Promotions - Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles 2020 -

Readers may wonder whether this book, as edited by Hochstetler (Pennsylvania State Univ. Lehigh Valley), represents the response of its various authors to the modern growth of endurance sport or to life in a world that rarely allows for time to be with oneself. Perhaps it is both, with contributing authors examining in the process the foundations of the American philosophical tradition. Hochstetler asks "to what extent, and in what ways, does endurance sport play at least a small part in our quest to live a meaningful and gathered life in a world that is so harried?" This question is examined through the lens of American philosophical thinking in the nine essays gathered here. These are densely written pieces, demanding that readers take time to contemplate and reflect. Only athletes thoroughly devoted to their craft would attempt to run a fifty-mile race. So too should the reader of this text be schooled in philosophical reasoning. The demand on readers ensures that this book is not for novices, but the reward for those willing to engage with the text is a highly stimulating, even life-changing examination of the aspiration and training required for performance in endurance sport.Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty; professionals.

Katra is a lifelong recreational mountain climber (meaning rope and crampons), a historian, and author of works on Latin American history--most recently Jose Artigas and the Federal League in Uruguay's War of Independence (2017); also see The Argentine Generation of 1837 (CH, Jun'96, 33-5900) and Contorno: Literary Engagement in Post-Peronist Argentina (CH, Sep'88, 26-0196). This is Katra's first book on his avocation, a nostalgic reprise of climbs executed from student days onward, from Cathedral Spires in the Alaska Range to Aconcagua, the highest peak in the Andes. The memoir comprises 16 chapters, beginning with "Climbing Snippets," from which brief vignettes of climbs undertaken between 1962 and 2014 tumble out. Next are chapter-length descriptions of major expeditions in North and South America. Color and black-and-white photographs from the author's collection are included. A glossary of climbing terms and chapter notes provides realia and documentation. The writing is remarkably vivid, offering insight into Katra's state of mind under stressful conditions (e.g., distinguishing between irrational and life-saving fear; recognizing signs of altitude sickness) and seemingly fresh-picked observations of alpine surroundings and climbing conditions. Candid character assessments of climbing partners and of self are scattered throughout, contributing to readers' sense of having gained entree to a literary diarist's notebook.Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readers.

This anthology offers readers a dense and intense foray into the theoretical approach of new materialism as applied to sport and sporting practice, technologies, and ecologies. The 15 chapters, most contributed by sport studies scholars, particularly sport sociologists, cover topics as varied as Bondi Beach (Doug Booth), the 2016 Olympics in Brazil (Mary McDonald and Jennifer Sterling), protein shakes (Samantha King), and fitness trackers (Mary Louise Adams). Additionally, the book includes a separately authored foreword, introduction, and afterword orienting the reader to the work of the roughly 26 different scholars involved. The unifying theme of the whole volume is theoretical examination of sporting equipment, events, and related places. Many theorists are cited, but these authors primarily use the works of French scholars such as Bruno Latour, Gilles Deleuze, and Felix Guattari, as well as works of contemporary US scholar Karen Barad. Although sport and its accoutrements are the focus of all the authors, the primary purpose of the anthology is actually engagement with the theories in order to better understand sport. This anthology may introduce readers to a variety of theorists and approaches, but it is not an introductory work on sport theory. For serious sport theorists, though, it is a smorgasbord.Summing Up: Highly recommended. Graduate students through faculty.