unorthodox sports books

what are you reading this year?

Happy New Year! I’m working on a few sports history deep dives for you that I’m very excited about. If you want to support my ability to do that kind of work, paid subscriptions make all the difference. You can upgrade here:

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I, like so many writers, have come to understand that I’m a much better writer when I am regularly reading. I would love to do an Out of Your League book club for paid subscribers but I also don’t want to assume people have the capacity to join anymore clubs or things. However, if that’s something people would be interested in, please let me know! I could also probably get authors to pop into a Zoom to chat about their books with everyone.

With that in mind (the fact that I should be reading more, not the currently non-existent book club), I thought I’d share some of the sports and sports-adjacent books that I have on my TBR. Some of these are directly about sports, while others feel like necessary additions to the cultural and political climate around sports. Some of these books are older, while some are forthcoming.

Open Play: The Case for Feminist Sport by Sheree Bekker and Stephen Mumford

I received an ARC of this book, which is publishing in March. I’m really excited about it because I’m so often asked what I think the answer is when it comes to trans inclusion in women’s sports. In Open Play, Bekker and Mumford argue that “women’s sports” aren’t the feminist win they have been framed as and make the case for a new model of organizing sports, one that isn’t based on gender at all.

Enemy Feminisms: Terfs, Policewomen, and Girlbosses Against Liberation by Sophie Lewis

Lewis’s book is publishing next month and I think it’s a crucial read. While not explicitly about sports, Lewis traces the history of the anti-trans radfem movement. It’s crucial historical and cultural context for the current moment that we are in, especially with regard to the ways that anti-trans rhetoric is couched in concern for (cis) women.

The Cult of Crossfit: Christianity and the American Exercise Phenomenon by Katie Rose Hejtmanek

This book is coming out in March and I squealed when I got this ARC in the mail. The Christian right has infiltrated so much of our politics and popular culture and they have done it through so many different avenues. In her book, Hejtmanek lays bare the ways that Crossfit and Christianity are inextricably linked and what that has meant for American culture at-large.

Ringmaster: Vince McMahon and the Unmaking of America by Josephine Riesman

I recently finished this book for a newsletter I’m working on ahead of Trump’s inauguration and I can’t recommend it highly enough. Riesman is one of the best non-fiction writers working today, imo. She writes about the world of wrestling through the lens of someone who deeply loves the sport, but turns a critical eye to it in ways only those who have been harmed by something they love really can. It’s a crucial read if you want to understand how the combat sports world—and WWE, in particular—helped create Donald Trump’s political career.

The End of College Football: On the Human Cost of an All-American Game by Nathan Kalman-Lamb and Derek Silva

Kalman-Lamb and Silva’s book came out last fall and it’s a doozy. Anyone who has been reading this newsletter for any period of time is likely familiar with their work—they’ve been making the case against college football (and documenting the exploitation of student-athletes) for years. This book isn’t a pretty read but I also think it’s a necessary one. If you watch and enjoy football, that also means reckoning with the brutal reality and human toll of the game.

Toilet: Public Restrooms and the Politics of Sharing, edited by Harvey Molotch and Laura Norén

This 2010 book is another that isn’t explicitly about sports but provides the kind of historical context necessary for this moment. This sociological history of public restrooms helps shape the bathroom and locker room debates happening today.

A Place of Our Own: Six Spaces That Shaped Queer Women's Culture by June Thomas

A fun and engaging history of sapphic spaces that includes a chapter on the softball diamond and the way that sport—and other queer women’s sports leagues—were places for both recreational enjoyment and political organizing.

The Male Gazed: On Hunks, Heartthrobs, and What Pop Culture Taught Me about (Desiring) Men by Manuel Betancourt

A memoir-in-essays about the messages around masculinity that so many boys in our culture internalize. I always think that reading books about toxic masculinity and homoeroticism help me frame the work I do when talking about male sports culture.