II. Books
Note: Compiling an adequate list of resources on college sports is nearly impossible, and we do not attempt to do so. Instead, we offer the materials below as a starting point for those interested in learning more about the central issues, narratives, and themes that define and inform college sports' history, current state, and future. In other parts of the website, we identify and discuss additional, relevant resources that users may find helpful. The Resources Tab is a work in progress. We invite and encourage you to suggest additional materials.
Books include selections from academic writers, historians, and social/cultural commentators. This list emphasizes books that broadly analyze structural, institutional, and values-based issues in college sports and higher education. It excludes (1) books based on college sports mythologies and conference/school/coach/athlete glorification (or condemnation) and (2) acclaimed access-based (“insider”) books that include compelling critiques on larger sports and cultural issues, such as books by noted authors David Halberstam (e.g., The Breaks of the Game, Playing for Keeps, The Amateurs), John Feinstein (e.g., A Season on the Brink, A March to Madness, The Last Amateurs), Armen Keteyian (e.g., The System), and Joe Nocera (e.g., Indentured: The Inside Story of the Rebellion Against the NCAA).
Bowen, W. G., & Levin, S. A. (2003, September 1). Reclaiming the Game: College Sports and Educational Values.
Byers, W., & Hammer, C. (1995, October 3). Unsportsmanlike Conduct: Exploiting College Athletes.
Chu, D. (1989) The Character of American Higher Education and Intercollegiate Sport. Albany: State University of New York Press.
Clotfelter, C. T. (2019, January 5). Big-Time Sports in American Universities.
DeVenzio, D. (1986, January 1). Rip-Off U: The Annual Theft and Exploitation of Major College Revenue Producing Student-Athletes.
Dunnavant, K. (2004). The 50 Year Seduction: How Television Manipulated College Football, from the Birth of the Modern NCAA to the Creation of the BCS. Thomas Dunne Books.
Edwards, H. (2017, May 2). The Revolt of the Black Athlete: 50th Anniversary Edition.
Gurney, G., Lopiano, D. A., & Zimbalist, A. (2016, December 13). Unwinding Madness: What Went Wrong with College Sports and How to Fix It.
Hawkins, B. (2010, January 15). The New Plantation: Black Athletes, College Sports, and Predominantly White NCAA Institutions.
Herman, E. S., & Chomsky, N. (2002, January 15). Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media. Pantheon.
Kerr, C. (2001, March 2). The Uses of the University: Fifth Edition (Vol. 11).
Michener, J. (1976). Sports in America. Random House.
Porto, B. (2012, January 3). The Supreme Court and the NCAA: The Case for Less Commercialism and More Due Process in College Sports.
Rhoden, W. C. (2007, July 24). Forty Million Dollar Slaves: The Rise, Fall, and Redemption of the Black Athlete. Broadway Books.
Rudolph, F. (1962). The American College and University. Random House
Sack, A. L., & Staurowsky, E. J. (1998, January 1). College Athletes for Hire: The Evolution and Legacy of the NCAA’s Amateur Myth. Greenwood.
Shulman, J., & Bowen, W. G. (2001, February 1). The Game of Life: College Sports and Educational Values.
Smith, R. A. (1988, November 3). Sports and Freedom: The Rise of Big-Time College Athletics.
Smith, R. A. (2001, January 15). Play-by-Play: Radio, Television, and Big-Time College Sport.
Smith, R. A. (2010, October 1). Pay for Play: A History of Big-Time College Athletic Reform.
Smith, R. A. (2021, May 4). The Myth of the Amateur. University of Texas Press.
Southall, R. M., Nagel, M. S., Staurowsky, E. J., Karcher, R. T., & Maxcy, J. G. (2023, May 4). The NCAA and the Exploitation of College Profit-Athletes: An Amateurism That Never Was.
Sperber, M. (1990, September 1). College Sports Inc.: The Athletic Department vs. the University.
Sperber, M. (2000, September 20). Beer and Circus: How Big-Time College Sports Is Crippling Undergraduate Education.
Thelin, J. R. (1996, November 15). Games Colleges Play: Scandal and Reform in Intercollegiate Athletics.
Thelin, J. R. (2004, September 7). A History of American Higher Education.
Wetzel, D., & Yaeger, D. (2000, January 11). Sole Influence: Basketball, Corporate Greed, and the Corruption of America’s Youth.
Zimbalist, A. (1999, July 1). Unpaid Professionals: Commercialism and Conflict in Big-Time College Sports.
