Sports Studies

China Gold: China’s Quest for Global Power and Olympic Glory is first and foremost about the training, the determination, and the focus that make international competitions so exciting. But China Gold is also an excellent introduction to China and its people, with glorious full-color chapters about the history of sports in China (including women’s sports in ancient China), traditional physical activities like tai chi and wushu, and extreme and new sports. It puts into context the drama of China’s economic growth and social development, and the controversies surrounding the Games of 2008, making it also a valuable companion to the Winter Games of 2022.

Touchdown: An American Obsession is the first comprehensive guide to the history and culture of the sport, by some of the world’s leading sports scholars. The volume includes US high school and college football as well as professional football worldwide.

The Berkshire Encyclopedia of Extreme Sports presents in one volume all that we know about extreme sports: the individualist, adventure-type sports such as bungee jumping, dirt biking, sky surfing, and rock climbing that are the fastest growing segment of the sports world.

Lucid and authoritative, this work – called “the newest sporting bible” by The Times of London – covers every Olympic sport, obscure activities such as buzkashi and jousting, and indigenous games in dozens of nations. This set, the original Encyclopedia of World Sport developed for ABC-CLIO by Berkshire Publishing during its days as a book packager, is packed with everything you could possibly want to know about hundreds of sports. Along with detailed information on how sports are played around the world, the Encyclopedia of World Sport explores emotions and issues surrounding the sporting life and looks at sport as an essential part of the human experience. Readers will find fascinating entries on baseball and badminton, tennis and takraw, as well as on an incredible range of activities played around the globe from ancient times up to the present.

The three-volume International Encyclopedia of Women and Sports is the largest and most comprehensive work about women’s sports ever published. In 430 A-Z articles, leading scholars and specialists cover numerous sports and sports figures, as well as health issues such as eating disorders, nutrition and bone density, and social issues such as body image, gender equity and Title IX legislation (which mandates equity in school funding for women’s sports programs). A number of organizations contributed to this project, including the Women’s Sports Foundation, the International Working Group on Women and Sport, Amateur Athletic Foundation, and others. One of the American Library Association’s RUSA committee’s choice for Outstanding Reference Publications 2001. “A monumental undertaking, this encyclopedia covers women’s sports worldwide and throughout history…. This encyclopedia’s strengths lie in its unique, cross-cultural treatment of all subjects…. A scholarly resource for public libraries and schools at all levels, middle school through college.” —Library Journal.

The new Berkshire Encyclopedia of World Sport tackles the whole world of sport, from major professional sports and sporting events to community and youth sports. It expands on the previous edition, which The (London) Times called “the newest sporting bible.” Berkshire sports titles have been praised by GQ magazine, La Gazzetta dello Sport, and the UK bookmakers William Hill, and received awards from Choice, Library Journal, and Booklist. This edition begins with the origins of sport among prehistoric hunters and gatherers and extends to the global sports industry of the twenty-first century. It covers the business of sports—marketing, management, and ownership—as well as key social issues ranging from doping, racism, sexism, and youth participation, to performance enhancement and sports psychology.