Dr. Balmer is a noted historian specializing in religion and a faculty member at Dartmouth with an impressive reputation. This is his first foray into a "popular" field, and it unites his professional interests in history and religion with his experiences as a sports fan, and in particular an observer of sports talk radio. In fact, this book began germinating nearly thirty years ago as the author first experienced the peculiar world of the sports call-in show.

The thesis of the book is captured in the subtitle: How Religion Shaped Sports in North America. In some ways, it could be argued (and Dr. Balmer does) that sports has replaced religion in the American psyche. The emergence of organized sports, especially in the college and professional ranks, has replaced the ties that used to be based on religion over the last 200 years or so.

This is a somewhat slim volume, at a bit more than 130 pages plus copious reference notes, in six sections: an introduction that presents the reason for the book and the thinking behind it; four chapters, each on a different sport (baseball, football, hockey, and basketball) that provides an overview of the history of the sport and the racial prejudices that often accompany it; and a final conclusion summarizing the author's conclusions. I was most captivated by the chapter on hockey, because I knew little of the beginnings of that sport before reading the book.

Dr. Balmer makes some astute observations on the place of sport in today's society, on how he beginnings of each sport depend in large part on religious underpinnings, and how each sport reflects a different aspect of society that is tied to the time and place of its origin and how it spread. The development of these entertainments has both had an impact on society and has been shaped strongly by that society. This is a strong academic effort. While the book is very readable from an academic point of view, it is not a breezy read for all; Dr. Balmer writes more with an academic viewpoint than that of a popular writer of books for quick consumption. Still, this is a book worth the time to read it for observers of sports and society.