Sociology of Sports

In a world where we are having to work harder than ever before, where talk of ‘burnout’ is everywhere and where pressures increase in many areas of our lives, some of us are turning to endurance sport and extreme challenges.

The 1988 Seoul Olympics played host to what has been described by some as the dirtiest race of all time, by others as the greatest....

Putting the games in the context of Rome's rise and dramatic fall, Mannix captures all the history, planning, and savage pageantry that went into creating the first spectator sports.

In Sport, the term 'good bloke' doesn't mean what it says. Like 'fun run', it in fact often means the exact opposite....

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....

The definitive story of the Middle East's unstoppable rise to football superpower, and the road to the Qatar World Cup...

Some 75% of American families want their kids to play sports. Athletics are training grounds for character, friendship, and connection; at their best, sports insulate kids from hardship and prepare them for adult life....

If you’re struggling with today’s sports parents, you are not alone....

A passionate and personal account of how football has lost its soul by former player and leading pundit, Gary Neville....

Alejandro Valverde - the 'Green Bullet' - was a symbol of Spanish sport. Supremely talented, hard-working beyond belief, he was ranked no.1 in the world four times before retiring in 2022...

After a lifetime of writing about the professional sport, Michael Bamberger, “the poet laureate of golf” (GOLF magazine), delivers an exhilarating love letter to the amateur game as it’s played—and lived—by the rest of us....

When a mixed martial arts (MMA) gym moves in across the street from his office, Jonathan Gottschall sees a challenge and an opportunity....

Football and How to Survive It is a real one-off, uncovering the sport in all its complex, confusing and calamitous glory....

To the Linksland is the captivating memoir of Bamberger’s golfing pilgrimage/extended honeymoon. From an all-night caddie bus on the back roads of southern Europe to Stark’s secret six-hole course in the Scottish Highlands, Bamberger takes you on a journey into the heart of golf.

Red on Red tells the story of the most contested fixture in world football....

The definitive, devastating account of the largest sex abuse scandal in American sports history - with new details and insights into the institutional failures, as well as the bravery that brought it to light....

A massive audience in sitting rooms, parks and pubs watched England in the 2018 World Cup. Yet as Duncan Hamilton demonstrates with style, insight and wit in Going to the Match, watching on TV is no substitute for being there....

Parkour, the art of displacement, or freerunning—whatever the name, this new discipline born in the Paris suburbs is rapidly being adopted by people throughout the world. Not satisfied to suffer through urban life, these athletic artists or artistic athletes want to thrive in it....

Everyone knows that football is violent and dangerous. But what the players who built the NFL into a $10 billion industry didn’t know—and what the league sought to shield from them—is that no amount of padding could protect the human brain from the force generated by modern football....

Are you ready to join the club? If your desire is to build a stronger and well-chiseled body naturally without steroids; then this is the book for you! It will not only enable you shape the body of your dreams, but it will also empower you to stay the course....

Pro wrestling has always been wrapped in mystery. After a century of masquerading as legitimate sport, at last pro wrestling has begun to show the potential of its form. At its core, it is live combat theatre, and no one has done more to codify and analyze this art form than Mike Quackenbush....

The incredible first 12 years of the premier league as told by the legends who were there....

For fans of The Boys in the Boat and In the Garden of Beasts, a pulse-pounding tale of triumph over Hitler’s fearsome Silver Arrows during the golden age of auto racing....

What if running in beautiful places was paradoxically contributing to the destruction of those precious environments and causing irreversible global harm to people and animals, too? Ultrarunner Damian Hall examines the impact of running in our climate and ecological emergency....

By winning the 2019 Tour de France, Egan Bernal became the race's youngest champion in 110 years and the first from the South American nation of Colombia....