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Howard Bryant: "The Heritage" and the Politics of Race, Sports, and Patriotism

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Date and time
Monday, June 11, 2018

ESPN writer and NPR sports correspondent Howard Bryant presents his latest book, _The Heritage: Black Athletes, a Divided America, and the Politics of Patriotism_. It used to be that politics and sports were as separate from one another as church and state. Today, sports arenas have been transformed into staging grounds for American patriotism and the hero worship of law enforcement. But as journalist Howard Bryant reveals, this has always been more complicated for black athletes, who from the start, were committing a political act simply by being on the field. The Heritage is the story of the rise, fall, and fervent return of the athlete-activist. Bryant details the collision of post-9/11 sports in America and the politically engaged post-Ferguson black athlete.

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Howard Bryant is the author of 11 books, including "Rickey", "The Heritage", "Full Dissidence", and "The Last Hero", a biography of Hank Aaron, which was named “One of the Ten Best Books of the Year” by Dwight Garner of The New York Times. Bryant served as guest editor of The Best American Sports Writing in 2017, and has been the sports correspondent for NPR’s Weekend Edition since 2006. He is a four-time finalist for the National Magazine Award, an Emmy Award winner, and is twice the winner of the Casey Award for Best Baseball Book of the Year. He lives in Western Massachusetts.
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