Sports in U.S. History

Interested to learn about why sport is a great way in to explore all sorts of social, cultural, political and economic history, and also how award-winning “sport and society” books are written? Join HST 377: Sports in U.S. History, for a conversation with Andrew Maraniss, a prolific writer and guest speaker appearing virtually from Vanderbilt University, and moderated by Victoria Jackson, sports historian at ASU.

This classroom conversation is Monday, Oct. 18, 1:30–2:45 p.m. PDT and is open to the public to attend via Zoom. A link will be shared at a later date. 

Andrew Maraniss is a New York Times-bestselling author of narrative nonfiction for teens and adults focused on sports and social justice. His first book, STRONG INSIDE, a biography of Perry Wallace, the first Black basketball player in the SEC, was the recipient of the 2015 Lillian Smith Book Award and the lone Special Recognition honor at the 2015 RFK Book Awards. The Young Reader edition was named one of the Top 10 Biographies and Top 10 Sports Books of 2017 by the American Library Association.

His second book, GAMES OF DECEPTION, is the story of the first U.S. Olympic basketball team, which competed at the 1936 Summer Games in Nazi Germany. It received the 2020 Sydney Taylor Honor Award and was named one of Amazon’s Best Books of 2019. His latest book, SINGLED OUT, is a biography of Glenn Burke, the first openly gay Major League Baseball player, and next year he will publish his fourth book, INAUGURAL BALLERS, on the first U.S. women’s Olympic basketball team at the 1976 Olympics in Montreal.

Andrew directs special projects at Vanderbilt University Athletics and is a contributor to ESPN’s TheUndefeated.com.

This event is offered as part of a university-wide celebration of Humanities Week hosted by The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at ASU.

Victoria Jackson

vljackso@asu.edu