Native Americans profiles nearly 200 past and present athletes and key personnel in sports ranging from archery to wrestling. It also includes essays on cultural themes, institutions, teams, and sport history.

Sports are an integral part of American society. Millions of dollars are spent every year on professional, collegiate, and youth athletics, and participation in and viewing of these sports both alter and reflect how one perceives the world. Beamon and Messer deftly explore sports as a social construction, and more significantly, the large role race and ethnicity play in sports and consequently sports’ influence on modern race relations. This text is ideal for courses on Sport and Society as well as Race and Ethnicity.

Since the nineteenth century the USA has served as an international model for business, lifestyle and sporting success. Yet whilst the language of sport seems to be universal, American sports culture remains highly distinctive. Why is this so? How should we understand American sport? What can we learn about America by analyzing its sports culture? Understanding American Sports offers discussion and critical analysis of the everyday sporting and leisure activities of ‘ordinary’ Americans as well as the ‘big three’ (football, baseball, basketball), and elite sports heroes. Throughout the book, the development of American sport is linked to political, social, gender and economic issues, as well as the orientations and cultures of the multilayered American society with its manifold regional, ethnic, social, and gendered diversities. Topics covered include: American college sports the influence of immigrant populations the unique status of American football the emergence of women’s sport in the USA With co-authors from either side of the Atlantic, Understanding American Sports uses both the outsider’s perspective and that of the insider to explain American sports culture. With its extensive use of examples and illustrations, this is an engrossing and informative resource for all students of sports studies and American culture.

Race and Sports: A Reference Handbook provides a breadth and depth of discussion about minority athletes, coaches, sports journalists, and others in U.S. sport. This volume examines race and sports and connected issues, from the integration of professional sports to the present day. It also explores the history of minority involvement in sports at every level: the barriers broken, the stereotypes that have been shattered, and the difficulties that these pioneers have endured. One of the most valuable aspects of the book is that it surveys the history of race and sports in a manner that helps readers identify key issues. An extensive background on the topic of race and sports, including a review of the history and an introduction to its technical aspects, is followed by a discussion of controversies, problems, and possible solutions. Essays from various contributors showcase different aspects of race and sports, while a substantial amount of the volume is dedicated to reference material — such as biographical sketches, a chronology, an extensive annotated bibliography, and a glossary — helpful in further study of the topic.

Native American Jim Thorpe became a super athlete and Olympic gold medalist. Indomitable coach Pop Warner was a football mastermind. In 1907 at the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania, they forged one of the winningest teams in American football history. Called "the team that invented football," they took on the best opponents of their day, defeating much more privileged schools in a series of breathtakingly close calls, genius plays, and bone-crushing hard work. Sheinkin provides a true underdog sports story -- and an unflinching look at the U.S. government's violent persecution of Native Americans and the school that was designed to erase Indian cultures.

Profiles a Montana high-school girls' basketball team--made up of Crow Indian and white girls from a rural town--that carries on its shoulders the dreams and hopes of a Native American tribe during their winning season