New Books in Sports Podcast
1) Scott Beekman, "The Last Gladiator: William Muldoon and the Making of American Sports" (U Texas Press, 2025)
William Muldoon was an infamous athlete whose prowess, savvy, and chicanery across his six-decade career led him to wealth, cultural importance, and political power. Muldoon, the child of poor Irish i...Show More
2) Aaron L. Miller, "Basketball in Japan: Shooting for the Stars" (Routledge, 2024)
Today we are joined by Aaron Miller, Lecturer in Kinesiology at California State University, East Bay and the author of Basketball in Japan: Shooting for the Stars (Routledge, 2025.) In our conversati...Show More
3) Tackling the Everyday: Race and Nation in Big-Time College Football
Big-time college football promises prestige, drama, media attention, and money. Yet most athletes in this unpaid, amateur system encounter a different reality, facing dangerous injuries, few pro-caree...Show More
4) Doug Levy, "Hero Redefined: Profiles of Olympic Athletes Under the Radar" (Clever Cleever, 2025)
Heroes aren’t just the ones who bring home medals. Hero Redefined: Profiles of Olympic Athletes Under the Radar (Clever Cleever, 2025) delves into the lesser-known stories of Olympic athletes—and a co...Show More
5) Brendan O'Meara, "The Front Runner: The Life of Steve Prefontaine" (HarperCollins, 2025)
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 and charismatic figures to ever run competitively i...Show More
6) Joseph Darda, "Gift and Grit: Race, Sports, and the Construction of Social Debt" (Cambridge UP, 2025)
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.' Gift and Grit shows how the sports industry has incuba...Show More
7) Julia Brock, "Closed Seasons: The Transformation of Hunting in the Modern South" (UNC Press, 2025)
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 offers an innovative history of hunting in the Ne...Show More
8) Christopher Clarey, "The Warrior: Rafael Nadal and His Kingdom of Clay" (Grand Central Publishing, 2025)
In The Warrior: Rafael Nadal and His Kingdom of Clay (Grand Central Publishing, 2025) Christopher Clarey illuminates the skill and determination it took to accomplish Rafael Nadal’s most mind-blowin...Show More
9) 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)
Sport and Psychoanalysis: What Sport Reveals about Our Unconscious Desires, Fantasies, and Fears (Lexington Books, 2024) explores the intersection of sport and psychoanalysis, emphasizing the often-o...Show More
10) Harrison Browne and Rachel Browne, "Let Us Play: Winning the Battle for Gender Diverse Athletes" (Beacon Press, 2025)
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. Trans and nonbinary people around the world are fac...Show More