Synopses & Reviews
Sport, Spectacle, and NASCAR Nation critically examines the complex intersections of sport, consumer culture, and contemporary U.S. politics. Based on extensive ethnographic research, the authors give a first-hand account of NASCARs recent ascent into the North American sporting mainstream. Along the way, they explore the unique bond between NASCAR and conservative U.S. political movements--and their various Southern, Christian, militaristic, free-market alignments. Sport, Spectacle, and NASCAR Nation is a must read for students and scholars in cultural studies, sport studies, education, sociology, and political sciences, as well as those interested in promoting a less divisive sporting future.
Review
Newman and Giardina's study is a must read for those who want to understand the interplay between American sports, culture, and politics. Highly recommended, C. M. Smith, Cabrini College
“This groundbreaking text is more than just a fascinating and well-researched account of one of Americas most popular spectator sports; it is also an urgent and necessary explication of the current troubled state of the United States in the context of the recent growth of Christian fundamentalism and militaristic nationalism. Sport, Spectacle, and NASCAR Nation is essential reading for anyone interested in contemporary American politics and the central role that sport continues to play in reshaping ‘the American Dream.” --Ben Carrington, University of Texas at Austin; author of Race, Sport and Politics: The Sporting Black Diaspora
“Arguably the most comprehensive contextualization of twenty-first century American sport culture; a compelling, powerful, and indeed invaluable antidote to the public pedagogy of the NASCAR spectacle” --David L. Andrews, University of Maryland; author of Sport-Commerce-Culture: Essays on Sport in Late Capitalist America
“Closely argued and deeply researched, this freewheeling study takes readers to the intersections of politics and spectacle, of race and representation, of South and North. It shows how the dizzying speed of the market and the seeming traditionalism of fundamentalist religion coexist in US conservatism.” -David R. Roediger, University of Illinois; author of How Race Survived U.S. History: From Settlement and Slavery to the Obama Phenomenon
Synopsis
Sport, Spectacle, and NASCAR Nation critically interrogates stockcar racing’s ascendance into the upper-echelon of the North American sporting popular. While most contributions to the public discourse gloss over NASCAR’s exclusively white racial identity politics, its underlying patriarchal gender politics, its overtly conservative political commitment, its hyper-Christian orthodoxy, and its omnipresent commercialism, this book connects the dots and critically analyzes the problematic nature of this non-natural, strategically-orchestrated sporting spectacle.
About the Author
Joshua I. Newman is Lecturer in the School of Physical Education at the University of Otago in New Zealand.
Michael D. Giardina is an Assistant Professor in the College of Education at Florida State University. He is the author of Sporting Pedagogies: Performing Culture & Identity in the Global Arena, which received the 2006 “Most Outstanding Book” award from the North American Society for the Sociology of Sport.
Table of Contents
Why NASCAR? Why Now? * Sporting Automobility * The Road and Serfdom * Consuming Stockcar Bodies * The "Southernization" of Sporting America * Racing for Jesus * Militarizing NASCAR Nation * The Limits to NASCAR Nation * Coda: On Recession and Secession