Editorial Review

Soccer is a sport that has steadily grown in popularity throughout the United States. At the same time, the U.S. Women’s National Team has experienced success and accolades for the medals they have won in both the Olympics and the FIFA Women’s World Cup. Despite that, they experienced quite a bit of adversity. They have struggled to receive treatment equal to the men’s team, and twice fought for equal pay and sued for gender discrimination. Not only did they fight for equal pay, but also equal treatment as far as playing conditions, proper equipment and uniforms, and housing accommodations when traveling. Additionally, they had to combat societal prejudice that said that women were inferior to men in sports and that by trying to play they were endangering their future family life and bodies. This title focuses on the history of the sport and these struggles. One drawback is the lack of in-depth focus on individual stand-out players or competition highlights. For books focusing more on the players, try: US Women’s Soccer Team—Go For Gold—Heather Alexander and Squad Goals: The Unstoppable Women of the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team—Laurie Calkoven and Monique Dong. This title has many qualities to make it appealing to reluctant readers. The text is broken up into seven short chapters each of five pages or less. A variety of photographs and sidebars break up the text graphically, and the use of bold colors throughout adds visual interest. The text is written in an engaging style that will keep the reader’s interest. This book is packed with back matter to extend reader’s knowledge of the topic: important dates (chronology of women’s soccer history); selected bibliography (online articles and videos); source notes (bibliography of sources author used in research); learn more (websites and books for more information), as well as a table of contents and index. Good resource for sports fans, soccer players and fans, and sports history enthusiasts whether male or female.