University of Arkansas Press Publishes Two New Sports Titles

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FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Two new collections of essays – Beyond C.L.R. James: Shifting Boundaries of Race and Ethnicity in Sport ($34.95 paper and e-book), edited by John Nauright, Alan G. Cobley, and David K. Wiggins, and Sport and the Law: Historical and Cultural Intersections ($34.95 paper and e-book), edited by Samuel O. Regalado and Sarah K. Fields – are the latest additions to the Sport, Culture, and Society Series published by the University of Arkansas Press.

Beyond C. L. R. James brings together essays analyzing the interconnections between race, ethnicity and sport. It is published in memory of C.L.R. James, the revolutionary sociologist and writer from Trinidad and author of Beyond a Boundary, his autobiographical account of cricket.

This collection covers topics from Aborigines in sport, cricket and minstrel shows in Australia to Zulu stick fighting to football and racism in northern Ireland. The essays, divided into four sections, with introductory comments by each editor, are written by well-known sport historians. They are characterized by a focus on culture and sport in society in the context of political economies and the state as well as colonial and postcolonial struggles.

There are also discussions of how sport at once brings people together, shapes the identities of its participants, and reflects the continuing search for social justice. Many of the essays come from the 2010 conference on race and ethnicity in sport at the University of West Indies, Cave Hill in Barbados.

The editors of Beyond C. L. R. James are noted experts in these subjects. John Nauright is the author of Soccer Around the World: A Cultural Guide and Long Run to Freedom: Sport, Culture and Identities in South Africa. Alan G. Cobley is the author of The Rules of the Game: Struggles in Black Recreation and Social Welfare Policy in South Africa. David K. Wiggins is the coeditor of Rivals: Legendary Matchups That Made Sports History and Out of the Shadows: A Biographical History of African American Athletes.

Sport and the Law, the second new book in the UA Press series, examines how athletes have used the nation’s judicial system to solve conflicts and how their cases have transformed the interpretation of laws. The essays examine a vast array of social and legal controversies including Haywood v. NBA (1971), which allowed any player to enter the draft; Flood v. Kuhn (1972), which considered baseball’s antitrust status; Danny Gardella’s 1948 case regarding free agency and baseball; Muhammad Ali’s celebrated stance against the U.S. draft; Renée Richards’s 1976 lawsuit against the United States Tennis Association and its due process ramifications; and the recruitment of underage Latin baseball players in the Caribbean region considered as human rights violations of international law.

Sport and the Law links these cases to others, giving the reader the opportunity to see the threads weaving law and sport together in American society.

Samuel O. Regalado is professor of history at California State University, Stanislaus and the author or editor of four books, including Baseball in Nikkei America: From the Meiji to the Majors. Sarah K. Fields is associate professor of communication at University of Colorado Denver and the author of Female Gladiators: Gender, Law, and Contact Sport in America.

The Sport, Culture, and Society series recognizes sport’s powerful influence and ability to change people’s lives in significant ways. The series includes both monographs and anthologies that are characterized by excellent scholarship, accessibility for a wide audience and interesting and thoughtful design and interpretations. Authors and editors included in the series represent a variety of disciplinary areas and adopt different methodological approaches. The series includes works by individuals at various stages of their careers, both sport-studies scholars of outstanding talent just beginning to make their mark on the field and more experienced scholars with established reputations. The series is edited by David K. Wiggins.

The University of Arkansas Press, founded in 1980, is an academic publishing house that is part of the University of Arkansas. A member of the Association of American University Presses, it has as its central and continuing mission the publication of books that serve both the broader academic community and Arkansas and the region.

University of Arkansas faculty, staff and students can take advantage of a 25 percent discount on these new titles or any University of Arkansas Press book by using the code YOUOFA on www.uapress.com or by calling 800-621-2736.