Maggie Mertens recommends this title because of the detailed care brought to the stories of track athletes and the context of 1930s political history.
“With incredible attention to detail and clear care for his subjects, Waters takes the reader on an historical journey back to the early days of women’s track and field”
Maggie Mertens values this book for its enlightenment on the fascinating history of women's swimming and its critique of how society assigns femininity to certain movements.
“I loved thinking about the ways society has determined certain forms of movement and sport as feminine, and some as masculine.”
Maggie Mertens recommends this memoir because of its brilliant form-breaking structure and its ability to capture the joy and pain of professional women's soccer.
“I loved every moment of this book, the joy, the pain, the passion for a sport told lyrically and achingly.”
Maggie Mertens values this book because it provides the essential framework for 'selfcraft,' which Maggie Mertens intends to use to resolve her own existential fragmentation.
“Edwina Barvosa writes in her book “Wealth of Selves,” of the need for self-integration, an act she calls “selfcraft.””
Maggie Mertens values this book for how it forces a re-examination of gender binaries and asks readers to consider the human complexity of boys.
“Whippman brings a similar lens to BOY MOM, from the other side, inviting a reader to see boys in our society as humans that are far more complex than many have allowed them to be.”
Maggie Mertens values this book as an essential historical framework for understanding the recurring cycles of anti-feminist resistance.
“The prevailing wisdom of the past decade has supported one, and only one, answer to this riddle: It must be all that equality that’s causing all that pain.”
Maggie Mertens identifies this text as an essential starting point for teaching students about the intersection of race, gender, and technology.
“When I teach the undergrad class on race, gender, and technology I often use as a starting point, a book called Data Feminism by Lauren Klein and Catherine d'Ignazio.”
Maggie Mertens recommends this book because it provides the essential scholarly framework to understand how the political right uses gender as a tool for power and hierarchy.
“It helped me understand the greater context around how the use of gender by those on the right has gotten to the point of, well, now”
Maggie Mertens suggests this book to readers because it offers a deep dive into the complexities of the Title IX case regarding transgender athletes in Connecticut.
“Their book Fair Play, goes even more deeply into how this particular moment... was a huge break in the issue away from a “liberal vs conservative” one to something more complicated.”
Maggie Mertens values this work because it provides an extensive analysis of the Caster Semenya CAS case.
“Sheree Bekker, author of OPEN PLAY, wrote extensively about Semenya’s CAS case.”
Maggie Mertens values this memoir because its engaging narrative and the author's performance helped Maggie Mertens pull herself out of a period of professional and personal stagnation.
“Fascinating and at times difficult, but also well written and well-read by the author”
Maggie Mertens recommends this book as an illuminating history that provides a crucial, intersectional framework for understanding unpaid labor today.
Maggie Mertens values this book as an essential reappraisal of a track and field icon that separates the man from the myths.
“an essential reappraisal of his life and legacy, a powerful work of narrative history exploring the forces and psychology that made the American Track and Field icon great and separating the man from the myths”
Maggie Mertens recommends this work as a comprehensive exploration of the gendered history and science of women's running.
Maggie Mertens recommends this book because it successfully challenges harmful scientific myths and provides a fascinating, readable, and nuanced perspective for a general audience.
“I hope you enjoy some deep, nuanced, thought-provoking conversation, because goodness knows it’s harder and harder to come by these days.”
Maggie Mertens values this book as it is included in her list of works she read and loved this year.
Maggie Mertens values this book as it is included in her list of works she read and loved this year.
Maggie Mertens recommends this book because it functions as an accessible, intellectual, and deeply personal exploration of female independence that changed how she views her own life.
“I would not even consider reading a book on this topic by a lesser writer. But Febos is a student and teacher of the craft, and somehow she writes books that not only delve deeply into her own thought processes and experiences.”
Maggie Mertens recommends this series because it provides the complex, essential history of sex-testing women athletes that informs the current political moment.
“I highly recommend Rose Eveleth’s podcast series TESTED which ran this summer and tells a lot of the complex history of sex-testing women athletes that brought us to this moment.”
Maggie Mertens values this episode recap for its insight into the friendship between Rory and Lane.
“My incredible co-author of Gilmore Women, Megan Burbank, has penned a gorgeous episode recap this week that delves into how a season 7 episode is actually very sweet”
Maggie Mertens values this podcast because it centers on the intersection of culture and sports, which aligns with the topics Maggie Mertens explores.
“I chatted with the lovely and for their podcast On the Bleachers, which is my favorite kind of sports podcast, one that’s about culture, sports, and all the ways those things intersect.”
Maggie Mertens recommends this podcast for running history enthusiasts.
“do check out Hillary Burgess’s new podcast, Today in Running History if you are a running history nerd”
