Walter LaFeber's new book, his eighth, is bountifully nutritious despite its brevity. One gets a history of basketball, the story of sneaker development, a bio of Michael Jordan, the saga of Nike's ascendancy, and a gee-whiz analysis of the new transnational economics and of American popular cultural ... Jordan's global fame. And for athletic prowess, the argument for Babe Ruth's number- one ranking endures. In the 1920s and early 1930s, all American athletic talent was channeled into professional baseball. There was nothing comparable, no basketball, negligible pro football, really no mass ...

• Word Count: 1589
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: Undergraduate