About this product

Product Identifiers

PublisherPublic Affairs

ISBN-101645036952

ISBN-139781645036951

eBay Product ID (ePID)3057275581

Product Key Features

Book TitleBlack Ball : Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Spencer Haywood, and the Generation That Saved the Soul of the Nba

Number of Pages368 Pages

LanguageEnglish

TopicGeneral, United States / 21st Century, Basketball, Ethnic Studies / African American Studies

Publication Year2023

IllustratorYes

GenreSports & Recreation, Social Science, History

AuthorTheresa Runstedtler

FormatHardcover

Dimensions

Item Height1.5 in

Item Weight20 oz

Item Length9.6 in

Item Width6.4 in

Additional Product Features

Intended AudienceTrade

LCCN2022-029151

Dewey Edition23

Reviews"A needed examination of the contributions of Black players to the NBA, with a focus on the stars of the game in the 1970s and how they ushered in change to the NBA in the face of racism and prejudice." -- Men's Health, "Runstedtler's superior storytelling, buoyed by expert research, casts a new light on the league's complex history. This savvy reappraisal of the NBA's tumultuous evolution soars."-- Publishers Weekly, starred review, " Black Ball is instructive reading for anyone interested in the rise of the modern NBA."-- The Washington Post, "[A] wise, engaging and frankly overdue survey of a crucial moment in sports history...'Black Ball' is a timely read at a moment when professional athletes are more outspoken than ever on social issues, and when it's clear that sports and society are inextricably linked."-- Los Angeles Times, "[ Black Ball ] pays respect to several key NBA players--Connie Hawkins, Spencer Haywood, Oscar Robertson, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar among them--who, in the supposedly apolitical 1970s, laid the essential economic and political groundwork upon which the modern, hugely successful NBA was built...This low-key but important title fills some glaring gaps in the history of American sports, economics, race relations, and politics."-- Booklist, starred review

Dewey Decimal796.323640973

SynopsisA vital narrative history of 1970s pro basketball, and the Black players who shaped the NBA Against a backdrop of ongoing resistance to racial desegregation and strident calls for Black Power, the NBA in the 1970s embodied the nation's imagined descent into disorder. A new generation of Black players entered the league then, among them Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Spencer Haywood, and the press and public were quick to blame this cohort for the supposed decline of pro basketball, citing drugs, violence, and greed. Basketball became a symbol for post-civil rights America: the rules had changed, allowing more Black people onto the playing field, and now they were ruining everything.Enter Black Ball , a gripping history and corrective in which scholar Theresa Runstedtler expertly rewrites basketball's "Dark Ages." Weaving together a deep knowledge of the game with incisive social analysis, Runstedtler argues that this much-maligned period was pivotal to the rise of the modern-day NBA. Black players introduced an improvisational style derived from the playground courts of their neighborhoods. They also challenged the team owners' autocratic power, garnering higher salaries and increased agency. Their skills, style, and savvy laid the foundation for the global popularity and profitability of the league we know today., A vital narrative history of 1970s pro basketball, and the Black players who shaped the NBA Against a backdrop of ongoing resistance to racial desegregation and strident calls for Black Power, the NBA in the 1970s embodied the nation's imagined descent into disorder. A new generation of Black players entered the league, among them Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Spencer Haywood, and the press and public were quick to blame this cohort for the supposed decline of pro-basketball, citing drugs, violence, and greed. Basketball became a symbol for post-civil rights America: the rules had changed, allowing more Black people onto the playing field, and now they were ruining everything. Enter Black Ball , a gripping corrective in which scholar Theresa Runstedtler expertly rewrites basketball's "Dark Ages." Weaving together a deep knowledge of the game with incisive social analysis, Runstedtler argues that this much-maligned period was pivotal to the rise of the modern-day NBA.

LC Classification NumberGV885.515.N37R86