An engaging look at the historical conditions surrounding America’s secular, on-field religions.
A brief but insightful cultural history of American sports that links religious elements to the rise of organized games.
Balmer, the chair of religion at Dartmouth, argues that the four major American team sports—baseball, football, basketball, and hockey—link to social and cultural movements in play at the time of their foundings. There were industrialism, imperialism, entrenched (and anti-immigrant) nationalism. There were also technological developments such as the railroad and the telegraph, which “made both intercollegiate and professional leagues possible, allowing the travel of teams from one community to another and news about the contests to filter back to hometowns.” An imported British movement called “Muscular Christianity” also held, in essence, that a weak Christian soldier wasn’t going to win the war against evil for God. Balmer’s case studies are interesting and well documented. Though football was the product of Protestant schools after the Civil War—one that had the martial impulses of warriors on the battlefield—it was quickly adopted by Catholic schools such as Notre Dame, helping reduce some of the distance between the two strains of faith. It’s interesting to note, too, that James Naismith, hailed by one coach as an “inventor of basket-ball, medical doctor, Presbyterian minister, tee-totaler, all-around athlete, non-smoker, and owner of vocabulary without cuss words,” was both a college chaplain and a coach. Balmer discerns a fascinating link between hockey’s penalty box and the Catholic Church’s confessional booth, where a sinner can “acknowledge and atone for his transgression.” He doesn’t always effectively forge links between religion as such and sport, but he provides plenty of useful insights on the role of zeitgeist, as when he aligns football in the South to the desperate need to reestablish a sense of manhood following the defeat of the Confederacy. He also contrasts North America’s growing urbanism to the implied pastoralism of baseball and its contemporaneous vision of a “Garden of Eden, a lost, halcyon paradise.”
An engaging look at the historical conditions surrounding America’s secular, on-field religions.Pub Date: Sept. 20, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-4696-7006-5
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Univ. of North Carolina
Review Posted Online: Aug. 29, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2022
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.
A compendium of charts, time lines, lists and illustrations to accompany study of the Bible.
This visually appealing resource provides a wide array of illustrative and textually concise references, beginning with three sets of charts covering the Bible as a whole, the Old Testament and the New Testament. These charts cover such topics as biblical weights and measures, feasts and holidays and the 12 disciples. Most of the charts use a variety of illustrative techniques to convey lessons and provide visual interest. A worthwhile example is “How We Got the Bible,” which provides a time line of translation history, comparisons of canons among faiths and portraits of important figures in biblical translation, such as Jerome and John Wycliffe. The book then presents a section of maps, followed by diagrams to conceptualize such structures as Noah’s Ark and Solomon’s Temple. Finally, a section on Christianity, cults and other religions describes key aspects of history and doctrine for certain Christian sects and other faith traditions. Overall, the authors take a traditionalist, conservative approach. For instance, they list Moses as the author of the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible) without making mention of claims to the contrary. When comparing various Christian sects and world religions, the emphasis is on doctrine and orthodox theology. Some chapters, however, may not completely align with the needs of Catholic and Orthodox churches. But the authors’ leanings are muted enough and do not detract from the work’s usefulness. As a resource, it’s well organized, inviting and visually stimulating. Even the most seasoned reader will learn something while browsing.
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2005
ISBN: 978-1-5963-6022-8
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
“Protect your passion,” writes an NBA star in this winning exploration of how we can succeed in life.
A future basketball Hall of Famer’s rosy outlook.
Curry is that rare athlete who looks like he gets joy from what he does. There’s no doubt that the Golden State Warriors point guard is a competitor—he’s led his team to four championships—but he plays the game with nonchalance and exuberance. That ease, he says, “only comes from discipline.” He practices hard enough—he’s altered the sport by mastering the three-point shot—so that he achieves a “kind of freedom.” In that “flow state,” he says, “I can let joy and creativity take over. I block out all distractions, even the person guarding me. He can wave his arms and call me every name in the book, but I just smile and wait as the solution to the problem—how to get the ball into the basket—presents itself.” Curry shares this approach to his craft in a stylish collection that mixes life lessons with sharp photographs and archival images. His dad, Dell, played in the NBA for 16 years, and Curry learned much from his father and mother: “My parents were extremely strict about me and my little brother Seth not going to my pops’s games on school nights.” Curry’s mother, Sonya, who founded the Montessori elementary school that Curry attended in North Carolina, emphasized the importance not just of learning but of playing. Her influence helped Curry and his wife, Ayesha, create a nonprofit foundation: Eat. Learn. Play. He writes that “making reading fun is the key to unlocking a kid’s ability to be successful in their academic journeys.” The book also has valuable pointers for ballers—and those hoping to hit the court. “Plant those arches—knees bent behind those 10 toes pointing at the hoop, hips squared with your shoulders—and draw your power up so you explode off the ground and rise into your shot.” Sounds easy, right?
“Protect your passion,” writes an NBA star in this winning exploration of how we can succeed in life.Pub Date: Sept. 9, 2025
ISBN: 9780593597293
Page Count: 432
Publisher: One World/Random House
Review Posted Online: Aug. 1, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2025
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