Sport: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions)

Like football, this is a book of two halvesOn the negative, the topic of sport is viewed through the lens of the current politicly correct values of today's intellectuals. From supporting quotes by Orwell, well known as an thinker but an athlete less so, to Soviet Communistic political theorists the author points out the ways Sport fails to measure up to his ideal. There is a deconstruction process that purports to analysis Sport's component forms, but ends up with joyless pedantry without any form of fun or frolic. The only activity for the reader is to play buzzword bingo with terms such as male privilege, elitism, racism, and corruption dominating.On the positive, the early chapters on the historical origins are actually quite interesting. The author does a good job of describing the many sporting cultures and how this contributed to societal and sport growthHowever this does not save this book for being little more a vehicle for the author's identify politics and so misses the goal.Avoid.