Hockey was one of my favorite childhood memories. Sitting on the couch watching the games with my dad. This book was so interesting. Was written well. Loved it.

This book has some fascinating information on the early days of hockey and the other games from.which it was derived such as bandy. However, it is a very dense book that is not an easy read and is hard to follow even though it does follow the global game chronologically. It gets three stars because I finished, but it will take a long time to read and absorb all the minutia about hockey's development.

Hockey: A Global History was written by two professors, and it shows: the book is well-researched. But, it might also be a bit dense for the average reader, using words such as "anathema" and "perfunctory."

The book feels like one part love letter to the sport, one part history, and one part criticism. The authors discuss how the game has become "more corporate and more influenced by the NHL," as well as how opportunities are vastly different for women, people of color, LGBTQ people, and people with disabilities. But they also clearly love the sport, and what it can do.

In addition to the book's range, I appreciate that the authors acknowledge that there's never been a golden age of hockey, despite people's predilection for seeing the past with rose-colored glasses. And I feel like they'd be the two to know - I've not seen another book cover this wide an expanse of hockey history. If you want to learn the history of the sport, this is the book to read.

(Full disclosure: I did not finish the entire book. It's long, and detailed! But I read enough to know I'd recommend it for the above reasons - especially how well-researched it is.)

this book is incredibly interesting. As a fairly recent hockey fan, it was lovely to learn about the history of the game from a global perspective.

This really is the HISTORY of hockey, it starts at the very beginning, even going as far back as the 1500s to look at how all the sports have progressed. The first chapters though deal mainly with the 1800s and the forming of hocking in Canada and how it spread throughout America. Once we get to the 1900s it focuses on the rest of the world as well. As a child I used to skate (ice dance), and I also followed the local ice hockey team (Bradford), however, I have only been an NHL fan for the last few years (I’m from England, where most people follow Soccer, Rugby and Cricket). I found this global history of hockey mesmerising and addictive, I learned so many interesting facts, facts about locations, stadiums, players, and the politics. There is also in-depth information on European and Russian hockey leagues. Extremely well informed and written. It took some reading (definitely not a quick read). Too many dates and facts and figures for them to be absorbed, but still a super interesting reference. The book also touched on women’s hockey, gay and LGBQA hockey, I do however wish they had spent more time on the hockey of today, I would have loved to have learned more about hockey over the last decade or two.

We’re a hockey family. My parents had season tickets for one of the original six NHL teams and my son plays. So when I saw this pop up, I seized the opportunity to read it. Sadly, neither my son nor I could finish this. I realize it’s more of a “history” type book, but there just wasn’t anything there to hold our interest. Perhaps I’ll come back to it someday.

Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and the authors for the opportunity to read this book.