Darwin's Athletes : How Sport Has Damaged Black America and Preserved the Myth of Race

DARWIN'S ATHLETES focuses on society's fixation with black athletic achievement. Hoberman argues that this obsession has come to play a troubling role in African American life and our country's race relations. Rich, flamboyant superstars lend credence to age-old prejudices, recycled "scientific" theories denigrating black intelligence, and stereotypes of black violence. This portrayal of black identity encourages a disdain for academic achievement already too widespread among black males. Darwin's Athletes is a powerful indictment of modern sport's racial spectacle. A “provocative, disturbing, important” look at how society's obsession with athletic achievement undermines African Americans (The New York Times). Very few pastimes in America cross racial, regional, cultural, and economic boundaries the way sports do. From the near-religious respect for Sunday Night Football to obsessions with stars like Tiger Woods, Serena Williams, and Michael Jordan, sports are as much a part of our national DNA as life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. But hidden within this reverence—shared by the media, corporate America, even the athletes themselves—is a dark narrative of division, social pathology, and racism. In Darwin's Athletes, John Hoberman takes a controversial look at the profound and disturbing effect that the worship of sports, and specifically of black players, has on national race relations. From exposing the perpetuation of stereotypes of African American violence and criminality to examining the effect that athletic dominance has on perceptions of intelligence to delving into misconceptions of racial biology, Hoberman tackles difficult questions about the sometimes subtle ways that bigotry can be reinforced, and the nature of discrimination. An important discussion on sports, cultural attitudes, and dangerous prejudices, Darwin's Athletes is a “provocative book” that serves as required reading in the ongoing debate of America's racial divide (Publishers Weekly). Darwin's Athletes zeroes in on our society's fixation on black athletic achievement. John Hoberman compellingly argues that this obsession - one shared by both blacks and whites in the media, in corporate America, and even by athletes themselves - has come to play a disastrous role in African American life and a troubling role in our country's race relations. This sports fixation originates in the painful century-long exclusion of blacks from every other path to high achievement. The scarcity of other kinds of " race heroes " has conferred messianic status on the most popular black athletes, which has fostered a delusion of integration while contributing to deep social divisions. Rich, flamboyant superstars lend credence to age-old prejudices, recycled " scientific" theories denigrating black intelligence, and stereotypes of black violence. This athleticizing of black identity encourages a disdain for academic achievement already too widespread among black males. During the past centur "Darwin's Athletes zeroes in on our society's fixation on black athletic achievement. John Hoberman compellingly argues that this obsession - one shared by both blacks and whites in the media, in corporate America, and even by athletes themselves - has come to play a disastrous role in African-American life and a troubling role in our country's race relations." "The sports fixation originates in the painful century-long exclusion of blacks from every other path to high achievement. The scarcity of other kinds of "race heroes" has conferred messianic status on the most popular black athletes, fostering a delusion of integration while contributing to deep social divisions." "Ironically, Hoberman argues, the decline of European empires and the rise of the black athlete helped to preserve rather than undermine the inferior status of nonwhites." --Book Jacket Argues that the prominence of African American athletes provides fuel for sterotypes