The Race Game

1999 North American Society for Sports History Book of the YearDouglas Booth looks at the role of sport in the fostering of a new national identity in South Africa. He analyzes the effect of the 30-year sport boycott but concludes that sport will never unite South Africans except in the most fleeting and superficial manner.

Booth, Douglas

ROBERT CHAPPELL - BRUNEL UNI -"This important book deserves a place on the shelf of all university libraries, as it is an excellent addition to those books already available."
New Zealand International Review- " Booth traces the development and changes in racial attitudes in South Africa, particularly with regard to sport, from the 19th century" - whilst reading it, the thought that was "never far away...was how useful this book would have been thirty years ago for those of us who were on the anti-apartheid campaign trail".
Choice - November 1998
"His book is recommended reading for all interested in sport as a crucial player, not only in sociocultural development, but in nation building."
African Affairs: The Jnl of the Royal African Society- " " The Race Game is both a scholarly and a readble history of sport...A major strength of the work is the sharp analysis of the changing relationship between sport and politics from 1948 to the collapse of apartheid, including an excelllent reappraisal of the development and contribution of the anti-apartheid international sports boycott.
Ethnic and Racial Studies-" In an illuminating and often invigorating exposition of the process through which race and national identities have shaped the political development of sport, Douglas Booth provides a history of the complex interplay between sport, race and class relations in South Africa...It is abundantly clear that in sport, the years of political, racial and class divisions in South Africa will not be solved overnight, and Douglas Booth is to be commended for articulating and chronicling the reasons why in such a forthright and succinct manner."
Mass Phenomena- Sociological Abstracts
The Sports Historian, at http://www.umist.ac.uk/sport/revs182.html
"Booth is supplying an in-depth and wide ranging critique of the politics surrounding South African sport since the 1960s. His work is built on an intricate knowledge of the specific sporting history of his topic, of the key figures and organisations ... In all his coverage Booth shows a solid understanding of the politics of South Africa, both black and white, and offers a sensible critique and assessment of the policy of sports boycott."
The International Journal of the History of Sport
"essential reading for anyone with an interest in the socio-political or cultural history of South Africa...a seminal work in its field"
Nationalism and Ethnic Politics:
"a perceptive historical analysis... an excellent resource for anyone interested in racial politics of Southern Africa".