Basketball Empire: France and the Making of a Global NBA and WNBA

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The National Basketball Association (NBA), founded over 75 years ago, is staging a 21st century takeover. Watched in 215 countries and territories worldwide, and with nearly one in three players born and trained overseas, it is no longer just about America. In this book, Lindsay Sarah Krasnoff shows how basketball's global takeover could not have happened without France, exploring its interactions with the United States and colonial legacies with francophone Africa and the Afro-Caribbean. Taking us back to the very beginnings of basketball, she shows how remnants of empire have shaped the game. Asking how and why so many French basketball players have joined the NBA and WNBA, Basketball Empire explores what this has meant for the league and the players themselves. Going behind the scenes, it follows the generations of men and women who, since 1950, have followed their passion for the game to create a basketball breeding ground. Including interviews with players, sports journalists, league directors and coaches past and present, it uncovers the transatlantic networks and complex Franco-American relations that have nurtured a mutual exchange of culture, technical skill and knowledge. These first-hand accounts, supported by media and government archives, show how these forms of sports diplomacy sowed the seeds of a basketball revolution and helped make the NBA a global cultural entity. Arguing that basketball is deeply indebted to Frances colonial history and close, albeit complicated, relationship with the United States this book is about the creation of a cultural empire, and shows how sports can be the vehicle to build bridges between nations.

Reviews

With unparalleled originality, breadth, and research, the author - so well-versed in sports and diplomatic history on both sides of the Atlantic - shows how professional basketball swept across the world. The source material is breathtaking; the insights into Franco-American history are erudite and refreshing. Sports scholarship at its best! * Thomas W. Zeiler, Professor of History, University of Colorado Boulder, USA *
Lindsay Krasnoff is a matchless scholar and historian who sets the record straight on France and basketball. Basketball Empire weaves an epic revelatory tapestry; necessary, alive and relevant today and going forward. * David Hollander, Professor, NYU Tisch Institute for Global Sport, USA *
Rich with illuminating context and the voices of pioneering personalities, this fascinating and important book traces the birth, growth and spread of French basketball, highlighting its interplay with both the U.S. and francophone Africa and the Caribbean. BASKETBALL EMPIRE shows how the openness of a younger generation helped France create a powerful diplomatic instrumenta basketball culture all its own. * Alexander Wolff, author of Big Game, Small World: A Basketball Adventure *
Big ball, small world. Sixty years ago, US pioneers traveled to France to teach basketball. Today, following the Tony Parkers, Sandrine Grudas or Nic Batums, young french ballers cook a new french cuisine in the NBA and WNBA. Chef Lindsay Krasnoff met them all and set the table for us, lucky readers! * Arnaud Lecomte, Basketball Grand reporter, LEquipe, France *
Her love and understanding of France shine through, and she is such a fluent writer. She hones in on the surprising americaphilia that runs through French popular culture, and explains how the transatlantic relationship is inflected by race and the legacy of French empire. This is a book that is about much more than basketball * Simon Kuper, Columnist for the Financial Times and author of Soccernomics *
Dr Lindsay Krasnoff's Basketball Empire is an All-Star account of Franco-US basketball relations in a global context. The importance of considering the francophone dimension - both France and where French influence has blended with others, most notably across Africa - in the development of Basketball globally is presented in a rich and thoughtful fashion. The diversity of the source material delivers a fascinating array of narratives sharing unexpected rallies, buzzer-beaters, and prospects for the next generation. Basketball Empire is a slam-dunk! * J Simon Rofe, Reader, University of Leeds, UK *

Author Bio

Lindsay Sarah Krasnoff is a historian, writer and consultant specializing in the history of global sport, communications and diplomacy. She is the Director of FranceandUS, lectures on sports diplomacy at New York University, USA, and as a Research Associate at SOAS University London, UK, co-directed the Basketball in Diplomacy in Africa project. The author of The Making of Les Bleus: Sport in France 1958-2010 (2013) she has written on global sport for CNN International, The Washington Post and The New Yorker, amongst other publications. She holds a PhD in History from City University of New York, USA, an MA in Journalism and French Studies from NYU, USA, and a BA in International Affairs from The George Washington University, USA.