"Twenty years after its original publication, Indecent Acts in a Public Place is still well ahead of the curve of cultural analysis regarding sport. Importantly, it was perhaps the first book to bring an approach that both understood the cultural significance of games as well as the incredible distortions of the modern spectacle. The author of these essays (as British filmmaker Doug Aubrey wrote at the time) was obviously an "intellectual premier leaguer" and one of "popular culture's 'new wave' of First Division 'Mediaristocrats'" and this is still apparent despite the fact that over these...

An engaging, illustrated book looking at the centuries old custom of charivari (the mock serenade using pots and pans, meant to shame someone) from the traditional British skimmington to contemporary versions in such places as Buenos Aires, Montreal, and New York City (where they were a feature of the Occupy Movement). In the past, as now, charivaris go beyond partisan politics to unite communities in protecting themselves and expressing outrage against economic and political power. As a form of community street theatre, charivari also has linkages with such things as modern happenings,...