Sports has been part of the fabric of American life since the colonization of the continent and the amount of financial support given to sporting endeavors seems to increase without letup in both good times and bad in our consumer culture. This three-volume encyclopedia covers both spectator sports and participatory sports in American culture and society from the 1600s to current day. The work's aim is not only to provide the history of American sport but also its context within American society, with emphasis placed on integration, sexual policy, class, and gender perspectives in the entries. The closest equivalent source is Levinson and Christensen's Berkshire Encyclopedia of World Sport (Berkshire, 2005). However, that four-volume work had a much broader focus than this one devoted solely to the United States.

The encyclopedia is organized into three sections. The first is a series of essays that provide a chronological history of sports in America. The second section is the bulk of the set and consists of the A–Z entries of significant people, teams, sports, and related topics. The entries themselves were written by an army of researchers and academics, edited by Steven A. Riess who has published several works over the years on the intersection of sports and culture. Finally, the work also includes a chronology, a list of governing bodies and institutions, an overall bibliography, and an index.

The value in an encyclopedia like this one is primarily in its more unique material. The series of historical essays that open this work are very well done and useful. In a similar light, the A–Z entries on more obscure sports such as Hot Rodding, Air Racing, Pedestrianism, and Disability Sports are more likely to be consulted than overviews of major sports like baseball or football that are too abbreviated to be of much value. Likewise, odd topics like Saloons, Taverns and Bars or Central Park or Blue Laws or the National Police Gazette fill a distinctive informational need in a sports resource.

More problematic are some curious selectivity decisions. Why are there biographies on Sammy Baugh and Sid Luckman but not Johnny Unitas and Joe Montana? All were the best quarterbacks of their times. Why Marion Motley but not Bill Willis? Both were hall-of-famers who broke the football color line together in Cleveland. Why Oscar Robertson but not Jerry West? Why Bear Bryant but not Joe Paterno? Why Wayne Gretzky but not Gordie Howe, Bobby Hull, or Bobby Orr? Why Howard Cosell but not John Madden who was not only a landmark broadcaster but also a hall-of-fame coach and the namesake of the most popular sports video game of all time?

Moreover, entries are given for the 16 original major league baseball teams and the original six NHL teams, but for only six of the nine NFL teams that predate World War II. There's an entry on the Toronto Blue Jays but not the New York Mets, on the Calgary Flames but not the Philadelphia Flyers. Perhaps most inexplicably, there is an entry on the Super Bowl but not the World Series.

While these sorts of inclusion questions are always an issue in a reference work, it appears that there are an inordinate number of unclear choices in this set. To its credit, what is included is thoroughly researched and professionally written. As a reference source, this set will be most useful for its more atypical entries. Despite the unexplained exclusions, this set is recommended for most sports collections.