The American Game: History and Hope in the Country of Lacrosse

Sports journalist Price (Playing Through the Whistle) presents a rich cultural history of lacrosse, beginning with the sport’s invention as early as 1100 CE by Haudenosaunee peoples who used it to train warriors and resolve conflicts. In the 1860s, Canadian dentist George Beers “appropriated” the game for white colonists, formalizing a set of rules that prohibited some common components of Indigenous gameplay, such as throwing the ball by hand. Charting how lacrosse came to be associated with collegiate white men, Price explains that an 1876 lacrosse exhibition that Beers arranged for Queen Victoria bestowed a respectability on the game that appealed to the Ivy League set. Lamenting how “laxbros” have sullied the sport’s reputation, Price provides a detailed account of the media storm surrounding University of Virginia midfielder George Huguely’s murder of his ex-girlfriend, Yeardley Love, in 2010, but he contends that the surging popularity of women’s lacrosse is changing the face of the game. Price excels at untangling how colonialism, class, and gender have shaped lacrosse’s history, and he offers a poignant account of how the Haudenosaunee Nationals’ ongoing campaign to play in the 2028 Olympic Games under their own flag is bringing renewed attention to the game’s Indigenous roots. This one’s a winner. Agent: Andrew Blauner, Blauner Books. (May)