From the master of new journalism [who always] hits it over the fence (New York Times) and one of the finest writers on sports anywhere (USA Today), the scintillating story of lacrosse--the game invented by the Haudenosaunee, played with more passion than any other, that stubbornly mirrors America's ongoing struggle with inclusivity

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. Fluidly 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 endures, 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.

In the early twentieth century, down the Ohio River from Pittsburgh, the Jones & Laughlin Steel Company built one of the largest mills in the world and a town to go with it. Aliquippa was a beacon and melting pot, pulling in thousands of families from eastern and southern Europe and the Jim Crow south. The J&L mill, though dirty and dangerous, offered a chance at a better life and hope for the future. It produced the steel that built American cities and won World War II and, thanks to hard-fought union victories, made Aliquippa something of a workers' paradise. But then, in the 1980's, the steel industry cratered. The mill closed. Crime rose and crack hit big.

But another industry grew in Aliquippa. The town didn't just make steel; it made elite football players, from Mike Ditka to Ty Law to Darrelle Revis. Pro football was born in Western Pennsylvania, and few places churned out talent like Aliquippa. Despite its troubles--maybe even because of them--Aliquippa became legendary for producing greatness.

In Playing Through the Whistle, celebrated sportwriter S. L. Price tells the remarkable story of Aliquippa and through it, the larger history of American industry, sports, and life. Price charts the fortunes of Aliquippa's celebrated team through championships under charismatic coaches and through hard times after the mill died. In an era when sports has grown from novelty to a vital source of civic pride, Price reveals the shifting mores of a town defined by work--and the loss of it--yet anchored by a weekly game. Today, as our view of football shifts and participation drops, in Aliquippa the sport can still feel like the one path away from life on the streets, the last force keeping the town together.

One of the most acclaimed sports books of 2016, Playing Through the Whistle is a masterpiece of narrative journalism and, like football, it will make you marvel, wince, cry, and cheer.

Genuine and raw...a heartfelt work of despair, triumph, and redemption.
--Boston Globe

The critically acclaimed Heart of the Game--subtitled Life, Death, and Mercy in Minor League America--explores the pure roots of a sport that is stained by scandal at its highest level. S.L. Price, award-winning writer for Sports Illustrated and author of Pitching Around Fidel, gives a tragic but ultimately uplifting account of the death of minor league baseball coach Mike Coolbaugh, and in doing so, illustrates the many reasons and myriad ways in which baseball still has a hold on America. A Friday Night Lights for baseball fans, Heart of the Game reveals the classic heart of small-town America.

A Year in Provence . . . in sweats

Some people would consider writing for Sports Illustrated a dream job. Others fantasize about living idyllically in the South of France. S. L. Price got to do both. Assigned by Sports Illustrated to cover sports in Europe, Price relocated his family to a small hamlet in Provence, and then set out to uncover the soul of world athletic competition.

In an attempt to comprehend the planet's most intense and bloody sports, he immersed himself in the cricket rivalry between India and Pakistan. He spent time with Lance Armstrong as the cyclist fended off rumors of performance-enhancing drugs. He argued politics with Olympic athletes in Athens, covered Austria's beer-drenched version of the Super Bowl, and caught basketball fever in Belgrade--as he, his wife, and children tried to adjust to life in a Europe convulsed by terrorism, anti-Americanism, and George Bush's war in Iraq.

Far Afield is an extraordinary memoir of growth, family, and games people play worldwide.