<div dir="ltr"><div>Please find attached and below Tom Fabian's review of Sheldon Anderson, <i>Jump Shooting</i></div><div>Thanks,</div><div>Duncan</div><div><br></div><div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:200%;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"><i><span style="font-size:11pt;line-height:200%;font-family:"Palatino Linotype",serif">Jump
Shooting to a Higher Degree: My Basketball Odyssey</span></i><span style="font-size:11pt;line-height:200%;font-family:"Palatino Linotype",serif"> by Sheldon Anderson<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white none repeat scroll 0% 0%;margin:0in;line-height:200%;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"><span style="font-size:11pt;line-height:200%;font-family:"Palatino Linotype",serif;color:black">Reviewed by Tom Fabian, </span><span style="font-size:11pt;line-height:200%;font-family:"Palatino Linotype",serif;color:rgb(34,34,34)">Postdoctoral Fellow | Sport Studies University
of Ottawa | School of Human Kinetics</span><span style="font-size:11pt;line-height:200%;font-family:"Palatino Linotype",serif"><span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:0.5in;margin:0in;line-height:200%;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"><span style="font-size:11pt;line-height:200%;font-family:"Palatino Linotype",serif">Sheldon Anderson writes like he plays basketball: <span> </span>Disciplined, a little rough at times (or “on
the nose,” as they say), but, generally, the “right way.”<span> </span>Without having to explicitly state it,
Anderson is a fundamentalist.<span> </span>This is
quite evident in his adherence to a “fundamentals basketball” approach and in
his academic writing style, which, although not necessarily on display in this
memoir, is well-received in historical circles.<span>
</span>I jumped at the opportunity to review Anderson’s book because I have had
the pleasure of playing with and against him at a couple of pick-up basketball games
at the North American Society for Sport History’s annual conference.<span> </span>(Although I hope I don’t receive any “basketball
justice” for my opinions!).<span> </span>It was at
these conference basketball games that I also encountered historian Chris
Elzey, who is featured in the book and, along with Dan Nathan, provided reviews
for the back jacket of the book.<span> </span>They
both praised Anderson’s “bildungsroman.”<span>
</span>Indeed, <i>Jump Shooting to a Higher Degree</i> chronicles Anderson’s
love affair with the sport of basketball and, taken in its entirety, results in
a beautiful – almost poetic in its gruffness – coming-of-age story. <span> </span><span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:200%;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"><span style="font-size:11pt;line-height:200%;font-family:"Palatino Linotype",serif"><span> </span>In particular, the first two
chapters illustrate the life of a white youth growing up in 1960s Minnesota.<span> </span>I found these introductory chapters provided
an almost ethnographic examination of a mid-century, midwestern basketballer, harmonizing
rural life, brotherly love, religious upbringing, and Americana.<span> </span>Chapter 3 set the stage for the subsequent
two chapters, with a smattering of historical lessons based on Anderson’s first
stint playing professional basketball for a high-rolling German club after his
collegiate career came to an end.<span>
</span>Chapters 4 and 5, in which he recounts his experiences travelling beyond
the Berlin Wall, deliver an excellent anecdotal German political history.<span> </span>He truly “lived it.” He fashioned a career
out of his experiences, leveraging a basketball gig in Communist Poland to fund
his PhD research behind the Iron Curtain (the focus of Chapter 7), becoming one
the first Western scholars to gain access to Community Party files.<span> </span>The final chapter and epilogue rounded out
his career both in basketball and academia, name-dropping some of his rec
league buddies and exceptional talents he shared the court and classroom with.<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:200%;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"><span style="font-size:11pt;line-height:200%;font-family:"Palatino Linotype",serif"><span> </span><i>Jump Shooting</i> is essentially
a memoir, not an academic text, and as such leaves itself open to some
scrutiny.<span> </span>As a critical sport historian,
author of <i>The Forgotten Legacy of Stella Walsh</i> (Rowan & Littlefield,
2017) and <i>The Politics and Culture of Modern Sports</i> (Lexington Books,
2015), one would think that Anderson would not gloss over some of the
relatively serious issues he encountered throughout his sporting life.<span> </span>For instance, he only briefly commented on
the fact that “sports were something that girls didn’t have the chance to do”
in the 1960s (p. 24), or that one of his former coaches was charged with sexual
molestation (p. 28), or that corporal punishment in school hardened him (p. 31).<span> </span>These are serious issues in the contemporary
sport space that could have benefited from a heightened critique that a sport
historian of Anderson’s status could have provided.<span> </span>In this sense, Anderson was rather flippant throughout
the text, referring to “brewskies,” “chatt[ing] up a few birds” (p. 70), or
that “those Catholic boys were horny and rabid” (p. 48).<span> </span>Amusing as it may be, to some, there was an
underlying lamentation of the fact that things were done differently “in those
days.”<span> </span>For better or for worse, Anderson’s
nostalgia was palpable.<span> </span>Additionally,
there were certain parts of the book in which it felt as though Anderson were trying
to get the last word in an academic argument about, for instance, who ended the
Cold War.<span> </span>This is to be expected in a
memoir, but it is worth pointing out as an example of how this book is truly <i>his</i>
odyssey.<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:200%;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"><span style="font-size:11pt;line-height:200%;font-family:"Palatino Linotype",serif"><span> </span>Despite some of the cringe-worthy
lines, <i>Jump Shooting</i> attains its objective of highlighting the
characters and experiences that have shaped Sheldon Anderson’s life.<span> </span>Now in his 70s, Anderson still plays
basketball and teaches.<span> </span>For all intents
and purposes, he has led a full life, combining the twin ideals of a healthy
mind in a healthy body.<span> </span>In commenting on
the need to switch exercise outlets in the not-so-distant future, Anderson
offered one of his most insightful comments: “Basketball is social play.
Swimming is solo drudgery” (p. 193).<span>
</span>Sheldon Anderson is a basketball lifer, and the sport has influenced his
life in myriad ways.<span> </span><i>Jump Shooting to
a Higher Degree</i> captures his odyssey, while engaging readers with Communist
Polish history, Midwestern autoethnography, and basketball sociology.<span></span></span></p>
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</div><div><i></i></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>