Big Game, Small World: A Basketball Adventure Book + PRICE WATCH * Amazon pricing is not included in price watch

Big Game, Small World: A Basketball Adventure Book

From basketball's origins in Canada to modern China--with stops in Iowa, Italy, Arizona, and Angola--Big Game, Small World: A Basketball Adventure ably tracks the international growth and popularity of basketball. Alexander Wolff simply (and convincingly) explores basketball's reach as a driving force and saving grace. Some countries mimic the NBA to the last detail, while the game provides a symbol of freedom and opportunity in more restrictive countries. Interviews with players, coaches, and local legends provide insight into how the sport has evolved, and what it means, in their respective countries. Perhaps most importantly, we see that, like soccer, basketball is a part of the social fabric, played everywhere by children, sometimes with little more than the rocks Dr. James Naismith had. Although Wolff covers much ground, he covers it quickly; details beyond the game are relatively sparse, as though he had a tight schedule. Still, the book is thoughtfully prepared, the interviews engaging, and Wolff a sure-handed writer. So why the drive in small countries to play basketball? As a Lithuanian noted: "In Lithuania today, if you have money, you have no reputation, because your money is black [market] money. If you have reputation, you are teacher, scientist, artist--but you have no money. Only basketball player has money and reputation." True, this observation applies to many sports worldwide, but Big Game, Small World stands as part of the proof. --Michael FerchRead More

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  • Product Description

    Named a New York Times Notable Book of the Year, Alexander Wolff's in-depth look at hoop dreams around the world is now in trade paperback.In Bhutan the king has his own hoops tutor--and basketball helped ward off a war. In Florida a three-on-three tournament draws the best schoolyard players in America. From China to New York City and beyond, the quaint little sport that James Naismith invented in 1891 has leapt over boundaries and swept across language barriers around the globe. To capture this amazing phenomenon, Alexander Wolff traveled the world and chronicled the personalities, histories, tragedies, and comedies spinning around the sport of basketball--and shows how its ferocity, power, and grace appeal to the human passions in everyone.

  • 0446679895
  • 9780446679893
  • Alexander Wolff
  • 6 May 2004
  • Little, Brown & Company
  • Paperback (Book)
  • 448
  • Reprint
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