terms of a videogame plane and the compositions of developers and players who bring them to life. According to Cremin, we are not simply playing videogames, we are creating them. We exceed our own bodily limitations by assembling forces with the elements they are made up of. The book develops a critical methodology that can explain what every videogame, irrespective of genre or technology, has in common and proceeds on this basis to analyse their differences. Drawing from a wide range of examples spanning the history of the medium, Cremin discerns the qualities inherent to those regarded as classicTrade ReviewThis book makes the bold prophecy that the 21st century will be the century of videogames. It then offers a dynamic toolkit of concepts drawn from the work of Deleuze and Guattari to think in new ways about videogames. Importantly, Cremin debunks the idea that videogames are virtual, meaning confined to the depths of their digital origins. Instead he shows us that they consist of actual processes of becoming that reach out from the console into every corner of life. This is an exciting and necessary book. - Ian Buchanan, University of Wollongong, AustraliaTable of ContentsIntroduction 1. Videogame Plane 2. The Smooth and Striated 3. Rhizome-Play 4. Ludo-Diagram 5. Artist and Apprentice 6. Molecular Mario 7. Major / Minor

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Book Synopsis‘Fighting Scholars’ offers the first book-length overview of the ethnographic study of martial arts and combat sports. The book’s main claim is that such activities represent privileged grounds to access different social dimensions, such as emotion, violence, pain, gender, ethnicity and religion. In order to explore these dimensions, the concept of ‘habitus’ is presented prominently as an epistemic remedy for the academic distant gaze of the effaced academic body. The book’s most innovative features are its empirical focus and theoretical orientation. While ethnographic research is a widespread and popular approach within the social sciences, combat sports and martial arts have yet to be sufficiently interrogated from an ethnographic standpoint. The different contributions of this volume are aligned within the same project that began to crystallize in Loïc Wacquant’s ‘Body and Soul’: the construction of a ‘carnal sociology’ that constitutes an exploration of the social world ‘from’ the body.Table of ContentsContributors; Glossary; Chapter 1: Introduction: Carnal Ethnography as Path to Embodied Knowledge – Raúl Sánchez García and Dale C. Spencer; Chapter 2: Habitus as Topic and Tool: Reflections on Becoming a Prizefighter – Loïc Wacquant; Chapter 3: In Search of a Martial Habitus: Identifying Core Dispositions in Wing Chun and Taijiquan – David Brown and George Jennings; Chapter 4: Each More Agile Than the Other: Mental and Physical Enculturation in ‘Capoeira Regional’ – Sara Delamont and Neil Stephens; Chapter 5: ‘There Is No Try in Tae Kwon Do’: Reflexive Body Techniques in Action – Elizabeth Graham; Chapter 6: ‘It Is About Your Body Recognizing the Move and Automatically Doing It’: Merleau-Ponty, Habit and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu – Bryan Hogeveen; Chapter 7: ‘Do You Hit Girls?’: Some Striking Moments in the Career of a Male Martial Artist – Alex Channon; Chapter 8: The Teacher’s Blessing and the Withheld Hand: Two Vignettes of Somatic Learning in South India’s Indigenous Martial Art Kalarippayattu – Sara K. Schneider; Chapter 9: White Men Don’t Flow: Embodied Aesthetics of the Fifty-Two Hand Blocks – Thomas Green; Chapter 10: Japanese Religions and Kyudo (Japanese Archery): An Anthropological Perspective – Einat Bar-On Cohen; Chapter 11: Taming the Habitus: The Gym and the Dojo as ‘Civilizing Workshops’ – Raúl Sánchez García; Chapter 12: ‘Authenticity’, Muay Thai and Habitus – Dale C. Spencer; Chapter 13: Conclusion: Present and Future Lines of Research – Raúl Sánchez García and Dale C. Spencer; Epilogue: Homines in Extremis: What Fighting Scholars Teach Us about Habitus – Loïc Wacquant; References

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewRonojoy Sen has produced a fascinating, rich, and thoroughly engaging history of sport in India. He manages to paint at once with powerful, evocative, and very convincing broad strokes and with the finely gauged brush of an ethno-historian concerned as much with the intricacies and nuances of embodied experience as with quirky personalities and the odd politics of everyday life. All of this adds up to a book that fully captures the imagination to generate deep and often unexpected insight on the serious business of play in modern India. -- Joseph S. Alter, Yale-NUS College, author of The Wrestler's Body: Identity and Ideology in North India His ambitious book examines Indian sports in a largely chronological manner and does not duck the more awkward questions, such as the perceived athletic limitations of Indians. The narrative has an attractive sweep to it, starting with the place of sports and martial competition in Hindu epics such as the "Mahabharata" and the "Ramayana." Wall Street Journal Rich in detail and nuanced in terms of analysis... [Ronojoy Sen] is to be praised for adding to the understanding of sport in India by looking at how it intersects with culture and politics, and for using sport to provide insights about Indian history and society. Choice Sen is to be applauded for writing such an ambitious book, enriching our understanding of the history of sport in India. Journal of Sport HistoryTable of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction 1. Down the Ages: Sport in Ancient and Medieval India 2. Empire of Sport: The Early British Impact on Recreation 3. White Man's Burden: Teachers, Missionaries, and Administrators 4. Players and Patrons: Indian Princes and Sports 5. The Empire Strikes Back: The 1911 IFA Shield and Football in Calcutta 6. Politics on the Maidan: Sport, Communalism, and Nationalism 7. The Early Olympics: India's Hockey Triumphs 8. Lords of the Ring: Tales of Wrestlers and Boxers 9. Freedom Games: The First Two Decades of Independence 10. Domestic Sports: State, Club, Office, and Regiment (1947-1970) 11. 1971 and After: The Religion Called Cricket 12. Life Beyond Cricket Notes Index

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Book SynopsisAt the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, Great Britain ranked thirty-sixth in the medals table, finishing below countries like Algeria, Belgium and Kazakhstan. It was their worst ever record, a dismal performance labelled a national disgrace.But then something happened. In Sydney in 2000 and then Athens in 2004, Team GB achieved a much more respectable tenth place. BY 2008, in Beijing, they finished fourth with forty-seven medals. How had they so convincingly reversed their fortunes?In Game Changers we meet the incredible coaches who rethink how sport is played, how it is performed, how people train and how people coach. In Liverpool in the late 1980s, a motley group - a mathematician, a physiologist, a psychologist and a former Olympic basketball player - began to pioneer ways of tracking performance. Over the decades that followed, performance analysis came of age. Incredible technological leaps have led to devices such as the OptimEye S5, developed by two Australian m

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Book Synopsis[An] electrifying debutThrough in-depth and compassionate reporting, Barnes breaks down the misunderstood science surrounding sex and gender that has been used to keep cisgender women out of sports and has fueled debate over trans athletes participation in women's sports.Shannon Carlin, TIMEmagazine, 100 Must-Read Books of 2023For decades women have been playing competitive sports, thanks in large part to the protective cover of Title IX. Since the passage of that law, the number of women participating in sports and the level of competition in high school and college and professionally, has risen dramatically. In Fair Play, award-winning journalist Katie Barnes traces the evolution of women's sports as a pastime and a political arena where equality and fairness have been fought over for generations. As attitudes toward gender have shifted to embrace more fluidity in recent decades, sex continues to be viewed as a static binary that is easily

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Book SynopsisA must-have introductory text of unrivalled coverage and depth focusing on events planning and management, the fourth edition of Events Management provides a complete A to Z of the principles and practices of planning, managing and staging events. The book offers a systematic guide to organising successful events, examining areas such as event design, logistics, marketing, human resource management, financial planning, risk management, impacts, evaluation and reporting. The fourth edition has been fully updated and revised to include content covering technology, including virtual and hybrid events, concepts such as social capital, soft power and events, social inclusion, equality, accessibility and diversity, and the latest industry reports, research and legal frameworks. The book is logically structured and features new case studies, showing real-life applications and highlighting issues with planning events of all types and scales in a range of geographical locatioTable of ContentsSection 1: Event Context 1. An Overview of the Event Field 2. Perspectives on Events 3. The Event Planning Context 4. Event Tourism Planning 5. Sustainable Event Management Section 2: Planning 6. Strategic Event Planning 7. Conceptualising the Event 8. Event Project Management 9. Event Financial Planning 10. Human Resource Management and Events 11. Marketing Planning for Events 12. Promotion: Integrated Marketing Communication for Events 13. Sponsorship of Events Section 3: Event Operations and Evaluation 14. Event Design and Production 15. Event Logistics 16. Legal Considerations in Event Planning and Management 17. Risk Management 18. Evaluation and Research

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Book SynopsisIntroduction to Recreation and Leisure, Fourth Edition With HKPropel Access, presents a comprehensive view of the multifaceted, expansive field of recreation and leisure. This full-color text grounds students in the historical, philosophical, and social aspects of the industry. Community parks and recreation departments, nonprofit organizations, and commercial recreation and ecotourism enterprises are thoroughly explored. Students learn about various enriching educational programs and services for people of all ages. The contributing authors are more than 40 professors and professionals from across the globe—including the United States, Canada, Europe, Brazil, China, and Nigeria—who offer international perspectives on the recreation and leisure industries. The text illustrates the wide breadth of opportunities within this diverse profession and explores current issues in the world that have an impact on the field. The fourth edition offers the following new features: Related online learning materials delivered through HKPropel that offer opportunities to engage with and better understand the content Content that reflects the global impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and how it has changed recreation and leisure experiences Updated content on environmental sustainability, health and wellness, social equity, and quality of life An expanded look at esports The book is organized into three parts. Part I provides the foundation of the industry, including an introduction, history, and philosophical concepts. Part II introduces various sectors and areas of the field. Part III presents the different types of programming found in recreation and leisure services. These interest areas include sport management; esports; health, wellness, and quality of life; outdoor and adventure recreation; and culture and the arts. Each chapter includes learning objectives that display the chapter’s important concepts. Also included in each chapter is an Outstanding Graduates sidebar that highlights a former student who has gone on to a successful career in the field, sharing insights and advice for those just starting out. A glossary is provided at the end of the text. Related online learning materials within HKPropel include chapter overviews, flash cards, On the Job learning activities, research prompts, and links to websites to explore. Chapter quizzes, which are automatically graded, may also be assigned to test comprehension of critical concepts.Introduction to Recreation and Leisure prepares students for success in the field. With insights and perspectives from top professionals and professors from around the globe, the text presents foundational concepts, delivery systems, and programming services that can spur future professionals to make a positive impact on society through recreation and leisure. Note: A code for accessing HKPropel is included with this ebook.Table of ContentsPart I. Foundations of Recreation and LeisureChapter 1. Parks, Recreation, and Leisure: A Notable History and Promising FutureEllen O’Sullivan Welcome to the World of Parks, Recreation, and Leisure Adapted Evolution: From Public Good to Personal Consumption And Then, Along Came COVID-19 Welcome to the Postpandemic Era: Essential, Blended, and Economic Significant Issues of the Postpandemic Era Less Visible Conditions With Serious Consequences Emerging Professional Roles for the Postpandemic Era The Vitality and Vibrancy of the Future of Parks, Recreation, and LeisureChapter 2. History of RecreationTristan Hopper, Jill Sturts, Douglas Kennedy, and Jerome F. Singleton Tracing the Roots of Leisure Development of Recreation in the United States Development of Recreation in Canada Current Trends Affecting Recreation and Leisure Similarities Between Canada and the United States SummaryChapter 3. Philosophy and LeisureDonald J. McLean and Mary Sara Wells Why Does Philosophy Matter? Metaphysics and Leisure Epistemology and Leisure Logic and Leisure Aesthetics and Leisure Ethics and Leisure Contemporary Philosophy of Leisure Solving Ethical Dilemmas in Leisure Services SummaryChapter 4. Leisure and Recreation for Individuals in SocietyJuan Tortosa Martínez, Daniel G. Yoder, and Mary Sara Wells Leisure as a Complex Social Phenomenon Similarity and Diversity in Recreation and Leisure Gender and Sexual Orientation Ethnicity and Race Religion Socioeconomic Status Benefits and Constraints of Leisure Good and Bad Leisure and Recreation Implications for Professionals SummaryPart II. Leisure and Recreation as a Multifaceted Delivery SystemChapter 5. Leisure Service Delivery SystemsDavid N. Emanuelson and Mary Sara Wells Private Sector Private-Sector Leisure Service Delivery Systems Nonprofit Sector Nonprofit-Sector Leisure Service Delivery Systems Public Sector Municipal Public-Sector Leisure Service Delivery Systems Professional Preparation for Leisure Service Delivery Professional Accreditation SummaryChapter 6. Parks and Protected Areas in Canada and the United StatesPaul F.J. Eagles and Jeffrey C. Hallo History of Parks in Canada Park Systems of Canada History of Parks in the United States Park Systems of the United States International Treaties and Protected Area Designations and Parks Comparing Canada and the United States Career Opportunities Challenges and Trends for the 21st Century SummaryChapter 7. Public Recreation Public Parks and Recreation in the United States and CanadaMary Sara Wells Historical Overview of Public Recreation in the United States Historical Overview of Public Recreation in Canada Delivery Systems in Public Recreation Partnerships: Connections to the Community Faces of Public Recreation Chameleon Profession: Ever-Changing Societal Issues and Needs Political Realities: No Pain, No Gain Benefits of Recreation Summary Inclusive RecreationTerry Long Building Blocks of Inclusion Defining Inclusion Specialized Programs SummaryChapter 8. Nonprofit SectorRobert F. Ashcraft Nonprofit Sector in the United States and Canada Types of National and Community-Based Nonprofit Recreation Organizations Professionals in Nonprofit Organizations Challenges and Opportunities for the Future SummaryChapter 9. For-Profit Sector: Recreation, Event, and Tourism EnterprisesRobert E. Pfister and Patrick T. Tierney Attributes of For-Profit Services RET Industry Model Considering an RET Career Trends and Challenges SummaryChapter 10. Therapeutic RecreationFrances Stavola Daly and Robin Kunstler Defining Therapeutic Recreation History of Therapeutic Recreation Therapeutic Recreation Settings and Services Therapeutic Recreation Practice Models Therapeutic Recreation Process Professionalism Your Future in Therapeutic Recreation Trends for the 21st Century SummaryChapter 11. Unique Groups Campus RecreationNicole Green History of Campus Recreation Organizational Structures Benefits Career Opportunities Trends in Campus Recreation Summary EsportsAugustus W. Hallmon History Esports in Parks and Recreation Are Eports Really Sports? Future of Esports Summary Faith-Based RecreationJohn Byl and David Kahan Differences Within Faith Traditions Differences Among Faith Traditions Judaism, Christianity, and Islam and the National Recreation and Park Association Pillars Employment in Faith-Based Recreation Summary Worksite Recreation and Health PromotionMary Parr Corporate Wellness and Health Promotion History of Worksite Wellness Community Health, Population Health, and Individual Health Benefits of Corporate Wellness and Health Promotion Programs Wellness and Health Promotion Program Planning and Operation Wellness and Health Promotion: Other Program Types Impacts of Recent Legislation Career Preparation Summary Recreation in the Armed ForcesYating “Tina” Liang History Military Versus Civilian Recreation U.S. Armed Forces Canadian Armed Forces Military Recreation Program Areas Employment Opportunities COVID-19’s Impact on MWR SummaryChapter 12. Leisure and Recreation Across the Life SpanMary Sara Wells and Tyler Tapps Leisure Functions Across the Life Span Infancy Childhood Adolescence Adulthood Generation Effect SummaryPart III. Delivering Recreation and Leisure ServicesChapter 13. Program Delivery SystemDiane C. Blankenship and Rachel Kollasch Program Delivery History Mission and Outcomes Leadership Within the Program Delivery System Program Classification Program Formats SummaryChapter 14. Recreational Sport ManagementH. Joey Gray, Robert J. Barcelona, and Kelsie N. Roberts Examining Sport Management From a Recreational Perspective Defining Recreational Sport Five Programming Areas of Recreational Sport Management Scope of Participation in Recreational Sport Trends in Recreational Sport Management International Participation in Recreational Sport Career Opportunities SummaryChapter 15. Health, Wellness, and Quality of LifeRhonda Cross Beemer, Matthew Symonds, and Terrance Robertson Personal Health The Wellness Perspective Quality of Life, Health, and Healthy Communities History in the Making: Healthy Communities Career Opportunities SummaryChapter 16. Outdoor and Adventure RecreationBruce Martin, Garrett Hutson, and Marni Goldenberg Definition of Outdoor and Adventure Recreation History of Outdoor and Adventure Recreation in Canada and the United States Settings and Delivery Systems Contemporary Trends and Issues in Outdoor and Adventure Recreation SummaryChapter 17. Arts and CultureJulie Voelker-Morris and Kim Lyddane Types of Arts and Cultural Experiences in Recreation and Leisure Types of Organizations and Roles Available Participation in Arts and Cultural Activities Benefits of Arts and Cultural Recreation Opportunities Contemporary Trends for Recreation Professionals Who Implement Arts and Cultural Activities SummaryChapter 18. The Nature and Future of Recreation and Leisure as a ProfessionTracy L. Mainieri Characteristics of the Recreation and Leisure Services Profession Recreation and Leisure Services as a Human Services Profession How to Position for a Recreation and Leisure Career . . . Now! Changes in the Field: Responding to an Ever-Changing World SummaryChapter 19. International Perspectives on Recreation and Leisure International Perspectives: Sustainability and EcotourismKevin J. Fink and Michael J. Bradley Sustainability Worldwide Impact of COVID-19 on Recreation, Tourism, and Leisure International Job Market in Recreation and Tourism International Overview International Organizations Ecotourism and Nature Travel Recreation, Tourism, and Leisure Development and Advocacy Physical Activity, Green-Space Use, and COVID-19 Summary Recreation and Leisure in BrazilArianne C. Reis and Alcyane Marinho Historical Development of Recreation and Leisure in Brazil Types of Sectors, Segments, and Services COVID-19 Impacts and Trends Summary Recreation and Leisure in ChinaJinyang Deng, Huimei Liu, and Jian Li A Brief History of China’s Leisure Development Recreation Opportunities in China Challenges and Trends for the Future Summary Recreation in NigeriaFranz U. Atare Historical Development of Recreation and Leisure in Nigeria Settings, Organization, and Structures Diverse Populations and Their Interests Challenges, Issues, and Trends COVID-19 and Leisure Activity Summary

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Book SynopsisThrough the prism of sports and from a range of scholarly perspectives, this anthology offers insight into the varied and shifting experiences of African athletes, fans, communities, and postcolonial states.Trade Review“An extraordinary volume…. Not only is the writing empirically driven, but, more importantly, the theoretic content is grounded in prose that is fresh, vibrant, and something not always associated with what is a university textbook, fascinating. Cleveland, Kaur, and Akindes are to be congratulated for putting together a team that explores complex identities and the dynamic nature of African sport…. Hats off to the Ohio University Press for not only supporting the venture but publishing a book that looks like, and reads like, a classic.” * Journal of Sport History *“A long-overdue project by scholars committed to building African sports studies as a humanities subject. It presents close studies of sports like cycling, surfing, track and field, ultra-marathoning, and weightlifting, which are often neglected in favor of bigger and more popular sports such as soccer, rugby, and cricket. Scholars of social history, nationalism, popular culture, social anthropology, media, and cultural studies will appreciate this book.”“The Sport in Africa collective, active since 2004, has helped kick-start a movement. Here it adds seventeen more topics to the growing corpus of works on African sports history—from surfers in Transkei and women in Nigeria to Kenyan athletes and the football migrations to Europe (happening alongside desperate refugee journeys in the Mediterranean)—showing what a rich field of study sport is becoming.”“Sports in Africa heralds the arrival in sports studies of an empirically rich, theoretically informed, methodologically rigorous, and incisive African-focused genre. The volume demonstrates the centrality and complexity of sport in the daily rhythms and social fabric of life on the continent, across time, and in the formal and informal economies. It challenges longstanding racial, ethnic and cultural stereotypes pertaining to Africans, and dispenses with any notion of fixed and prescribed social and cultural identities.”“This collection of essays opens up the debate on the influences of social history, subaltern studies, and postmodernism in stimulating new research and pedagogical approaches to sport studies in Africa. It offers exemplary studies of mainstream sports (athletics, cricket, football, and rugby) and those on the margins (cycling, surfing, and wrestling) and reflects on the contributions and trajectories of those sporting pasts and their present impacts and meanings across the African continent. A go-to volume for those seeking a solid introduction to the politics, poetics and practices of the fascinating life-worlds of sports in Africa.”

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Book SynopsisEx-England cricket captain Mike Brearley examines the 'Spirit of Cricket' and how the notion of a 'good spirit' can be applied more broadly than simply in cricket or sport.Trade Review[Brearley is] a thoughtful, engaging and eclectic thinker . . . There is something intrinsically fair-minded about Mike Brearley, open to exploring ideas wherever they come from, seeking out common ground, but at the same time anxious to avoid giving offence by reaching too-easy conclusions. That is the process that is at play in the pages of Spirit of Cricket.This is no ordinary sporting hero's memoir, though it does include plenty of stories from his glory days -- Peter Stanford * The Tablet *Mike Brearley is a thoughtful and meticulous author. He regularly displayed similar traits when captaining England (he did so on 31 occasions, losing only four Tests) and he applies them again in Spirit of Cricket, a book he was born towrite. Brearley is an intelligent guide, well-qualified to lead readers through cricket's occasionally byzantine moral maze * Birmingham Post *One of my favourites of 2020 . . . a generous book -- Jon Hotten * Wisden Cricket Monthly *Time after time, Brearley takes familiar cricketing dilemmas - balltampering, Mankading, sledging, etc. - and with elegant prose and courteous intelligence sheds fresh light on them, including areas on which he has changed his mind over time.This delightful book would make a great gift for any cricket-lover who also has a brain, or even a soul. * Church Times *

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Book SynopsisTrade Review“Babb takes us to a place most of us would never go, telling us a story we’d never know. This book is so important.” — PETER KING, NBC Sports "A penetrating, wide-screen story of what it means to mentor under the toughest of circumstances." — Kirkus Reviews (starred review) “This spectacular book carefully fuses voice and tone to transport the reader into a world few can imagine and transforms the tales of disparate individuals into a narrative that is both touching and tragic.” — DeMAURICE SMITH, executive director, NFL Players Association “ Masterful . . . an equal parts heartbreaking and life-affirming look at a city, a school, and a football team whose players and coaches spend as much time fighting for survival as they do grid triumph.” — JEFF PEARLMAN, New York Times bestselling author of Three-Ring Circus "This is the story the country needs to read--raw, expertly told, stripped of political agendas and preconceived notions. This is not a story about football, but about what football can mean." — MICHAEL ROSENBERG, senior writer, Sports Illustrated "A moving and evocative portrait of football and life" — Publishers Weekly "I've always thought the best books are those that combine great reporting and great writing. That's exactly what Kent Babb's Across The River does. It combines deeply detailed inside reporting with a wonderfully told story." — JONATHAN FEINSTEIN, New York Times Bestselling author of A Good Walk Spoiled “At the Karr High School introduced to us by Kent Babb there is the expression, ‘Give Em The Real.' This book is ‘the real.' It’s as real as birth and death and all the heartache in between. Through Babb’s eyes, the story of Karr football is so much more than a sports book. This is the other America that too many people don’t know - or care to know – exists.” — DAVE ZIRIN, sports editor, The Nation "a literary masterpiece. Lyrically written and deeply reported, Across the River reads like a gripping, can’t-put-it-down novel.” — LARS ANDERSON, New York Times bestselling author of The Mannings and Chasing the Bear “This is an essential American read and an intimate look into the soul of New Orleans.” — WRIGHT THOMPSON, ESPN senior writer and author of Pappyland “There is no better storyteller in the country than Kent Babb. Period. I’ve never learned more about the fabric of one of America’s greatest cities than I did in this book.” — IAN RAPOPORT, NFL Network Insider “In Across the River Kent Babb keeps it real as he deftly and eloquently negotiates the sidewalks, the sidelines, and the streets of New Orleans.” — GLENN STOUT, editor, The Year’s Best Sports Writing

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Book SynopsisProviding an account of developments in the sociology of international tourism, this book analyses the relationships between international tourism and the economic determinants of world system. It also aims to understand "leisure migration" in 2 contexts: the socio-economic hierarchies of society, and the legacy of east-west political alliances.Trade ReviewDavid Leslie, Glasgow Caledonian University, UK ...a worthy and welcome addition to the serious student of tourism and a contribution to the understanding of socio-economic dimensions of society and development. International Journal of Tourism ResearchTable of ContentsLeisure migration. Travel-capitalism: the structure of Europe and the advent of the tourist. Comparative tourism-growth: Austria and Hungary, 1870-1988. Reconstruction and transformation from without: Austria's and Hungary's external linkages after World War II. Effects of large structures on flows of foreign tourists: Austria and Hungary as destinations, 1960-1984. Monies, policies and representations: the splitting of international leisure migration in Hungary. Informality and tourism receipts in comparative perspective. The Hungarian 'shopping spree' in Vienna: the underside of Austro-Hungarian tourism. Capitalism, state socialism, and leisure migration.

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Book SynopsisThe idea of the sword-wielding samurai, beholden to a strict ethical code and trained in deadly martial arts, dominates popular conceptions of the samurai. As early as the late seventeenth century, they were heavily featured in literature, art, theater, and even comedy, from the Tale of the Heike to the kabuki retellings of the 47 Ronin. This legacy remains with us today in the legendary Akira Kurosawa films, the shoguns of HBO''s Westworld, and countless renditions of samurai history in anime, manga, and video games. Acknowledging these common depictions, this book gives readers access to the real samurai as they lived, fought, and served.Much as they capture the modern imagination, the samurai commanded influence over the politics, arts, philosophy and religion of their own time, and ultimately controlled Japan from the fourteenth century until their demise in the mid-nineteenth century. On and off the battlefield, whether charging an enemy on horseback or currying favor at the imperial court, their story is one of adventures and intrigues, heroics and misdeeds, unlikely victories and devastating defeats. This book traces the samurai throughout this history, exploring their roles in watershed events such as Japan''s invasions of Korea at the close of the sixteenth century and the Satsuma Rebellion of 1877. Coming alive in these accounts are the samurai, both famed and ordinary, who shaped Japanese history.Table of ContentsIntroduction Chapter One: Becoming Those Who Served Chapter Two: Early Warrior Authority Chapter Three: War and Culture Chapter Four: Warriors in an Age of Peace Chapter Five: Samurai Invention and Decline References Further Reading Index

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Book SynopsisDesert Island Discs has run on BBC radio since 1942 and its archive is now accessible. This book is the first to assess the programme from a scholarly perspective. Chapters by musicologists, sociologists, and media scholars are complemented by personal spins by 'castaways', who reflect on talking publicly about the role of music in their lives.

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Book SynopsisNige Tassell writes about sport and music, and his work has appeared in the pages of FourFourTwo, the Guardian, The Sunday Times, Esquire, New Statesman, Q and The Word. He is also the author of The Bottom Corner: Hope, Glory and Non-League Football. He lives in the hill country of Somerset with his wife and two prospective future non-league players.Trade ReviewWarm and celebratory but also sharp and insightful, The Bottom Corner is a love letter to non-league football that is also a vivid snapshot of its place in our national life -- Stuart MaconieNot since The Football Man has a book so captured the passion of the game. The Bottom Corner is a wonderful journey through life in the lower reaches of the football pyramid. A fascinating tale of a very different world of football from that of the overpaid stars of the television age. -- Barry DaviesExtraordinary -- Danny BakerExcellent -- Andrew Collins (Classic FM, UKTV, Radio Times)An entertaining exploration of the quirks, commitment and romance of football away from the pumped-up bluster of the top flight. -- Ed Wilson * When Saturday Comes *

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Book SynopsisFrom EverQuest to World of Warcraft, online games have evolved from the exclusive domain of computer geeks into an extraordinarily lucrative staple of the entertainment industry. People of all ages and from all walks of life now spend thousands of hoursand dollarspartaking in this popular new brand of escapism. But the line between fantasy and reality is starting to blur. Players have created virtual societies with governments and economies of their own whose currencies now trade against the dollar on eBay at rates higher than the yen. And the players who inhabit these synthetic worlds are starting to spend more time online than at their day jobs. In Synthetic Worlds, Edward Castronova offers the first comprehensive look at the online game industry, exploring its implications for business and culture alike. He starts with the players, giving us a revealing look into the everyday lives of the gamersoutlining what they do in their synthetic worlds and why. He then describes the economies inside these worlds to show how they might dramatically affect real world financial systems, from potential disruptions of markets to new business horizons. Ultimately, he explores the long-term social consequences of online games: If players can inhabit worlds that are more alluring and gratifying than reality, then how can the real world ever compete? Will a day ever come when we spend more time in these synthetic worlds than in our own? Or even more startling, will a day ever come when such questions no longer sound alarmist but instead seem obsolete? With more thanten million active players worldwideand with Microsoft and Sony pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into video game developmentonline games have become too big to ignore. Synthetic Worlds spearheads our efforts to come to terms with this virtual reality and its concrete effects. Illuminating. . . . Castronova's analysis of the economics of fun is intriguing.Virtual-world economies are designed to make the resulting game interesting and enjoyable for their inhabitants. Many games follow a rags-to-riches storyline, for example. But how can all the players end up in the top 10%? Simple: the upwardly mobile human players need only be a subset of the world's population. An underclass of computer-controlled 'bot'citizens, meanwhile, stays poor forever. Mr. Castronovaexplains all this with clarity, wit, and a merciful lack of academic jargon.The EconomistSynthetic Worlds is a surprisingly profound book about the social, political, and economic issues arising from the emergence of vast multiplayer games on the Internet. What Castronova has realized is that these games, where players contribute considerable labor in exchange for things they value, are not merely like real economies, they are real economies, displaying inflation, fraud, Chinese sweatshops, and some surprising in-game innovations.Tim Harford, Chronicle of Higher Education

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Book SynopsisA chess match seems as solitary an endeavor as there is in sports: two minds, on their own, in fierce opposition. In contrast, Gary Alan Fine argues that chess is a social duet: two players in silent dialogue who always take each other into account in their play. Surrounding that one-on-one contest is a community life that can be nearly as dramatic and intense as the across-the-board confrontation. Fine has spent years immersed in the communities of amateur and professional chess players, and with Players and Pawns he takes readers deep inside them, revealing a complex, brilliant, feisty world of commitment and conflict. Opening with a close look at a typical tournament in Atlantic City, Fine carries us from planning and setup through the climactic final day's match-ups between the weekend's top players, introducing us along the way to countless players and their relationships to the game. At tournaments like that one, as well as in locales as diverse as collegiate matches and communit

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Book SynopsisMidnight basketball may not have been invented in Chicago, but the City of Big Shoulders home of Michael Jordan and the Bulls is where it first came to national prominence. And it's also where Douglas Hartmann first began to think seriously about the audacious notion that organizing young men to run around in the wee hours of the night all trying to throw a leather ball through a metal hoop could constitute meaningful social policy. Organized in the 1980s and '90s by dozens of American cities, late-night basketball leagues were designed for social intervention, risk reduction, and crime prevention targeted at African American youth and young men. In Midnight Basketball, Hartmann traces the history of the program and the policy transformations of the period, while exploring the racial ideologies, cultural tensions, and institutional realities that shaped the entire field of sports-based social policy. Drawing on extensive fieldwork, the book also brings to life the actual, on-the-ground

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Book SynopsisMidnight basketball may not have been invented in Chicago, but the City of Big Shoulders home of Michael Jordan and the Bulls is where it first came to national prominence. And it's also where Douglas Hartmann first began to think seriously about the audacious notion that organizing young men to run around in the wee hours of the night all trying to throw a leather ball through a metal hoop could constitute meaningful social policy. Organized in the 1980s and '90s by dozens of American cities, late-night basketball leagues were designed for social intervention, risk reduction, and crime prevention targeted at African American youth and young men. In Midnight Basketball, Hartmann traces the history of the program and the policy transformations of the period, while exploring the racial ideologies, cultural tensions, and institutional realities that shaped the entire field of sports-based social policy. Drawing on extensive fieldwork, the book also brings to life the actual, on-the-ground

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Book SynopsisIn Argentina, tango isn't just the national music it's a national brand. But ask any contemporary Argentine if they ever really listen to it and chances are the answer is no: tango hasn't been popular for more than fifty years. In this book, Morgan James Luker explores that odd paradox by tracing the many ways Argentina draws upon tango as a resource for a wide array of economic, social, and cultural that is to say, non-musical projects. In doing so, he illuminates new facets of all musical culture in an age of expediency when the value and meaning of the arts is less about the arts themselves and more about how they can be used. Luker traces the diverse and often contradictory ways tango is used in Argentina in activities ranging from state cultural policy-making to its export abroad as a cultural emblem, from the expanding nonprofit arts sector to tango-themed urban renewal projects. He shows how projects such as these are not peripheral to an otherwise real tango they are the absolu

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Book SynopsisIn Argentina, tango isn't just the national music it's a national brand. But ask any contemporary Argentine if they ever really listen to it and chances are the answer is no: tango hasn't been popular for more than fifty years. In this book, Morgan James Luker explores that odd paradox by tracing the many ways Argentina draws upon tango as a resource for a wide array of economic, social, and cultural that is to say, non-musical projects. In doing so, he illuminates new facets of all musical culture in an age of expediency when the value and meaning of the arts is less about the arts themselves and more about how they can be used. Luker traces the diverse and often contradictory ways tango is used in Argentina in activities ranging from state cultural policy-making to its export abroad as a cultural emblem, from the expanding nonprofit arts sector to tango-themed urban renewal projects. He shows how projects such as these are not peripheral to an otherwise real tango they are the absolu

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Book SynopsisFor centuries the pleasures of France have been legendary, casting a magic spell on innumerable travellers. This text explains why so many Americans have visited France and tells in detail what they did when they got there.

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Book SynopsisExploring the links between class identity and vacationing, the text looks at the popularity of France's health resorts in the 19th century. It shows how spas were promoted as an ordered equivalent to the busy lives of the bourgeoisie, and this premier vacation made and was made by the bourgeoisie.Table of ContentsList of Illustrations Acknowledgments Introduction 1: Baths and Curing in the Old Regime 2: Producing Leisure: Economics, Class Formation, and the Sejour for Sale 3: Respectability Emplaced 4: Medicine and the Rhythming of Bourgeois Rest 5: Social Benefits of Spa Consumption Epilogue Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisExploring the links between class identity and vacationing, the text looks at the popularity of France's health resorts in the 19th century. It shows how spas were promoted as an ordered equivalent to the busy lives of the bourgeoisie, and this premier vacation made and was made by the bourgeoisie.

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"For a book like this to come forth at this particular juncture, with its focus on community sport and the experiences of primarily queer and trans women, is not only necessary but imperative." William Bridel, University of Calgary

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Book SynopsisUnacknowledged truths about the history and persistence of Settler colonialism in Canada haunt the commercial features of this country’s sporting events. Red Mitten Nationalism investigates contemporary Canadian patriotism by exploring how understandings of Canadian identity are shaped at the intersection of sport, nationalism, and commercialism.Trade Review“Fresco engages with the timely and important issues of colonization, reconciliation, and Indigenous resistance through the lens of sport. Thoughtful, insightful, and benefitting greatly from the author's own considerable primary research, Red Mitten Nationalism makes a unique contribution to our understanding of the connections between the Olympic Games, nationalism, and commercialism.” Richard Gruneau, Simon Fraser University and author of Sport and Modernity

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Book SynopsisA former streetball player who became an all-star Ivy Leaguer brings the sights and sounds, hopes and dreams of street basketball to life. Through interviews with and observations of urban basketball players, he composes a rare portrait of a passionate, committed, and resilient group of athletes and the transcendent experience of the game.Trade ReviewThis timely and groundbreaking book is about basketball as lived religion in some of America's most dangerous neighborhoods. But more centrally it is about grief expressed and hope conjured as seen through the lens of a stellar young scholar who has been there and through the eyes of young black men who, though weighed down by the forces of death, somehow rise above the asphalt. -- Stephen Prothero, author of Why Liberals Win the Culture Wars (Even When They Lose Elections)In this season where black male bodies are under attack, Black Gods of the Asphalt offers a profound narrative of survival, self-determination, and the urban swag of Boston's inner-city basketball courts as sites where religion is 'lived' and spiritual transformation occurs on a regular basis. Woodbine brilliantly posits that the 'ritual space of the asphalt' is where memory, hope, and healing converge to fight the systemic oppressive forces beyond the rim. This book is a slam dunk! -- Emmett G. Price III, editor of The Black Church and Hip Hop Culture: Toward Bridging the Generational DivideThe stories in Black Gods of the Asphalt are rich and powerful and are woven together skillfully and beautifully. Onaje X. 0. Woodbine switches between his roles as participant and observer, by turns narrating and analyzing with great dexterity. -- Rebecca Alpert, author of Religion and SportsThis narrative is more than academic prose; it is a deeply personal and poetic travel through the author's own story of racial struggle and the survival tactics of the players he befriends.... In this majestic study of basketball as ritual, religion, and culture, Woodbine plunges into the courts of Boston with an insider's savvy to catalogue the urban sport's pulsating (and potentially transcendent) dialogue. * Publishers Weekly (starred review) *Woodbine's got game, on the court and on the page, and here he dunks emphatically. From the time we meet Shorty, a street-basketball legend, through a brief history of the game and its link (religion playing a large role) to young African American culture, we learn of basketball, and the many lives it memorializes, as we have in few other books. * Booklist *In this painful, beautiful nonfiction debut, scholar Onaje X. O. Woodbine uses a seamless mix of memoir, ethnography, and poetry to chronicle Boston's street basketball players seeking physical and spiritual grace through hoops. * Boston Magazine *In Black Gods of the Asphalt, the worlds of religion and hoops come together.... Woodbine shares how the courts can be a place of healing, of ritual, of community, and even transcendence. -- Christie Storm * Arkansas Democrat Gazette *Black Gods of the Asphalt is likely to change your entire perspective of urban basketball. -- David Crumm * Read The Spirit *For the young men in Woodbine's book, street basketball disconnects players from daily life in a way that gives them joy.... But, at the same time, inner city life literally enshrouds their game, and this tragedy is what Black Gods brings to life in vividly realized accounts of young men and the street ball tournaments they play. -- David Lipset * Eephus *A powerful and deeply moving work, Black Gods of the Asphalt reveals a world of redemption and hope rarely glimpsed from the outside. -- Diana L. Hayes * National Catholic Reporter *A thoughtful, passionate, and personal exploration. * The Boston Globe (Best Books of 2016) *A uniquely engaging and rewarding read for sociologists. -- Douglas Hartmann * Contemporary Sociology: A Journal of Reviews *Table of ContentsList of Illustrations"Enter the Chamber"AcknowledgmentsIntroductionPart I: Memory1. "Last Ones Left" in the Game: From Black Resistance to Urban Exile2. Boston's Memorial GamesPart II: Hope3. Jason, Hoops, and Grandma's Hands4. C.J., Hoops, and the Quest for a Second LifePart III: Healing5. Ancestor Work in Street Basketball6. The Dunk and the Signifying MonkeyEpilogueNotesBibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisHow has the way we spend our time changed over the last fifty years?Are we really working more, sleeping less and addicted to our phones?What does this mean for our health, wealth and happiness?Everything we do happens in time and it feels like our lives are busier than ever before. Yet a detailed look at our daily activities reveals some surprising truths about the social and economic structure of the world we live in. This book delves into the unrivalled data collection and expertise of the Centre for Time Use Research to explore fifty-five years of change and what it means for us today.Trade ReviewSurprising truths about modern life . . . a fascinating analysis * The Guardian *This book is brilliant at busting myths about how we spend our time . . . its insight into what we do is illuminating . . . it's impossible not to see your life - and those of your parents and children - reflected in the data . . . And that makes reading it an excellent use of time. * Literary Review *Fascinating data, revealing much about our lives in the 21st century * iNews *

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Book Synopsis''I love Tifo'' Ian Wright ''Tifo are great'' Alan Shearer''Tifo have changed the game when it comes to football analysis'' Elis JamesRULE #1: DON''T WATCH THE BALLYes, football is about stars, goals and glory. But it''s also about the intense calculations and movements being made by the twenty-one other players on the pitch. It''s about the ticking clock, and the bellowing fans, and their impact on player psychology. It''s about the coach, the club owner, and the director of football, who are watching, scouting and scheming from the side-lines. It''s about money and data, about geopolitics and architecture, and even about climate change.Football is the most popular sport in the world, and Tifo Football is one of the world''s most popular football channels. In this short, illustrated guide, its creators share fifty-two simple ''rules'' for understanding and enjoying the beautiful game-both on and off the pitch.CTrade ReviewThis pocket-size guide is a must-have for anyone who wants to deepen their knowledge of the game -- Goal.com - 'The Best Football Books to Read Right Now'I love Tifo. Their range is brilliant and the way they are able to simplify complex topics is great -- Ian WrightTifo are great. They cover everything from the basics on the pitch to the biggest questions facing football today -- Alan ShearerTifo have changed the game when it comes to discussing football. They have helped explain a sport I have been fascinated by for over thirty years and answered questions I have had for almost as long. They have set a new benchmark for football analysis -- Elis JamesBetter than any pundit * RedCafe.net *

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Book SynopsisExamines how various American communities create and maintain a sense of collective identity through sports.Trade ReviewCo-winner, North American Society for Sport History Book Award, Anthology, 2014. "This collection points to some of the ways to rewrite sport's meanings and shows how and why doing so matters, academically, emotionally, and as part of the politics of the everyday beyond the commodified, commercialized and financial worlds of late capitalist sport-as-culture-industry."--Sport in History "This fine anthology shows the confluence of sport, identity, and community in a variety of settings. Outstanding essays by skilled writers."--Ronald A. Smith, author of Pay for Play: A History of Big-Time College Athletic Reform"These accessible, illustrative essays—written by scholars of sport studies, American studies, and history—are stories about teams and times, voice and victories, pride and privilege. In sum, the book emphasizes the functional aspects of sports—the fact that through sports people feel connected to one another. Recommended."--Choice"The book offers unexpected insight into how sports communities are used to shore up a mythologized American past."--Journal of Sport HistoryTable of ContentsContributors: Amy Bass, Susan Cahn, Mark Dyreson, Michael Ezra, Elliott J. Gorn, Christopher Lamberti, Allison Lauterbach, Catherine M. Lewis, Shelley Lucas, Daniel A. Nathan, Michael Oriard, Carlo Rotella, Jaime Schultz, Mike Tanier, David K. Wiggins, and David W. Zang.

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"A superb cultural history."--Publisher's Weekly"Jesse Berrett's Pigskin Nation is an insightful account of how professional football intersected with politics between 1966 and 1974, and how the sport "became both a metaphor for American achievement and an effective means of reaching voters."" --Journal of American History"The book is extensively researched throughout, and Berrett includes copious notes, which will prove helpful for sports historians and general readers alike. Recommended." --Choice"Accessible, well-researched, and insightful, Pigskin Nation is a compelling book." --Journal of Sport History"Pigskin Nation makes an important contribution and should find a welcome home in sport history courses and among general readers interested in how pro football became a commonplace part of political culture." --Sport History Review"Pigskin Nation: How the NFL Remade American Politics offers much to chroniclers of the relationship between popular culture and politics. . . . In its all-encompassing depiction of the decades-long relationship between American football and American politics that can, in turn, provide a more productive way to consider the political realities and ramifications of football in the twenty-first century." --Journal of American Culture"The current collision of football and politics boils out of a half-century of violence, skullduggery, idealism, and greed brilliantly exposed in this fascinating and fast-paced scrimmage of a book."--Robert Lipsyte, author of SportsWorld: An American Dreamland"With an acute eye for detail, especially notable in the brilliant analysis of NFL films, Jesse Berrett shows how pro football and Richard Nixon's America arose coterminously and in reinforcing ways. One of the best books I have read on the politics and culture of sports in the modern United States. This terrific study shows how football both reflected and transformed American politics and culture during the long 1960s."--Larry Glickman, author of Buying Power: A History of Consumer Activism in America "This is a terrific book—smart, lively, and deeply researched, full of surprises to delight the casual fan and the seasoned historian alike. If you want to know how a not-quite-respectable sport of the 1950s within two decades became 'America's Game,' not just the country’s most popular sport but also the one most entangled in partisan politics and competing visions of American life, this book is for you."--Michael Oriard, author of Brand NFL: Making and Selling America's Favorite Sport "For this devotee of Sam Huff's New York Giants and Dave Meggyesy's Syracuse Orangemen, Jesse Berrett's fascinating book is an absolute pleasure to read. Moving with the tempo of a two-minute drill, the narrative will inform both gridiron fans and political scholars alike. How many knew, for instance, that during the Vietnam War that the best way to avoid fighting the NLF was to play in the NFL? Masterfully researched, brimming with well-mined quotes, and leavened with astute analysis, the book makes the difficult job of good writing appear effortless. Anybody wanting to know how football got so big, and politics got so mean, needs to pick up Pigskin Nation."--Thomas M. Grace, author of Kent State: Death and Dissent in the Long Sixties

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewOutstanding Book Award, Communication and Sport Division of the National Communication Association, 2019 Best Book Award, American Studies Division of the National Communication Association, 2019 ". . . thoughtful, well-researched analysis. . . . This book makes an important contribution to communication scholarship." --Journal of Communication"An exciting project that promises to impact understandings of Native American mascots in powerful ways. Mascot Nation provides fresh perspectives on the use of American Indian imagery in sport. Rather than restate existing arguments in the ongoing controversy, Billings and Black weave together established understandings and new empirical research to clarify not simply what mascots mean but also how they matter in sport and society. Of particular note, they craft a well-rounded and fully grounded account by engaging with people and perspectives from all sides of the controversy. Mascot Nation will become essential reading for anyone interested in understanding the study and struggle over Native American mascots. It will soon come to be seen as an exemplar for the study of sport communications."--C. Richard King, author of Redskins: Insult and Brand"Valuable . . . Examine[s] all sides of the issue with an objective eye."--Booklist"Mascot Nation is a welcome addition to the literature on the Native American mascot controversy. Well researched and clearly written, this account offers a novel, interdisciplinary, multidimensional approach. Recommended." --Choice"Mascot Nation fills a gap by casting a wide net and offering conclusions backed by the diverse cast of disciplines that are engaged in mascot research." --H-Net Reviews"In Mascot Nation, Andrew Billings and Jason Black have taken on an enduring controversy in the study of sport and culture. Their savvy multi-method study illuminates how embedded representations of Native American mascots have built historical affinities that fans have for sports teams and highlights the important role that media has played in constructing and celebrating problematic understandings of Native Americans and their traditions. Through careful deconstruction of the central tendencies in case studies of media practices and the debates around them, this is a seminal study that will challenge sports fans to reconsider the harms in the legacies that have naturalized misunderstandings of Native American cultures."--Lawrence Wenner, editor-in-chief, Communication & Sport

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