Outstanding Book Award

Previous Winners

2024, Richard M. Southall, Mark S. Nagel, Ellen J. Staurowsky, Richard T. Karcher, & Joel G. Maxcy. The NCAA and the Exploitation of College Profit Athletes: An Amateurism that Never Was.

2023, Lisa Uperesa (University of Auckland) Gridiron Capital: How American Football Became a Samoan Game

2022, Jennifer McClearen (University of Texas-Austin), Fighting Visibility, Fighting Visibility: Sports Media and Female Athletes

2021, Courtney Szto (Queen’s University), Changing on the Fly: Hockey through the Voices of South Asian Canadians

2020, Hugo Ceron-Anaya (Lehigh University), Privilege at Play: Class, Race, Gender and Golf in Mexico

2019, Matthew Atencio, Becky Beal, E. Missy Wright, & ZáNean McClain (Cal State-East Bay), Moving Boarders: Skateboarding and the Changing Landscape of Urban Youth Sports

2018, Nicole Willms (Gonzaga University), WHen Women Rule the Court: Gender, Race, and Japanese American Basketball

2017, Lindsay Parks Pieper,  Sex testing: Gender policing in women’s sports

2016, James Holstein, Richard Jones, and George Koonce. Is There Life After Football? Surviving the NFL

2015, Alan Klein. Dominican Baseball: New Pride, Old Prejudice

2014, Jeffrey Montez de Oca (University of Colorado, Colorado Springs) Discipline and Indulgence: College Football, Media, and the American Way of Life During the Cold War

2013, Katie Fitzpatrick (University of Auckland) Critical Pedagogy, Physical Education and Urban Schooling

2012, Joshua Newman & Michael Giardina  (both Florida State University) Sport, Spectacle, and NASCAR Nation: Consumption and the Cultural Politics of Neoliberalism

2011, Emily Chivers Yochim (Allegheny College) Skate Life: Re-Imagining White Masculinity

2010, Shari L. Dworkin (UCSF) and Faye Linda Wachs (Cal Poly Pomona) - Body Panic: Gender, Health and the Selling of Fitness

2009, Thomas F. Carter (University of Brighton) - The Quality of Home Runs

2008, Earl Smith (Wake Forest University) - Race, Sport and the American Dream

2007, Pirkko Markula (University of Alberta) and Richard Pringle (University of Waikato) - Foucault, Sport and Exercise: Power Knowledge and Transforming the Self

2006, Michael D. Giardina (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) - Sporting Pedagogies: Performing Culture & Identity in the Global Arena

2005, Sherri Grasmuck (Temple University) - Protecting Home: Class, Race, and Masculinity in Boys' Baseball

2004, Michael Messner (University of Southern California) - Taking the Field- Women, Men and Sport

2003, Dan Nathan (Skidmore College) - Saying It's So: A Cultural History of the Black Sox Scandal

2002, Michael Robidoux (University of Ottawa) - Men at Play: A Working Understanding of Professional Hockey

2001, Nancy Theberge (University of Waterloo) - Higher Goals: Women's Ice Hockey and the Politics of Gender

2000, Varda Burstyn (Independent writer) - The Rites of Men: Manhood, Politics, and the Culture of Sport

1999, Eric Dunning (University of Leicester) - Sport Matters: Sociological Studies of Sport, Violence, and Civilization

1998, John Sugden (University of Brighton) - Boxing and Society: An International Analysis

1997, Alan Klein (Northeastern University) - Baseball on the Border

1996, Jennifer Hargreaves (University of Surrey Roehampton) - Sporting Females: Critical Issues in the History and Sociology of Women's Sports

1995, Todd Crosset (University of Massachusetts) - Outsiders in the Clubhouse: Class and Gender on the Women's Professional Golf Tour

1993, Michael Messner (University of Southern California) - Power at Play: Sport and the Problems of Masculinity

Call for Nominations

This award is presented to the author(s) of the most outstanding book published in the previous calendar year. In order to be eligible for this award, nominations must be made by a NASSS member and meet the following criteria:

  • Books must be scholarly analyses of a sport related issue or phenomenon written from a sociological, anthropological, or related perspective.
  • Books must have been published in the calendar year preceding the year of the award. This year, for the 2025 NASSS Conference, eligible books are those published in 2024.
  • Books must not be edited collections or texts, but rather scholarly analyses of a sport related issue/phenomenon written from a sociological/anthropological (or related) perspective.
  • Previously nominated books may be re-nominated if published in 2024.
  • Books from authors who are not NASSS members are eligible.
  • Nominations for the award must be made by a NASSS member.

Nomination Process

To submit a nomination, please email committee chair Jesse Couture, [email protected]

The email should include the title, author(s), and publisher. All nominations must be made by May 31, 2025.

 

About this Award

This award is presented to the author(s) of the most outstanding book published in the previous calendar year. The award will be presented each year at the annual conference.

The eligibility criteria are as follows:

  1. Books must be scholarly analyses of a sport related issue or phenomenon written from a sociological, anthropological, or related perspective.
  2. Books must have been published in the calendar year preceding the year of the award. So, in 2025, eligible books are those published in 2024.
  3. Books must not be edited collections or texts, but rather scholarly analyses of a sport related issue/phenomenon written from a sociological/anthropological (or related) perspective.
  4. Previously nominated books may be re-nominated if published in 2024.
  5. Books from authors who are not NASSS members are eligible.
  6. Nominations for the award must be made by a NASSS member.

To submit a nomination, email Jesse Couture ([email protected]) by May 31st, 2025.

The email should include the title, author(s) and publisher of the book.