"This groundbreaking text is more than just a fascinating and well-researched account of one of America s most popular spectator sports; it is also an urgent and necessary explication of the current troubled state of the United States in the context of the recent growth of Christian fundamentalism and militaristic nationalism. Sport, Spectacle, and NASCAR Nation is essential reading for ... Read moreanyone interested in contemporary American politics and the central role that sport continues to play in reshaping the American Dream. " - Ben Carrington, University of Texas at Austin; author of Race, Sport and Politics: The Sporting Black Diaspora "Arguably the most comprehensive contextualization of twenty-first century American sport culture; a compelling, powerful, and indeed invaluable antidote to the public pedagogy of the NASCAR spectacle" - David L. Andrews, University of Maryland; author of Sport-Commerce-Culture: Essays on Sport in Late Capitalist America "Closely argued and deeply researched, this freewheeling study takes readers to the intersections of politics and spectacle, of race and representation, of South and North. It shows how the dizzying speed of the market and the seeming traditionalism of fundamentalist religion coexist in US conservatism." -David R. Roediger, University of Illinois; author of How Race Survived U.S. History: From Settlement and Slavery to the Obama Phenomenon Show Less