Steven Blush, "Bustin' Balls: World Team Tennis 1974-1978, Pro Sports, Pop Culture and Progressive Politics" (Feral Press, 2020)

New Books in American Studies · Mar 18, 2021 · 53m

Steven Blush's new book Bustin' Balls (Feral Press, 2020) tells the strange but true story of World Team Tennis (1974-1978) that attempted to transform the prim and proper individual sport of tennis into a rowdy blue-collar league. Billie Jean King and her partners merged feminism and civil rights with queer lifestyle, pop culture, and a progressive political agenda to create a dazzling platform for the finest tennis players of the day to become overnight stars. Filled with rare photographs and images of WTT ephemera, this book recounts King's vision of a competitive tennis league with…