The best sports history books for young (and older) adults

I loved this book for the flavor it evokes of the early days of the game: the clowning, rough play, and inconsistent pay; the bus rides, bedbugs, and vexations of segregation. All are told in the voice of an everyman Negro Leagues player.

The conceit allows author Kadir Nelson to bring the reader closer to the feel of the times and to provide interpretations that avoid sounding pedantic: “You couldn’t change those folks’ minds anyhow. We were just a bunch of ballplayers. They were long set in their ways.” Nelson’s bold, full-page illustrations are surely the most striking feature of this book. They imbue each Negro Leaguer with unequivocal dignity; they stimulate the viewer to imagine himself there, in the stands, looking on.

This book tells the story of Jim Thorpe, Pop Warner, the Carlisle Indian School, and football itself. In 1900, the game could be deadly for players and deadly dull for fans. The rules were changed to make it safer, but it took Warner, Thorpe, and the Carlisle eleven to reinvent how it was played.

This is an uplifting story that nonetheless raises serious issues of sportsmanship, racism, and hypocrisy. I appreciated that Sheinkin does not preach. He acknowledges limits to our knowledge. He asks questions, suggests answers, and allows readers to make their own interpretations. He allows for complexity and never judges. Above all, his writing is as muscular as an All-American halfback, his storytelling as compelling as a championship rivalry.

The New York Renaissance Big Five triumphed in the first integrated professional basketball championship of 1939. The story of how they reached the pinnacle of the sport is eye-opening. In the early days, they played on the dance floor of Harlem’s Renaissance Casino and Ballroom. The border between amateur and professional was porous, even if the line of segregation was not. 

Abdul-Jabbar’s chapter on the so-called Rens is surrounded by three others on the history of Harlem, its Renaissance writers, and its jazz musicians. Each of the historical chapters is followed, call-and-response style, with Abdul-Jabbar’s personal reflections on how the historical legacy affected him. I found the historical chapters highly readable and richly detailed. The personal reflections on the history’s impact on his youth made a unique reading experience. 

Who knew the bicycle helped advance the cause of women’s suffrage? I loved how this book took a seemingly modest technological invention and showed how it contributed to wide-ranging social, cultural, and, ultimately, political change. Though notable figures make appearances, what appealed to me was Macy’s focus on the everyday woman. Frances Willard may have spoken for these women when she wrote, “I began to feel that myself plus the bicycle equaled myself plus the world.” 

The book is richly illustrated with an abundance of sidebar features, including facsimiles of contemporary newspaper clippings. Wheels of Change shows how political change goes hand-in-hand with more mundane socio-cultural shifts. The bicycle gave women the fact of personal independence and a sense of new possibility.

Part sports book, part WWII book, and large part survival story: Hillenbrand's narrative never ceases to astonish. What Louis Zamperini endured adrift in a life raft for six weeks and in POW camps for two years is beyond imagining, and yet Hillenbrand documents it all in harrowing detail. 

But first, Louis is just a troubled kid with a knack for making mischief. Running saves him. He qualifies for the 1936 Olympics and places 5th in the 5,000 meters. His Olympic dreams for 1940 are shattered by the war, but he becomes a bombardier in the Army Air Forces. Louis’s story doesn’t end with his rescue after the war. In the moving final section, Louis finds unexpected redemption and makes a triumphant Olympic return.