{"title":"Murray Sperber","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"onward-to-victory-book-murray-sperber-9780805038651","title":"Onward to Victory","description":null,"brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49576469332241,"sku":"GOR013713047","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50365700669713,"sku":"CIN0805038655G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51104411812113,"sku":"CIN0805038655VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0805038655.jpg?v=1751043890"},{"product_id":"beer-and-circus-book-murray-sperber-9780805068115","title":"Beer and Circus","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eBeer and Circus\u003c\/i\u003e presents a no-holds-barred examination of the troubled relationship between college sports and higher education from a leading authority on the subject.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Murray Sperber turns common perceptions about big-time college athletics inside out. He shows, for instance, that contrary to popular belief the money coming in to universities from sports programs never makes it to academic departments and rarely even covers the expense of maintaining athletic programs. The bigger and more prominent the sports program, the more money it siphons away from academics.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e Sperber chronicles the growth of the university system, the development of undergraduate subcultures, and the rising importance of sports. He reveals television's ever more blatant corporate sponsorship conflicts and describes a peculiar phenomenon he calls the \"Flutie Factor\"--the surge in enrollments that always follows a school's appearance on national television, a response that has little to do with academic concerns. Sperber's profound re-evaluation of college sports comes straight out of today's headlines and opens our eyes to a generation of students caught in a web of greed and corruption, deprived of the education they deserve.\u003cbr\u003e Sperber presents a devastating critique, not only of higher education but of national culture and values.\u003cbr\u003e \u003ci\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Beer and Circus\u003c\/i\u003e is a must-read for all students and parents, educators and policy makers.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49594173391121,"sku":"GOR003261530","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50203938095377,"sku":"CIN0805068112G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ WELL_READ \/ SBYB","offer_id":50328108073233,"sku":"CIN0805068112A","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50763085218065,"sku":"CIN0805068112VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51007456903441,"sku":"NIN9780805068115","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52673345192209,"sku":"NLS9780805068115","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0805068112.jpg?v=1750703098"},{"product_id":"beer-and-circus-book-murray-sperber-9780805038644","title":"Beer and Circus","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn this fascinating book, Sperber uses original research culled from students, faculty, and administrators around the country, to argue that what universities offer instead of a meaningful undergraduate education is a meager and dangerous substitute: the party scene surrounding college sports that Sperber calls beer and circus and which serves to keep the students happy while tuition dollars keep rolling in. He explodes cherished myths about college sports, showing, for instance, that contrary to popular belief the money coming in to universities from sports programs never makes it to academic departments. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eSperber's profound re-evaluation of college sports and higher education comes straight out of today's headlines and opens our eyes to a generation of students deprived of the education they deserve. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eMurray Sperber has been acknowledged for years as the country's leading authority on college sports and their role in American culture. In the wake of Indiana University's decision to fire head basketball coach Bobby Knight last year, Sperber was in constant demand across the country--on television, radio, and print media--to comment on the profound and tragic impact of big-time intercollegiate athletics on higher education.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":49795497099537,"sku":"CIN0805038647G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0805038647.jpg?v=1750818840"},{"product_id":"shake-down-the-thunder-book-murray-sperber-9780805018745","title":"Shake Down the Thunder","description":"\u003cp\u003eSperber. . .tackles the details, great and small, unearthing a treasure. --New York Times Book Review\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eShake Down the Thunder\u003c\/i\u003e traces the history of the Notre Dame football program--which has acquired almost mythical proportions--from its humble origins in the 19th century to its status as the paragon of college sports. It presents the true story of the program's formative years, the reality behind the myths. Both social history and sports history, this book documents as never before the first half-century of Notre Dame football and relates it to the rise of big-time intercollegiate athletics, the college sports reform movement, and the corrupt sporting press of the period. \u003ci\u003eShake Down the Thunder\u003c\/i\u003e is must reading for all Fighting Irish fans, their detractors, and any reader engaged by American cultural history.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50124374901009,"sku":"CIN0805018743G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50558825267473,"sku":"CIN0805018743VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ WELL_READ \/ SBYB","offer_id":53574547472657,"sku":"CIN0805018743A","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0805018743.jpg?v=1750883186"},{"product_id":"college-sports-inc-book-murray-sperber-9780805014457","title":"College Sports Inc.","description":null,"brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51113734603025,"sku":"CIN0805014454G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51424432390417,"sku":"CIN0805014454VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0805014454.jpg?v=1751139096"},{"product_id":"shake-down-the-thunder-book-murray-sperber-9780805042436","title":"Shake Down the Thunder","description":"\u003cp\u003eSperber. . .tackles the details, great and small, unearthing a treasure. --New York Times Book Review\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eShake Down the Thunder\u003c\/i\u003e traces the history of the Notre Dame football program--which has acquired almost mythical proportions--from its humble origins in the 19th century to its status as the paragon of college sports. 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