Choice 评论

Miller (cultural studies and cultural policy, New York Univ.) has written a groundbreaking study of the globalization of the body through sports, particularly sports driven by the media and advertisers generating billions of dollars. He applies contemporary theory, both critical and sociological, to international media--from the The New York Times and ESPN to the Sydney Morning Herald. Distinguishing the gender bias in sports reporting, the author notes that "the crucial issue of discussing men is power," whereas media "remark on the appearance of women's bodies in a manner that has only the vaguest equivalent in terms of men's 'fitness.'" Miller considers how spectacles televised worldwide--the Olympics, the Soccer World Cup--display and commodify bodies; he gives equal attention to controversies surrounding personalities, e.g., Magic Johnson's HIV diagnosis and Martina Navratilova's lesbianism. A gay-studies perspective informs but does not dominate the book; the presiding intellectual influence here is Foucault. Miller concludes that multinational capitalism turns the sports body into a contradictory and contested "site of reward," often to the detriment of both competitors and viewers--but sometimes to their advantage. Those concerned with sports will debate Miller's stimulating ideas for some time to come. All academic collections, upper-division undergraduate and above. M. J. Emery Cottey College