Showing titles in Sociology of Sports

Penguin presents the unabridged, downloadable, audiobook edition of How to Watch Football by Ruud Gullit, read by Adam James. How can one striker be better than three? Why do the best defenders never need to make a tackle? What's the secret of Tiki-taka? Welcome to Ruud Gullit's masterclass on...

The Day I Became a Runner starts from a striking premise-that, since running is a solitary activity conducted in the public sphere, women who take up this sport pose a more direct challenge to patriarchy than those who play sports such as badminton, cricket and tennis. To support this thesis...

An Outside Magazine 2021 Science book pick One of Smithsonian's 10 Best Science Books of 2021 A taboo-busting romp through the shame, stink, and strange science of sweating. Sweating may be one of our weirdest biological functions, but it’s also one of our most vital and least understood. In...

Several years ago Sam Walker set out to answer one of the most hotly debated questions in sport: what are the greatest teams of all time? He devised a formula and applied it to thousands of teams across the world from the English Premier League to the NFL. When he was done, he had a list of the 16 most dominant teams ever. At that point he became obsessed with another more complex question: what did these freak teams have in common?

The first English-language biography of Formula 1’s hottest new talent, Dutchman Max Verstappen Few drivers have ever shaken up Formula 1 in quite the same way as Verstappen. Already the youngest competitor in F1 history, having made his breakthrough in 2015 aged just 17, his debut race for...

Bloomsbury presents Out of Thin Air by Michael Crawley, read by Raj Ghatak. ‘Full of wonderful insights and lessons from a world where the ability to run is viewed as something almost mysterious and magical.’ – Adharanand Finn, author of Running with the Kenyans What we can learn from...

Penguin presents the unabridged, downloadable audiobook edition of Fever Pitch, by Nick Hornby read by Julian Rhind-Tutt. As a young boy, growing up in the Home Counties and watching his parents' marriage fall apart, Nick Hornby had little sense of home. Then his dad took him to Highbury...

This is Your Brain on Sports is the book for sports fans searching for a deeper understanding of the games they watch and the people who play them. Sports Illustrated executive editor and bestselling author L. Jon Wertheim teams up with Tufts psychologist Sam Sommers to take readers on a wild...

Celebrating the Formula 1 World Championship’s 75th season in unique, sometimes poignant, sometimes shocking and always high-energy style with Channel 4’s face of F1, Alex Jacques. In over 75 chapters, Alex Jacques tells the story of Formula 1’s rise, fall and recovery through the...

Discover the intense reality of combat sports where raw resilience and mental toughness battle ruthless corporate greed. Whether you are fueling a heavy workout or surviving a long commute, this immersive journey pulls you from grimy back-alley gyms to the blinding lights of modern arenas...

In a truly groundbreaking exposé of professional golf, Michael Calvin and Thomas Bjorn - captain of the 2018 European Ryder Cup Team - capture the distinctive nature of the game, and the principles and philosophies of players who dominate the world rankings. With unprecedented access to the European Tour players, and in-depth interviews with the European Ryder Cup team, Calvin reveals a sport which operates entirely within the finest margins of excellence. 

'GREAT' Independent 'TERRIFIC' Guardian 'WONDERFUL' Time Out 'QUALITY' Mail on Sunday 'DEFINITIVE' FourFourTwo Winner of the William Hill Sports Book Award Featured in FourFourTwo's list of 'The 10 Best Football Books Ever' Featured in Esquire's 'Best Sports Books Ever Written' Throughout the...

South Africa revels in its reputation as a sport-loving country. Yet just beneath the surface lurks a dark underbelly that reeks of cheating and illicit shenanigans, where shady characters and willing athletes are prepared to do whatever it takes to come out on top. South African sport is awash with steroids, a habit that formed in the late 1980s and continues unabated today, with participants and champions alike opting to play dirty.

In this extraordinary tour de force, David Goldblatt tells the full story of soccer's rise from chaotic folk ritual to the world's most popular sport - now poised to fully establish itself in the USA. Already celebrated internationally, The Ball Is Round illuminates soccer's role in the political and social histories of modern societies, but never loses sight of the beauty, joy, and excitement of the game itself. 

Discover the immersive sports history of a rural English game that became the ultimate symbol of the British Empire. From makeshift rules in sheep pastures to intense international rivalries, this narrative reveals the deep ties between bats, balls, and the global power struggles of colonialism...

Uncover a sweeping sports history where a gentle English pastime transforms into a fierce battleground for global empire. From rough parish greens to Caribbean plantations and South Asian maidans, this evocative narrative tracks the evolution of bat and ball. Perfect for a thought-provoking...

Uncover the sweeping sports history of how a quiet game for medieval aristocrats became a fierce global competition. Perfect for your daily commute or an energizing gym workout, this dramatic non-fiction narrative captures the evolution of athletic triumph. Listen as high-society etiquette...

USA TODAY BESTSELLER NPR's Book of the Day New York Times bestselling authors Mike Schur and Joe Posnanski travel the world in a hilarious and heartwarming celebration of fans and the things they love: baseball, basketball, chess, darts, football, futbol, Indigenous North American stickball...

A brilliant and entertaining deconstruction of the most popular sport in the world, just in time for the 2026 World Cup in North America, from the bestselling author of How to Watch Basketball Like a Genius In How to Watch Soccer Like a Genius, Nick Greene calls on a turf manager, an expert on...

A whirlwind history of soccer's improbable rise―from ancient traditions to worldwide cultural focus How did a simple kicking game conquer the world? In this concise yet comprehensive history, sports historian Brian D. Bunk traces soccer's unlikely, meteoric rise, showing how a pastime humbly...