There is no shortage of reference resources devoted to various aspects of the sporting world. Works covering issues like the Olympics, sports management, sports marketing, women in sports, and ethnicity in sports, to name a few examples, are all over the publishing marketplace. The particular sports niche this set attempts to fill is the exploration of the intertwining of sports and American culture.

There are nearly 500 entries here chosen for their relevance to contemporary American culture. Not presuming a vast prior knowledge of the sports world, the entries are well written and easy to follow, but still maintain an academic focus. Each entry contains “see also” references and a list of suggested resources. The final volume contains a five-page selected bibliography. To further assist users, there is a “Guide to Related Topics,” categorizing the subject matter by Events, Groups and Organizations, Ideas and Movements, Individuals, Objects and Artifacts, and Places.

The nearly 150 contributors include historians, anthropologists, artists, musicians, sociologists, sports scientists, as well as students, teachers, and coaches. The intersection of the arts and sports is a recurring theme in the set. For example, the ubiquitous ballpark song, “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” is profiled, as is the work of artists like Norman Rockwell and Leroy Neiman. Sports in literature pops up frequently, with entries on well-known fiction and non-fiction alike. Bernard Malamud’s The Natural is covered, as is the more recent Friday Night Lights by Buzz Bissinger. Even consumer goods associated with sports garner entries, such as Gatorade, Wheaties, and hot dogs, as well as prominent companies whose names are associated with sports—Nike and Adidas, for example. There are numerous biographical entries also, covering the expected giants of sport (Babe Ruth), famous commentators (Bob Costas and Howard Cosell), and powerful commissioners (David Stern and Kenesaw Mountain Landis). Other examples of notable entries include the XFL, EA Sports, March Madness, and “Who’s On First?”

Frequent sidebars pad the information contained in the entries. For example, a sidebar to the entry on the movie, Field of Dreams, explains how the baseball field site from the movie became a tourist attraction tussled over by the two families owning the properties on which it stood. Other sidebars explain the decision to play baseball during World War II and the origins of “Sweet Georgia Brown,” the whistling tune identified with the Harlem Globetrotters from the 1940s until today. The general layout of the volumes is attractive, with numerous black and white photographs. Yet these photos are thoughtfully chosen with the overarching theme of sports and culture always in mind. For example, in the entry on football star Jim Brown, there is a photo of Muhammad Ali visiting Brown on the set of The Dirty Dozen, the movie for which Brown famously retired early from football. The entry on Ali will remind readers that not too long after this mid-1960s picture, Ali was imprisoned for refusing military induction via the draft. The information contained here lends poignancy to a simple black and white photograph of two prominent and culturally significant black athletes having a chat.

Overall, this is quite an accessible and interesting resource covering a wide gamut of sports and society topics, succeeding in its stated intention to “convey to students and general readers how sports and popular culture intersect in the United States today” (xv). Recommended for public, high school and academic libraries.