The Girls Of Summer: The U.S. Women's Soccer Team and How It Changed The World - Hardcover

Longman, Jere

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0060196572 ISBN 13: 9780060196578

Publisher: Harper, 2000

Synopsis

The world of women's sports changed forever on July 10, 1999. That was the day the United States soccer team defeated China in a taut penalty-kick shoot-out in the Women's World Cup, triggering the kind of old-fashioned patriotism that sold out the Rose Bowl and brought President Clinton to his feet along with more than 40 million other Americans watching the match on television.

In vivid and graceful prose, award-winning New York Times sportswriter Jere Longman brings us The Girls of Summer, an intimate account of the epic final and an inside look at the cultural phenomenon that is U.S. women's soccer. With especially revealing profiles of such superstars as Mia Hamm, Michelle Akers, Brandi Chastain, and Briana Scurry, Longman illuminates the larger issues surrounding their success--their newfound status as role models, the media's sexualization of the team members, plays' grappling with matters of race, alleged sexual harassment, and equal pay for equal play, as well as the battle to establish an enduring legacy of female participation in the sport.

Not since the storied "Miracle on Ice" in 1980, when the U.S. men's Olympic hockey team upset the mighty Soviet Union in the Winter Olympics, has a group of athletes fired America's imagination as did these remarkable champions. The Girls of Summer takes its place as a sporting classic, a definitive work on a team for the ages.

About this title

Review:

On July 10, 1999, the world of women's sports changed forever as the U.S. defeated China in the Women's World Cup soccer final in front of 90,000 spectators at the Rose Bowl--and millions more watching on television around the world.

In The Girls of Summer, Jere Longman tells the story of the women's team, their rise to world dominance, and their struggle with the United States Soccer Federation (U.S.S.F.) for the support, respect, and salary they deserve. Drawing on extensive personal interviews recorded before, during, and after the World Cup, Longman offers up portraits of all the players on the team--Akers, Hamm, Chastain, Milbrett, Overbeck, and the rest. Longman also addresses some of the issues surrounding the team and the Women's World Cup--how U.S.S.F. and the national media seriously underestimated the level of interest the tournament would generate; the questions of race and sexuality; and the positive role models these women provided to a nation of young girls--showing them that they, too, could achieve their dreams.

Some of Longman's statements ring false--millions of Europeans would be appalled to hear soccer described as a "Third World sport"--but overall, Girls of Summer is a fine tribute to the world champions. --M. Stein

About the Author:

Jeré Longman is a sports reporter for the New York Times whose books include the national bestseller Among the Heroes: United Flight 93 and the Passengers and Crew Who Fought Back and The Hurricanes: One High School Team's Homecoming After Katrina, chosen by Slate magazine as one of the Best Books of 2008.

About this edition

• Publisher: Harper
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0060196572
• ISBN 13: 9780060196578
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 336