Synopses & Reviews
"
King of the Court provides a highly nuanced and sophisticated analysis of the great African American basketball player from his earliest days up to the present time. With great skill and much insight, Goudsouzian makes clear that Russell was a very complicated man who was full of contradictions in his own private life and in relationship to his business associates, teammates, opponents, the media, and the larger sporting public."and#151;David K.Wiggins, George Mason University
"Not only is King of the Court one of the most impressive and important sports biographies to come along in many a season, easily in the same class as David Maraniss's When Pride Still Mattered (on Vince Lombardi) and Wil Haygood's Sweet Thunder (on Sugar Ray Robinson), it is also one of the truly incisive books on the intersection of race, civil rights, and popular culture that have appeared in some time. Having grown up in Philadelphia, I was always a Wilt Chamberlain man and always will be, but King of the Court convinced me that Bill Russell defined his age in ways that Chamberlain never did. Russell was a man for all seasons. This is a biography befitting Russell's stature."and#151;Gerald Early, author of One Nation Under a Groove: Motown and American Culture
"Before there were crossover dribbles or slam dunk competitions, before they even kept statistics for blocked shots, Bill Russell dominated the game we call basketball. The respect he demanded as a black man during America's turbulent Civil Rights era made him the personification of a winner in life. King of the Court, like Russell's defense, locks it down, and puts it all in its proper context. Long live the King!"and#151;Dr. Todd Boyd, author of Young, Black, Rich, and Famous: The Rise of the NBA, the Hip Hop Invasion, and the Transformation of American Culture
"Bill Russell's life story is only incidentally about basketball. For him the sport was not a life; it was his vehicle for social change, a platform that showcased his vision for America as much as his athletic talent. In his magnificent biography, Aram Goudsouzian captures the nuance and meaning of Russell's career. After reading the book, one will never look at Russell or sports in quite the same way."and#151;Randy Roberts, Purdue University
"Brings back the excitement of the great days of the NBA and its legendary players, led by the king of them all, Bill Russell. Best book I've read on basketball in 40 years."and#151;Bill McSweeny, co-author, with Bill Russell, of Go Up for Glory
Review
and#8220;All students of the game will feast on King of the Court. and#8220;
Review
and#8220;If you donand#8217;t know much about Russell, this is a good place to start. If you do, it will help place him in context.and#8221;
Review
and#8220;Goudsouzian captures the complexities of the man behind the fame, both his strengths and his foibles.and#8221;
Review
and#8220;A provocative, informative, detailed, critical, and balanced work.and#8221;
Review
and#8220;"King of the Court" [is] probably the best one-stop of account of the life of one of sport's true individuals.and#8221;
Review
and#8220;It is all here for the reader to savor in this fine new addition to the history of sport.and#8221;
Review
and#8220;A full, authoritative, incredibly well-researched biography of Russell's life and career, just dense with information on every page.and#8221;
Synopsis
Known for their striking full-body tattoos and severed fingertips, Japan's gangsters comprise a criminal class eighty thousand strongand#151;more than four times the size of the American Mafia. Despite their criminal nature, the yakuza are accepted by fellow Japanese to a degree guaranteed to shock most Westerners. Here is the first book to reveal the extraordinary reach of Japan's Mafia. Originally published in 1986,
Yakuza was so controversial in Japan that it could not be published there for five years. But in the West it has long served as the standard reference on Japanese organized crime, inspiring novels, screenplays, and criminal investigations. David E. Kaplan and Alec Dubro spent nearly two decades conducting hundreds of interviews with everyone from street-level hoodlums and police to Japan's most powerful godfathers. The result is a searing indictment of corruption in the world's second-largest economy.
This updated, expanded, and thoroughly revised edition of Yakuza tells the full story of Japan's remarkable crime syndicates, from their feudal start as bands of medieval outlaws to their emergence as billion-dollar investors in real estate, big business, art, and more.
Synopsis
"A fascinating study of how criminal enterprise can infect the very heart of modern capitalism. Here is the backstage world of political influence and organized crime in the world's second largest economy... by far the most detailed and even-handed study of this important and neglected subject."and#151;John W. Dower, author of
Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War IIReviews of original edition:
"A superb study of Japan's underworld that is both entertaining and revealing. The authors miss none of the color and curious detail of the yakuza style, but at the same time go far beyond surface observations."and#151;Far Eastern Economic Review
"The book is laden with fascinating information, some of it heretofore unavailable in English."and#151;Washington Post
"Blend the Mafia with the Masons. Let them simmer a while, then fold in the Ku Klux Klan and you'll have the yakuzaand#133;. Important and timelyand#133;Yakuza will serve for years as the source document on Japanese organized crime."and#151;San Jose Mercury News
"State-of-the-art investigative reportingand#133;must reading for those who consider themselves already highly conversant with yakuza activitiesand#133;disturbing."and#151;Journal of Asian Studies
Synopsis
Kendo is the first in-depth historical, cultural, and political account in English of the Japanese martial art of swordsmanship, from its beginnings in military training and arcane medieval schools to its widespread practice as a global sport today. Alexander Bennett shows how kendo evolved through a recurring process of and#147;inventing tradition,and#8221; which served the changing ideologies and needs of Japanese warriors and governments over the course of history. Kendo follows the development of Japanese swordsmanship from the aristocratic-aesthetic pretensions of medieval warriors in the Muromachi period, to the samurai elitism of the Edo regime, and then to the nostalgic patriotism of the Meiji state. Kendo was later influenced in the 1930s and 1940s by ultranationalist militarists and ultimately by the postwar government, which sought a gentler form of nationalism to rekindle appreciation of traditional culture among Japanand#8217;s youth and to garner international prestige as an instrument of and#147;soft power.and#8221; Today kendo is becoming increasingly popular internationally. But even as new organizations and clubs form around the world, cultural exclusiveness continues to play a role in kendoand#8217;s ongoing evolution, as the sport remains closely linked to Japanand#8217;s sense of collective identity.
Synopsis
Bill Russell was not the first African American to play professional basketball, but he was its first black superstar. From the moment he stepped onto the court of the Boston Garden in 1956, Russell began to transform the sport in a fundamental way, making him, more than any of his contemporaries, the Jackie Robinson of basketball. In King of the Court, Aram Goudsouzian provides a vivid and engrossing chronicle of the life and career of this brilliant champion and courageous racial pioneer. Russelland#8217;s leaping, wide-ranging defense altered the gameand#8217;s texture. His teams provided models of racial integration in the 1950s and 1960s, and, in 1966, he became the first black coach of any major professional team sport. Yet, like no athlete before him, Russell challenged the politics of sport. Instead of displaying appreciative deference, he decried racist institutions, embraced his African roots, and challenged the nonviolent tenets of the civil rights movement. This beautifully written bookand#151;sophisticated, nuanced, and insightfuland#151;reveals a singular individual who expressed the dreams of Martin Luther King Jr. while echoing the warnings of Malcolm X.
Synopsis
In this highly original history of the worldand#8217;s most famous bicycle race, Christopher S. Thompson, mining previously neglected sources and writing with infectious enthusiasm for his subject, tells the compelling story of the Tour de France from its creation in 1903 to the present. Weaving the words of racers, politicians, Tour organizers, and a host of other commentators together with a wide-ranging analysis of the culture surrounding the eventand#151;including posters, songs, novels, films, and media coverageand#151;Thompson links the history of the Tour to key moments and themes in French history. He argues persuasively that this hugely popular sporting event has been instrumental in French attempts to grapple with the great challenges they have confronted during their tumultuous twentieth centuryand#151;from World Wars, political divisions, and class conflict to economic modernization, womenand#8217;s emancipation, and threats to public health. Examining the enduring popularity of Tour racers, Thompson explores how their public images have changed over the past century. He concludes with a discussion of the longstanding practice of doping and considers the complex case of the seven-time champion Lance Armstrong.
Synopsis
"Shows that sport has been for us moderns the ultimate
tabula rasa into which we pour our hopes, fears, prejudices and self-interest."and#151;Robert A. Nye, author of
Crime, Madness, and Politics in Modern France and
Masculinity and Male Codes of Honor in Modern France"A true gem of a book. A terrific scholar and an engaging writer."and#151;Dean MacCannell, author of The Tourist and Empty Meeting Grounds
"A major new interpretation of France's most famous sporting event. For the first time the Tour de France has been fully and carefully placed within the wider context of French history."and#151;Richard Holt, author of Sport and Society in Modern France and Sport and the British
"Chris Thompson has written an engaging, nicely-paced account of France's world-famous cycle race: his writing is lively and full of detail and excitement. But he has done much more than simply narrate the story of the Tour. His book sets the raceand#151;its history, its participants and its meaningand#151;firmly in its shifting national and cultural contexts. The sections dealing with professional cycling as a form of labor and with the Tour's place in France's troubled twentieth century are absolutely first-rate: insightful and original. This is the best history of the Tour that we have and are likely to have for many years, a work of scholarship that deserves to find a broad general readership."and#151;Tony Judt, author of Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945
About the Author
David E. Kaplan covers organized crime and terrorism for U.S. News and World Report. He is coauthor of The Cult at the End of the World: The Terrifying Story of the Aum Doomsday Cult (1996) and author of Fires of the Dragon: Politics, Murder and the Kuomingtang (1992). Alec Dubro is a freelance journalist and communications consultant for labor and non-profit groups. He is past president of the National Writers Union.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. La Grande Boucle: Cycling, Progress, and Modernity in Twentieth-Century France
2. Itineraries, Narratives, and Identities in Twentieth-Century France
3. The Gand#233;ants de la Route: Gender and Heroism in Twentieth-Century France
4. Land#8217;Autoand#8217;s Ouvriers de la Pand#233;dale: Work, Class, and the Tour de France, 1903and#150;1939
5. The Forand#231;ats de la Route: Exploits, Exploitation, and the Politics of Athletic Excess, 1903and#150;1939
6. What Price Heroism? Work, Sport, and Drugs in Postwar France
Epilogue
Appendix: Racersand#8217; Occupations
Notes
Bibliography
Index