"This offering in the 'New Directions in Latino American Cultures' series opens with an extensive introduction that includes information about the first appearances in Latin America of soccer (from England) and baseball (from the US), a history and survey of cultural sport studies and their development in Latin America, and generalizations about sports and nationalism. ... The book is well documented throughout. ... Summing Up: Highly recommended. Graduate students, researchers, faculty." (R. V. McGehee, Choice, Vol. 53 (5), January, 2016) "This book is a welcome contribution to a tremendously important but inexplicably neglected field in Latin American popular cultures. The politics of sport have accompanied the processes of urbanization and modernization, and shaped national, gendered, and class identities in Latin America since late nineteenth century. Nowadays, sports' transnational commodification poses new and complex queries that demand our attention." - Abril Trigo, Ohio State University, USA and author of Crisis y Transfiguracion de los Estudios Culturales Latinoamericanos "I know of no other book that offers such a rich, diverse, and enlightening collection of essays about the relationship between sports and nationalism in any region of the world. This is a path breaking collection of essays that is rare in its breadth, the quality of its scholarship, and the comprehensiveness of its treatment of various sports in Latin/o America. It sets a new standard for future studies on the politics and culture of sports in the region." - Carlos Aguirre, University of Oregon, USA and author of The Criminals of Lima and Their Worlds: The Prison Experience, 1850 1935
