It took me longer than expected to finish this book on lacrosse, a sport in which I have become more interest the last few years and one in which it is hard to find books. Therefore, my first review in October took longer, but I was glad I finished this book - here is my review of "The American Game."
Title/Author:
“The American Game: History and Hope in the Country of Lacrosse” by S.L. Price
Rating:
3 ½ of 5 stars (good)
Review:
The title of this book by S.L. Price, a long-time Sports Illustrated writer, is very appropriate for a book on the sport of lacrosse. While it is very well-known that Native Americans played the earliest known versions of the game, not much is known about their struggle to field their own team as a nation. That is just one of the topics Price covers about the sport in the book.
The Haudenosaunee (formerly Iroquois before taking back their original name) tried to enter Isreal for the 2018 world championships using their own passports instead of becoming part of the teams from the United States or Canada. This caused several issues, but they eventually competed in the tournament. The difficulties they faced is just one of several issues with the game that Price describes.
Other topics that are highlighted that trouble the sport is the lack of diversity, the lack of women in the sport, at least before Title IX was passed (it should be noted that Price does a really nice writeup of the recent state of women’s college lacrosse, including the fact that it is growing faster than the men’s game) and the “laxbro” attitude of the players who are mostly white, upper to upper middle class, and have a history of substance abuse. While it was very appropriate to include these topics, they were more of the focus of the book instead of the sport itself and for me, that was a disappointment.
However, when Price did write about the game, whether the growth of the women’s game, the “medicine games” played by the indigenous players in its earliest days and is still done by them today or just recapping how some schools such as Johns Hopkins in Baltimore (men) or Northwestern University near Chicago (women) became powerhouses in the sport. While not at the level that a person who knows nothing about lacrosse would understand, Price’s text on actual game play and the positions are very good as well.
My thoughts on this book, as one can probably tell, are very mixed. On the one hand, it has great information on the sport at various times in its history, albeit a little uneven as Price switches from one topic to another and back often. Also as noted, the book did seem to concentrate on the hard issues of the sport instead of the beauty of the game. Nonetheless, it is worth checking out if one wants to learn more about the sport of lacrosse.
I wish to thank Atlantic Monthly Press for providing a copy of the book via NetGalley. The opinions expressed in this review are strictly my own.
