Books in the Critical Issues in Sport and Society series

Incidents of doping in sports are common in news headlines, despite regulatory efforts. How did doping become a crisis? Who gets punished for breaking the rules of fair play? Kathryn E. Henne, a former competitive athlete and an expert in the law and science of anti-doping regulations, examines the development of rules aimed at controlling performance enhancement in international sports.

In When Women Rule the Court, Nicole Willms tells the story of women who became Asian American sport icons by tracing their beginnings in the Japanese American basketball leagues of California. Using data from interviews and observations, Willms explores the interplay of social forces and community dynamics that have shaped this unique context of female athletic empowerment.

No Slam Dunk provides important theoretical and empirical insights into the contemporary world of sports to help explain the unevenness of social change and how, despite significant progress, gender equality in sports has been "No Slam Dunk."

Is sport good for kids? Child’s Play presents a nuanced examination of this question, considering not only the physical impacts of youth athletics, but its psychological and social ramifications as well. The eleven original scholarly essays in this collection provide a probing look into how sports—in community athletic leagues, in schools, and even on television—play a major role in how young people view themselves, shape their identities, and imagine their place in society.

Is sport good for kids? When answering this question, both critics and advocates of youth sports tend to fixate on matters of health. Child's Play presents a more nuanced examination of the issue, considering not only the physical impacts of youth athletics, but its psychological and social ramifications as well.

Triathlons, such as the famously arduous Ironman Triathlon, and "extreme" mountain biking are prime examples of the new "lifestyle sports" that have grown in recent years from oddball pursuits into multi-million-dollar industries. Sociologist Stephen C. Poulson offers an exploration of these new and physically demanding sports, shedding light on why some people find them so compelling.