PERHAPS A GIFT VOUCHER FOR MUM?: MOTHER'S DAY
Lindsay Sarah Krasnoff is a historian, writer and consultant specializing in the history of global sport, communications and diplomacy. She is the Director of FranceandUS, lectures on sports diplomacy at New York University, USA, and as a Research Associate at SOAS University London, UK, co-directed the Basketball in Diplomacy in Africa project. The author of The Making of Les Bleus: Sport in France 1958-2010 (2013) she has written on global sport for CNN International, The Washington Post and The New Yorker, amongst other publications. She holds a PhD in History from City University of New York, USA, an MA in Journalism and French Studies from NYU, USA, and a BA in International Affairs from The George Washington University, USA.
With unparalleled originality, breadth, and research, the author - so well-versed in sports and diplomatic history on both sides of the Atlantic - shows how professional basketball swept across the world. The source material is breathtaking; the insights into Franco-American history are erudite and refreshing. Sports scholarship at its best! * Thomas W. Zeiler, Professor of History, University of Colorado Boulder, USA * Lindsay Krasnoff is a matchless scholar and historian who sets the record straight on France and basketball. Basketball Empire weaves an epic revelatory tapestry; necessary, alive and relevant today and going forward. * David Hollander, Professor, NYU Tisch Institute for Global Sport, USA * Rich with illuminating context and the voices of pioneering personalities, this fascinating and important book traces the birth, growth and spread of French basketball, highlighting its interplay with both the U.S. and francophone Africa and the Caribbean. BASKETBALL EMPIRE shows how the openness of a younger generation helped France create a powerful diplomatic instrument—a basketball culture all its own. * Alexander Wolff, author of Big Game, Small World: A Basketball Adventure * Big ball, small world. Sixty years ago, US pioneers traveled to France to teach basketball. Today, following the Tony Parkers, Sandrine Grudas or Nic Batums, young french ballers cook a new french cuisine in the NBA and WNBA. Chef Lindsay Krasnoff met them all and set the table for us, lucky readers! * Arnaud Lecomte, Basketball Grand reporter, L’Equipe, France * Her love and understanding of France shine through, and she is such a fluent writer. She hones in on the surprising americaphilia that runs through French popular culture, and explains how the transatlantic relationship is inflected by race and the legacy of French empire. This is a book that is about much more than basketball * Simon Kuper, Columnist for the Financial Times and author of Soccernomics * Dr Lindsay Krasnoff's Basketball Empire is an All-Star account of Franco-US basketball relations in a global context. The importance of considering the francophone dimension - both France and where French influence has blended with others, most notably across Africa - in the development of Basketball globally is presented in a rich and thoughtful fashion. The diversity of the source material delivers a fascinating array of narratives sharing unexpected rallies, buzzer-beaters, and prospects for the next generation. Basketball Empire is a slam-dunk! * J Simon Rofe, Reader, University of Leeds, UK *
