Steroids and Doping in Sports: A Reference Handbook, 2nd Edition. By David E. Newton. Contemporary World Issues. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLO, 2018. 354 pages. Acid-free $60 (ISBN 978-1-4408-5481-1). Ebook Available (978-1-4408-5482-8), call for pricing.

This volume is part of a series titled “Contemporary World Issues.” The series focuses on issues in society, such as gun control, pollution, human trafficking, and the death penalty. The first edition of Steroids and Doping in Sports was published in 2014, “just prior to the release of the most serious revelations about the use of performance-enhancing drugs in amateur and professional sports” (xiv). The author decided the time was right to update the resource with additional information and current statistical data. The preface outlines which chapters were updated but does not go into detail on what new information was added or changed.

The volume starts with the background and history of performance-enhancing drugs and weaves in a tragic story of a high school student dying from steroid use. This chapter goes into detail about testosterone and its effect on the body. It discusses the uses and risks with anabolic steroids and how the use has grown so prevalent in sports. Each chapter ends with an extensive list of references. The references do include more recent articles for the second edition.

The second chapter delves into the problems and issues and solutions to the steroid epidemic. It starts with covering doping from 1950 to 1970, discusses the banning of steroid use by the International Olympic Committee and other sports committees, the methods of testing for use and problems associated with testing and how doping became so prevalent in later years. New to this chapter from the first edition is information about doping in horse racing.

Chapter 3 provides essays from guest authors. Many of the authors are the same as the first edition but have updated their essays. A few essays are new to the second edition. The perspectives cover topics such as steroids and body image, cheating in horse racing, doping in high school sports, and the politicization of steroid use.

Chapter 4 lists profiles of people and organizations involved in the issue such as Barry Bonds, Floyd Landis (but not Lance Armstrong), George J. Mitchell, and the National Institute on Drug Abuse. There are only a couple of new profiles here from the first edition.

Chapter 5 lists data and documents such as rules, regulations, and law cases. Chapter 6 lists extensive, annotated resources and chapter 7 provides a glossary. There is an index.

The introduction to the series says these titles “provide a good starting point for research by high school and college students, scholars and general readers” (iii). This book is an excellent introduction to the topic of steroids and doping in sports. However, there is not enough new information in the second edition to warrant purchasing it again if a library already owns the first edition.—Stacey Marien, Acquisitions Librarian, American University, Washington, DC