Artificial Ice: Hockey, Culture, and Commerce

The one-two punch of David Whitson and Richard Gruneau is fast gaining the reputation of being the academic equivalent of the New York Islanders' prolific on-ice tandem of Bryan Trottier and Mike Bossy. Following upon their ealier collaboration, Hockey Night in Canada, the duo assembled a gifted cast of academics to write Artificial Ice. The final product is a set of twelve well-crafted essays that are informative and insightful. This edited volume shows the cultural implications of hockey, not only in Canada but globally, as well as the economic and political side of the sport.

American Review of Canadian Studies

No one reveals the layered, culturally constructed experiences and meanings of hockey more comprehensively and insightfully than David Whitson and Rick Gruneau. In Artificial Ice, they have recruited a top-flight team to make sense of the transformations and debates of the last decade, and the changing place of hockey in Canadian culture and the international political economy. It's a gold medal performance.

Brude Kidd, Dean, Faculty of Physical Education and Health, University of Toronto

David Whitson and Richard Gruneau have long been known as two of the most sophisticated and insightful analysts of North American sport in general, and Canadian hockey in particular. In Artificial Ice, they have collected some of the top scholars of hockey to further deepen our understanding of the economies and cultural meanings of hockey in Canada, while broadening the scope of analysis to take into account processes of internationalization and globalization.

Michael A. Messner, Professor and Chair, Department of Sociology, University of Southern California

The sport of hockey continues to enjoy a place of cultural significance for men and women, young and old. Having written the ground-breaking scholarly book on hockey, two of Canada's leading sociologists edit this volume, which tackles an array of important issues in Canadian culture and beyond. Artificial Ice actively engages current social debates, in part made possible by Whitson and Gruneau in Hockey Night in Canada.

Kevin B. Wamsley, PhD, Associate Dean, Programs, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Western Ontario

In 1993, Gruneau and Whitson published Hockey Night in Canada, a provocative analysis that rivals the best in any sport, anywhere, anytime. Now they are back, with an all-star cast of commentators. Rev up that Zamboni. Even the most hardened of hockey fans and critics will find something new in Artificial Ice.

Stephen Hardy, Professor, Department of Kinesiology, University of New Hampshire