Trying to write a review of this book can be a challenge – just like describing the history of racial issues in Boston, especially in the world of sports. This collection of essays is a very noble attempt to describe how various sports played a role in this discussion and how the full history can be best described as “complicated.”

Just the well-known facts can send a mixed signal to the average person – Boston teams were the first ones to draft a Black player in the NBA (Chuck Cooper, Celtics), to have a Black player appear in an NHL game (Willie O’Ree, Bruins) and the first Black coach to win an NBA title (Bill Russell, Celtics.) Yet, the Red Sox were the last baseball team to integrate, they held a bogus “tryout” for three players in 1945, including Jackie Robinson, and the city as a whole held Black athletes to different standards. Even legends like Russell felt that the city was less than welcoming toward them.

This collection of essays tries to bring to light some of the lesser-known matters of the issues, challenges and successes experienced by these athletes. One excellent example is the rich history of semi-pro baseball in the Boston area by many Black teams. They not only played excellent games, some of which are described in great detail, they also faced many white or integrated teams and received praise for their play. This was the best chapter for one of the main goals of the book – to shine the light on lesser-known athletes and their accomplishments. That goes for their work toward civil rights and equality for all people as well as their athletic achievements.

The variety of sports covered in the book was also impressive – baseball, hockey, basketball, cricket, tennis and golf are just a few of the sports in which Boston-based Black athletes made contributions to both their sport and the fight for equality. That was the biggest takeaway I had with this book – the sheer number of unknown athletes whose contributions have been lost in time. It should also be noted that the subjects of equality for women, non-binary athletes and the LBGTQ+ community are also addressed in the book as well as racial issues.

The book is a more scholarly one in nature, has many notes and references and is one that a reader must read carefully to fully grasp the message being sent by the writer. However, that time will be well spent after learning the amazing work done by these athletes.

I wish to thank University of Nebraska Press for providing a copy of the book. The opinions expressed in this review are strictly my own.

This book is a compilation of essays from various authors on the concept of race and sports in the city of Boston. A fairly narrow scope, I knew going in that it may be niche but I was still left wanting for context and narrative.

The book is broken down into a few broad categories, but the divisions were not always clear and the best way I can think of categorizing is most chapters deal with a particular sport (basketball, baseball, tennis, golf, hockey, cricket, etc).

Generally I was interested and learned quite a bit, but had a few cons with this one:
1. The fact that each chapter is written by a different author (or two of three collaborating on a chapter) makes the style vary WIDELY throughout the book. Some are clearly just academic dissertations popped in the book while others are more informal. Hard to get in a flow of reading.
2. There is a SIGNIFICANT amount of historical detail in each chapter. Depending on the chapter, it’s less overarching narrative than a year by year recap of various players’ box scores. Once I began to skim the details a bit more and look for major points I enjoyed it a lot more.
3. The chapter on the media responses to Jason Collin’s and Britney Greiner’s various coming out moments was interesting but definitely didn’t fit the theme of the book. Just felt like an odd wedged in point, with it not pertaining to race or Boston.

Overall still a lot to learn and the chapters on basketball and cricket were really phenomenal.

Thanks to NetGalley, University of Nebraska Press, and the author for the advanced copy!