Game, Set, Match

Billie Jean King and the Revolution in Women's Sports

By: Susan Ware

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Paperback | 28 February 2015

At a Glance

Paperback
296 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
23.5 x 15.6

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When Billie Jean King trounced Bobby Riggs in tennis's "Battle of the Sexes" in 1973, she placed sports squarely at the center of a national debate about gender equity. In this winning combination of biography and history, Susan Ware argues that King's challenge to sexism, the supportive climate of second-wave feminism, and the legislative clout of Title IX sparked a women's sports revolution in the 1970s that fundamentally reshaped American society.

While King did not single-handedly cause the revolution in women's sports, she quickly became one of its most enduring symbols, as did Title IX, a federal law that was initially passed in 1972 to attack sex discrimination in educational institutions but had its greatest impact by opening opportunities for women in sports. King's place in tennis history is secure, and now, with Game, Set, Match, she can take her rightful place as a key player in the history of feminism as well. By linking the stories of King and Title IX, Ware explains why women's sports took off in the 1970s and demonstrates how giving women a sporting chance has permanently changed American life on and off the playing field.

Industry Reviews

[A] winning combination of biography and social history." --Vogue

A Publishers Weekly Top 10 Sports Book."

A book that works on multiple levels. . . . Cogently argues that the passage of Title IX may actually have impeded the creation of a level playing field. It's a tribute to how much has changed that much of the book's content will be shocking to readers under 30; it's also a measure of how much remains to be done, given the 'separate but equal' approach that still dominates sports today." --Kirkus Reviews

A great read. . . . Ware sews together the histories of women's sports and feminism, using feminist icon Billie Jean King as the thread. Particularly compelling is her recounting of the tennis star's battle with her own homophobia and that of society." --Ms.

If you read one book, make it: Game, Set, Match. . . . As Susan Ware's biography of her shows, King's fight against sexism in sports might be her biggest accomplishment." --Shape

In Game, Set, Match: Billie Jean King and the Revolution in Women's Sports, the role of a pioneer and much of the leveling legislation she inspired--namely the NCAA's title IX provisions--is gamely told by women's history scholar Susan Ware." --Publishers Weekly

The value of this book is its readability and its innovative use of King as a central figure to bring the history of women's sports to life. Recommended. All readers." --Choice

Ware astutely places King at the vortex of the change in women's rights, gay causes . . . and sports professionalism, leaving no doubt about King's place in 20th-century women's sports." --Library Journal

Ware's view of history should be read by women of all ages--those who lived through it and survived it as well as (perhaps especially) the younger ones who benefited by it." --Story Circle Book Reviews

Well-written and -researched. . . . The book matters precisely because it digs into the messy, even uneasy relationships between King and women's liberation leaders, and more broadly, between advocates for women's athletics and second-wave feminists, bringing together histories that have for too long been considered separately." --Women's Review of Books

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