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!