books
Playing With the Boys:
Why Separate is Not Equal in Sports
Choice Outstanding Academic Title for 2008 —NOW IN PAPERBACK
From small-town life to the national stage, from the boardroom to Capitol Hill, athletic contests help define what we mean in America by success. And by keeping women from playing with the boys on the grounds that they are inherently inferior to men, society relegates them to second-class status in American life.
REVIEWS & Commentary
“Convincingly argue[s] the notion that sports, like politics, higher education, and employment generally, should provide equal opportunity for women... Highly recommended.” — Library Journal
“In this informative, well-written book, [McDonagh and Pappano]...offer relevant information critical to understanding the role of gender in sport. The authors not only define the specifics of the problem but also probe questions associated with the formulation of gender roles... Highly recommended.” — CHOICE
The Connection Gap:
Why Americans Feel So Alone
Shopping online. Chatting on the cell phone. Computer games. Instant travel to wherever you want to go. Yet all these conveniences and entertainment come at a high price. By surrounding ourselves with gadgets and material comfort, we are cutting ourselves off from what matters most: our fellow human beings.
The Connection Gap explores the new loneliness of people who are over-committing and under-connecting. Laura Pappano takes a passionate look at the pressures and desires of modern culture by drawing on personal experience, academic studies, and perceptive observations of our culture as reflected in advertising, literature, and popular magazines.
REVIEWS
“In one of the most thoughtful of the recent spate of books on the disheartening relationship between technology, consumerism and community..., Boston Globe journalist Pappano examines our market-driven desire to have it all faster, bigger and better.... What separates this book from the pack is Pappano's careful examination of our changing feelings about technology and emotional connection. Pointing to 1950s magazines, she reveals that TV was first marketed as something that would draw families together and stimulate conversation, and that long-distance calls were touted as being 'almost like a visit.'”— Publishers Weekly
“An important human message for the 21st Century, compellingly presented.” — Desmond Morris, author of
“Pappano's method of close observation... takes into account the nickels and dimes of social capital, putting an individual, contextualized face on what can sometimes seem like an abstract phenomenon.” —The American Prospect
R. R. Cornelius, “The Connection Gap: Why Americans Feel So Alone.” CHOICE, January 2002.