SL Price — The American Game: History and Hope in the Country of Lacrosse - with Stefan Fatsis

Nearly a millennium ago, Native Americans created lacrosse as a means of training warriors and settling disputes. Co-opted by whites in the late 1800s, played for a century largely at elite east coast colleges, over the past thirty years lacrosse has exploded around the world, becoming the fastest growing sport in the U.S. while exposing the fault lines of prejudice and privilege that continue to dog its image. At the same time, the spiritual nature and dazzling style of the Native game has been elevated to center stage as the brilliant Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) play as a nation unto themselves, maintaining their deep traditions and hoping for inclusion in the 2028 Olympics.Based on seven years of research and observation and crafted with consummate skill, The American Game takes readers inside a unique cultural landscape that nonetheless reflects the wider world. Skillfully weaving in compelling action on the field from World Championships to tense NCAA tournaments, Price also chronicles the controversies and anomalies that have in many ways defined lacrosse. Racism stubbornly persists--and the Haudenosaunee have endured plenty in their rise--yet few mainstream entities have done more than lacrosse to champion the Native American experience. The Duke rape case and the murder of Yeardley Love still resonate, reinforcing the sport's elite "laxbro" image, yet women remain the core force powering its astonishing boom. Lacrosse's longtime link with Wall Street remains, but its bond with elite military service is just as remarkable.Price introduces legendary individuals from Jim Brown (some say he was even better at lacrosse than football), Black superstar Kyle Harrison and the brilliant Iroquois stickman Lyle Thompson, to famed coaches Lars Tiffany and Kelly Amonte Hiller and Onondaga faithkeeper Oren Lyons. All of them, and all who play the game, pay homage to the mystical qualities of the lacrosse stick, which American coaching icon Bill Tierney calls "the thing that makes you special." A masterpiece of narration and investigation, The American Game is the powerful story of a sport that, perhaps more than any other, captures the complexity of America in its ongoing effort to achieve a more perfect union. https://politics-prose.com/book/9780802164735?ic_referral=ti6YWKSbdabH_s36okus_ieEJbqvbd99ckKzeOk5MDswMxGJDw18Kezm4lNpkWDQyZ-_eVw_-6rZ3AGgksJ3yAdH4OIaRoAebj_3P0aDr0Naj1ULvLg_MoP8S9sHQIx_ItMLiQS. L. PRICE, a senior Sports Writer at Sports Illustrated for 26 years, is the author of four previous books, including Playing through the Whistle and Pitching around Fidel, a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. Price has also written for Vanity Fair, the New York Times, TIME, and The Oxford American. He lives in Washington, D.C., with his family.Price is in conversation with Stefan Fatsis. Fatsis is the bestselling author of Word Freak, about the world of competitive Scrabble; A Few Seconds of Panic, about life in the NFL; and Wild and Outside, about minor league baseball. His new book, Unabridged: The Thrill of (and Threat to) the Modern Dictionary, will be published this fall—and he’s already on the Politics and Prose schedule, so please mark your calendars for Sunday, October 12th at 5 p.m. Stefan is a former sports reporter for the Wall Street Journal, a former sports commentator for NPR’s “All Things Considered,” and, a former cohost of Slate’s sports podcast, "Hang Up and Listen," where he interviewed his friend Scott Price many times.*recorded 5/20/2025