More Than a Game: Race, Gender, and Politics in Sports

by Matt Doeden

Overview

Sports has never been only about what takes place on the playing field. Author and sports fan Matt Doeden explores past and current controversies including black boxer Jack Johnson's fight with the "Great White Hope" Tommy Burns, Jackie Robinson breaking baseball's color barrier, Muhammad Ali's refusal to fight in the Vietnam War, Colin Kaepernick's protests, #MeToo and the US gymnastics team, and much more. Doeden weaves in information about Jim Crow, the Civil Rights Movement, Black Lives Matter, and other essential background young readers will need. This book is sure to engage everyone interested in sports, history, and civil rights.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781541540941
Publisher:	Lerner Publishing Group
Publication date:	09/03/2019
Pages:	64
Product dimensions:	9.00(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.50(d)
Lexile:	980L (what's this?)
Age Range:	10 - 11 Years

About the Author

Matt Doeden began his career as a sports writer. Since then, he's spent more than a decade writing and editing children's nonfiction. Matt lives in Minnesota with his family.

Editorial Reviews

"A worthy purchase that will serve as a good first stop for school projects."—School Library Journal

From the Publisher

09/01/2019

Gr 5 Up—Sports are often a reflection of the current social issues facing the U.S. on a daily basis: union laws, work conditions, discrimination, and many others. Doeden covers both contemporary and past inequalities with a sensitive tone; in fact, he acknowledges that he ran this text past a sensitivity reader for input. The chapters are arranged to cover three different delicate topics: sports and race, gender and equality in sports, and sports and war. In each chapter, a multitude of athletic activities are covered and presented in a linear fashion with plenty of wonderful glossy photos. The author focuses heavily on the African American experience in sports, both historic and contemporary, including the Black Lives Matter movement. However, the chapter for gender and sexuality is a bit lopsided; there is only one transgender woman mentioned, and the longest entry is on a male college football player who came out as gay. Overall, women are not as heavily present as their male counterparts, even in their own chapter. Doeden provides a great deal of back matter, including source notes, a glossary, a selected bibliography, further reading, and an index. VERDICT There is no way this book could make everyone happy as its topics are so contentious and so broad, but Doeden tries by presenting well-researched and thoughtful facts that serve as a starting point for readers. A worthy purchase that will serve as a good first stop for school projects.—Kerri Williams, Sachem Public Library, Holbrook, NY

School Library Journal

2019-05-12
Sports, race, and gender have often clashed in American life and created greater impact than any individual game's outcome.

NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick's decision to sit and then kneel during the national anthem in 2016 was certainly not the first time sports and race appeared to be on a collision course in America. This volume explores some of the chapters in this saga. African American heavyweight boxer Jack Johnson offended the racial sensibilities of the early 20th century simply by seeking a chance to become boxing's champion. The struggles to integrate baseball and the challenges faced by African American athletes as they traveled during the Jim Crow era are described. Protests about the use of a team name considered to be a racial slur and the triumph of a female fencer who wore a hijab during the 2016 Olympic Games demonstrate how often societal concerns bleed into athletic events. Gender issues and sexual orientation in sports are addressed in the explosive case of sexual abuse in gymnastics and when gay athletes come out. This slim volume skims the surface of these complex topics, and young readers will need additional information to gain deeper understanding, although the large number of photographs is worth noting.

Young readers will find intriguing—if only surface-skimming—historical context for today's controversial sports headlines. (source notes, glossary, select bibliography, further reading, index) (Nonfiction. 10-18)

Kirkus Reviews