<div dir="ltr"><div>All,</div><div>Please find below and attached Kyle Belanger's review of Steve Marantz, <i>Citizen Akoy</i>.</div><div>Thanks and Happy New Year! Chin up, soon we'll be back in the trenches!</div><div>Duncan<br></div><div><br></div><div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><i><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Cambria",serif">Citizen
Akoy: Basketball and the Making of a South Sudanese American</span></i><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Cambria",serif">, by Steve Marantz<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Cambria",serif"> <span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Cambria",serif">Reviewed by Kyle
Belanger, Springfield (Mass.) College<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Cambria",serif"> <span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Cambria",serif">In his book <i>Citizen
Akoy: Basketball and the Making of a South Sudanese American</i>, author Steve
Marantz presents the intricate story of the south Sudanese Agau family, and its
quest for inclusion into the ever-evolving American experience. <span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Cambria",serif"> <span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Cambria",serif">While it uses the
basketball journey of Akoy Agau as its primary vehicle, <i>Citizen Akoy</i> is
much more than a typical basketball book for hoop heads. It is equal parts
sports book, current-events primer, and modern political commentary—and it
checks each of these boxes with aplomb.<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Cambria",serif"> <span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Cambria",serif">As an author,
Marantz’s resume and life experience place him in a unique position to collect
and compose Akoy’s tale. An accomplished journalist, he has covered sports,
politics, and government for the <i>Kansas City Star</i>, <i>Boston Globe</i>,
and <i>Boston Herald</i>. In addition, he is, himself, a graduate of
Omaha (Neb.) Central High School, the book’s primary epicenter. <span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Cambria",serif"> <span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Cambria",serif">Indeed, the book’s
title hints at the true work in its pages. That is, the author’s exploration of
the ways in which sport can be used by immigrants and refugees to mend their
own complex fractures, as well as to construct new identities for themselves
and their communities. On the value of competitive athletics, Marantz writes
“the closest thing to a common language is sport. When nations convene at the
Olympics, or World Cup for soccer, or World Baseball Classic, they get along in
the language of sweat and competition, which is, in principle, democratic”
(171). <span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Cambria",serif"> <span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Cambria",serif">Marantz dives deep
into Akoy Agau’s personal files to bring his character off the page. In addition
to primary interviews, and considerable time together with Agau, the author
fills in the blanks with the words of Akoy’s closest family, coaches, and
friends, as well as the media who covered his rise to regional prep stardom. It
doesn’t just stop there, though, as the author also draws heavily from Akoy’s
now-defunct Twitter account. And, while its verbatim inclusion might seem to
interrupt the flow of the author’s own rhythm, the @ZeroTheHeroAkoy Tweets add
a depth to the character that would be otherwise unattainable.<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Cambria",serif"> <span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Cambria",serif">What makes <i>Citizen
Akoy</i> a particularly interesting and engaging read, though, is the way it
seems to straddle so many genres.<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Cambria",serif"> <span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Cambria",serif">As a straight sports
book, written by an accomplished journalist, it is reported thoroughly, with
occasional game recaps and tense oral histories to build the suspense of the
quest for athletic glory. The use of cameos by some of Agau’s more-high-profile
hoop contemporaries gives the sports-enthusiast readers a clearer understanding
of the landscape on which Akoy’s tableau is set.<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Cambria",serif"> <span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Cambria",serif"> <span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Cambria",serif">As a commentary on
the modern state of NCAA “amateurism,” Marantz uses the Central players,
coaches, and administration, as a way to dissect the Hydra of blue chip
recruitment. From Rick Pitino’s courtship to get Agau to come to Louisville, to
John Thompson III’s willingness to take a chance on a slightly-older version of
Akoy, Marantz is skillful in his reconstruction of a sloppy process.<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Cambria",serif"> <span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Cambria",serif">As an artifact of the
modern political moment, <i>Citizen Akoy</i> accomplishes many impressive feats.
Perhaps most impressive is the way Marantz provides ample background regarding
the generations of strife and violence in Sudan and the surrounding regions.
And he does so without bogging down in details that could derail the book’s
overall mission. <span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Cambria",serif"> <span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Cambria",serif">Additionally, the
book’s timeline navigates through pieces of three disparate political
environments. It begins in the post-9/11 George W. Bush administration, wends
through the “Hope and Change” of the Barrack Obama years, and concludes in the
xenophobic toxicity of Donald Trump’s American vision. Without crowbarring a
timestamp onto the page, Marantz peppers quotes from world leaders, often using
World Refugee Day as its anchor, to set the tone with regard to global and
domestic political climate.<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Cambria",serif"> <span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Cambria",serif">Overall, <i>Citizen
Akoy</i> is an enjoyable read. It is, however, most definitely <i>not</i> the
basketball success stories of Sudanese-born NBA stars like Luol Deng or Manute
Bol. Heck, it’s not even the story of NBA journeyman and fellow Sudanese
refugee Thon Maker. (In fairness, though, all three of these figures are woven
throughout the fabric of the 194 pages.) Marantz’s book is more nuanced and
layered than those basketball success stories. This is a refugee story, a
historical narrative, a coming-of-age book, a teenage ethnography, a commentary
on modern sport culture, and a Midwestern cultural study—and basketball just
happens to be the scene on which it plays out.<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Cambria",serif"> <span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Cambria",serif">Marantz, Steve. <i>Citizen
Akoy: Basketball and the Making of a South Sudanese </i><span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><i><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Cambria",serif">
American</span></i><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Cambria",serif">.
University of Nebraska Press, 2019.<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 8pt;line-height:107%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span><br></span></p></div><div><div><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature">Remember to smell the roses as you recumber past<br><br>Duncan R. Jamieson, Ph. D.<br>Professor of History<br>Book Review Editor<br><i>AETHLON: The Journal of Sport Literature</i><br>Ashland University<br>Ashland, OH 44805<br>USA<br></div></div></div></div>