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Taboo: Why Black Athletes Dominate Sports and Why We're Afraid to Talk About It | 
 enlarge | Author: Jon Entine
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Category: Book
List Price: $17.50
Buy New: $6.81
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Avg. Customer Rating:  47 reviews
Sales Rank: 370473
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 400
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.3
Dimensions (in): 8.9 x 6.1 x 1
ISBN: 158648026X
Dewey Decimal Number: 796.08996073
EAN: 9781586480264
ASIN: 158648026X
Publication Date: January 2001
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: First Edition, First Printing New Paperback. Minor wear.
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Amazon.com
Is there a genetic reason that African-Americans dominate professional sports? Even raising the question seems tantamount to heresy. Jon Entine not only raises the question, he strives to answer it in Taboo: Why Black Athletes Dominate Sports and Why We're Afraid to Talk About It. Entine is no stranger to controversy, having worked with Tom Brokaw on the award-winning NBC News documentary Black Athletes: Fact and Fiction in 1989. He's also willing to ask tough questions--and come up with answers that anger people on all sides of the issue. Entine starts off with some statistics indicating that African-American athletes are disproportionately represented in professional sports: for example, 13 percent of the U.S. population is black, but the NFL is 65 percent black, the NBA is nearly 80 percent black, and the WNBA is 70 percent black. He also examines cultural issues, laying to rest the long-held idea that blacks excel in sports because it is the only avenue open for advancement. Some scholars cry foul at the idea that blacks are physically gifted, seeing this as a subtle way of saying that they are therefore intellectually stunted. Entine carefully argues that historically athletic ability and intellectual prowess were linked--with a positive bias. The "dumb jock" stereotype is a relatively recent construct--perhaps a defensive mechanism that arose when blacks began to participate on a level playing field and gain prominence in the sporting world. There's no reason to suppose athleticism and intelligence are inversely related; Entine quotes respected sports reporter Frank Deford: "[W]hen Jack Nicklaus sinks a 30-foot putt, nobody thinks his IQ goes down." The issue of physical superiority is further complicated by fears that a genetic explanation results in a belief that blacks don't succeed because of hard work, dedication, and drive, but rather (in the words of Brooks Johnson, who doesn't believe Entine's claims) "because God just gave 'em the right gene." Is the fear of sounding racist hindering legitimate scientific inquiry? Entine believes so, noting that, "Anyone who attempts to breach this taboo to study or even discuss what might be behind the growing performance gap between black and white athletes must be prepared to run a gauntlet of public scorn, survival not guaranteed." Taboo is destined to make most of its readers uncomfortable. Hopefully this discomfort will serve as a wedge to open up discussion of an issue too long avoided. --Sunny Delaney
Product Description
In virtually every sport in which they are given opportunity to compete, people of African descent dominate. East Africans own every distance running record. Professional sports in the Americas are dominated by men and women of West African descent. Why have blacks come to dominate sports? Are they somehow physically better? And why are we so uncomfortable when we discuss this? Drawing on the latest scientific research, journalist Jon Entine makes an irrefutable case for black athletic superiority. We learn how scientists have used numerous, bogus "scientific" methods to prove that blacks were either more or less superior physically, and how racist scientists have often equated physical prowess with intellectual deficiency. Entine recalls the long, hard road to integration, both on the field and in society. And he shows why it isn't just being black that matters—it makes a huge difference as to where in Africa your ancestors are from.Equal parts sports, science and examination of why this topic is so sensitive, Taboois a book that will spark national debate.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 42 more reviews...
 A poor book, written by a know nothing! April 17, 2008
0 out of 4 found this review helpful
First of all race has nothing to do with
athletics, unless of course you beleive
the gibberish that got know-nothings like
Howard Cosell [nee Cohen] and Jimmy 'The
Greek' fired. Secondly, the hardest sport
in north America is Hockey and if blacks
are supposedly so superior, why have they
not mastered it? The author is a typical
gutter-trash liberal who beleives every
sterotype that washes down the gutter. On
the other side of the pond is William Rhoden,
who while bragging about black QBs, forgot to
mention the CFL [11 years older than the over-
rated NFL] (Oopps!) and Arena Football Leagues,
which play better, faster styles of football,
and black QBs have done better in those leagues.
The evil of two lessors, I guess. Think what a waste
of reasources, like say, trees this book and all the
ones about the 'holaembellishment' are. Such a shame
that anyone may believe these tales...Revisionist
Rich Salzer [U.Hawai'i '84), Chesapeake, VA, USA,
4-17-08.
 Pretty thin soup November 26, 2006
11 out of 21 found this review helpful
And I might be a little generous with the second star.
I, as a few other reviewers, note two problems off the top of the bat.
One is Entine's uncritical handling of "The Bell Curve."
Two is that he ignores the many sports that don't have a lot of black athletes.
Beyond that, he gets selective within some sports that he does address, such as seeming to focus on track more, and field events less.
Also, he ignored the rise of non-American white and non-black athletes in several sports in recent years.
I think of the white Europeans in the NBA, and the non-black Caribbean players and a few Japanese in MLB.
Finally, contrary to his claims otherwise, all too many children of all colors who are lower down the socioeconomic rungs tend to focus on sports as salvation. Unfortunately, more of these children are minorities.
Surprisingly short on substance July 16, 2005
31 out of 42 found this review helpful
There is some interesting information here, but ultimately much of this book is simply a history of African-American athletics, which is not exactly obvious from the book's title. Hey, I'm as interested in the story of Jack Johnson as the next guy, but does the treatment he received really belong in this book? Given that the book weighs in at 400 pages, you've got to wonder what his editor was thinking about some of these anecdotes.
On another note, I'm tired of seeing Tiger Woods be referred to as a "black golfer." For the record, Tiger is 1/2 Asian, 1/4 black, 1/8 white and 1/8 Native American. Why does his black ancestry somehow trump the other 75% of his heritage?
 Misleading title, doesn't even address the topic April 22, 2005
62 out of 70 found this review helpful
After hearing the controversy surrounding this book, I decided to shell out twenty bucks and pick up a copy myself. As a social scientist with a strong interest in racial inequality and identity, and especially as a major sports fan, I figured that this would be a rather intriguing book. It certainly is, but in a different way than which the author/publisher market it.
Entine provides very little evidence and data to explain to us "why black athletes dominate sports." Mostly, he gives us a collection of statistics on the number of black players at the so-called speed positions in various sports (providing a numerical relationship, but no explanation). Quite disappointing - With such an adamant title, I was expecting the author to give us the concrete, infallible scientific proof explaining "why black athletes dominate sports," but I guess my expectations were too high.
Entine has a point up to a certain extent. Body form is, in fact, a major factor in calculating competitive advantage in certain sports. For example, a 5'3" man can forget about playing center in the NBA, just as a seven-footer has no shot at being the winning jockey at the Belmont Stakes. But to assume body form to some innate, hard-wired, racial sports gene is absurd and ultimately undermines the valid points that Entine does bring up.
I half think that Entine chose such a title for this book for the sensational reaction he knew it would garner. Sports consists of much more than speed and running, and clearly, black athletes do not dominate in sports such as weight lifting, skiing, field, wrestling, gymnastics, or hockey. By the title of this books, blacks rule the entire world of sports - which is not the case.
Something else also comes to mind. I find it quite amazing how people are always quick to point out that the high proportion of African-Americans in the NBA is scientific proof that blacks are genetically gifted basketball players. However, those folks must remain oblivious to the fact that after the United States, the basketball powerhouse nations are found in Eastern Europe...NOT western Africa! If African-Americans' ancestry to equatorial west Africa was responsible for their basketball abilities, then we should expect to find the nations of Nigeria, Ghana, and Zaire winning international basketball medals over the likes of Lithuania, Germany, Russia, Croatia, and Serbia. The fact of the matter is that growing numbers of NBA players are comming out of the former communist bloc of Europe. In 20 years, I believe the NBA will be 50 percent European. Even sports reporter Jason Whitlock of the Kansas City Star has bemoaned the fact that African-American players are "losing their jobs" to foreign players.
Also, Entine attributes the pheonomenal success of Brazil in World Cup Soccer to the African ancestry of most players on the national roster. This is quite ironic, since Germany, Italy, and Argentina are also soccer powerhouses and have accomplished this with few African-descent players on their respective clubs. England, Colombia, and Mexico each have far superior soccer squads than any national teams from West Africa (the area of the world where the nature's most gifted athletes trace their ancestry, according to Entine). And if any sport ever relied on speed, quickness, explosiveness and agility, certainly it is soccer.
I bring up these points to illustrate the absurdity and inconsistencies in attributing innate racial abilities of any particular group of people with regards to any particular sport. If African-descended players dominate basketball and baseball for their superior speed and agility, then why does this fail to yield results in soccer? "Racial realists" can not have their cake and eat it to.
Despite the failure to produce scientific evidence for black athletic superiority, I do like this book for one big reason. Entine provides an excellent account of the history of racism and racial politics of sports, from the days of Jack Johnson and the Negro Leagues of baseball up until the steroid scandals of communist East Germany and the USSR in the 1980s. We are given chapters on Joe Louis, Jewish basketball teams, Jackie Robinson, and the social significance of all of these historical events.
The real value of this book is found in its second half, when the author provides a nice account of race in sports throughout the 20th century. The fact of the matter is the right-wing lunatics have no ability to engage in scientific debate on race whatsoever. Their only recourse is to point out correlations, and assume there is a biological explanation. Such is not the nature of science, but the nature of charlatans motivated by personal agendas. Entine's lack of scientific evidence proves he can not discuss this subject matter, and as such, makes a bold claim and then sits back, labeling anyone who challenges him as a politically correct crackpot. The truth is, Entine and his backers are the ones motivated by political agendas.
Talk about false advertising. The book implies it will provide a scientific explanation for athletic performance, and does not even come close to doing anything of the sort.
 Thoughtful book August 15, 2004
15 out of 58 found this review helpful
I picked this book up because I run marathons and have become aware of the Kenyan domination of this event. What an eye-opener this book is! Jon Entine has very carefully explained how evolution has shaped different body types. I finally understand population genetics. He doesn't preach and "Taboo" doesn't ignore the cultural impact on sports accomplishments. In fact, if you have little interest in genetics, this book is a gem for understanding the history and travails of the African American athlete in the United States. I was also fascinated by his history of sports in the former Communist East Germany, which built its success on pumping its young women athletes full with performance enhancing durgs. This book is truly indispensible for anyone interested in a balanced look at the range of factors that contribute to the success of athletes. Anyone who suggests this book is "racist" just hasn't read it. It's the opposite -- a thoughtful discussion of why discussing human differences doesn't mean you have to resort to the lowest common denominator. And now I understand why Kenyans and other Eastern and Northern Africans are so dominant in endurance races.
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