Olympics Books Genre

Sports Literature

As you may have heard, Sports Lit has a reputation for being saccharine, self-indulgent, and clichéd.

But as you can see from the wide variety of styles, topics, and subjects that we've featured in this anthology, the genre can be pretty all-encompassing—not to mention, awesomely written.

Sports Literature can range from an emotional golden-era tale like Boys in the Boat, to a tittering, gossipy relating of Gabby Douglas's successes in the arena, to the more historical texts like Rome: 1960, which debates all of the political and societal turmoil that surrounded those Games.

Just because it's about sports doesn't make it a genre just for jocks—it just presents a different framework through which to view various events.