I found this book to be interesting and true when it comes to bodybuilding. It is not always an easy read. It may be better suited for someone in the industry or at least an anthropologist

Insightful examination of an extreme manifestation of societal tendency, and how this reflects on gender construction in our society as a whole.
I purchased this book for use as one of the (many!) references for my thesis (on gender role traits and food selection.)
While probably not for a lay audience, this book is written in a very easy-to-read style for a study. Although I have to do hours and hours of reading every single day, I still found that this book held my interest.

In Sugarball, Klein examines the role of baseball in the Dominican Republic with all its cultural and economic importance, and specifically the part it plays in the hegemony and cultural resistance of the Dominicans in relation to the United States. Not only are there extensive arguments for these cultural implications, but Klein also focuses greatly on the history and culture of Dominican baseball by itself. He gives a clear picture of what baseball means there through extensive research and observations of life in the Dominican Republic. Filled with quotes and interviews of various people, as well as statistics and historical facts about Dominican baseball, this study clearly reflects the sociology and anthropology of sport as an emerging legitimate field.
Although he did give a well studied background of the Dominican baseball situation, Klein attempts to prescribe many other ideas to his findings, and only partially succeeds. Even he admits in his book that many of his preconceived notions of what he was going to find were clearly not there, from overt cultural resistance with baseball among certain groups to the pinning of all the social problems of Dominicans to the United States. The neo-Marxist interpretations of his findings bogged down his observations with jargon and implications that are not clearly there, and his admitted failures at finding certain schemas leads his readers to question the other aspects of his interpretation. However, his observations of this phenomenon should not be disregarded. His research alone provides a very valuable tool for the understanding of United States cultural influence in Latin America in general, and in the Dominican Republic in particular.
In all, Sugarball provides a very in depth look into the meaning of baseball in the Dominican culture. Whether or not it can be used for an argument in such a way as he implies it does remains a question, but his basic point of its incredible importance is well taken. This book will be a valuable tool for those who are interested in baseball and the culture of Latin America.

This book, Sugarball, dives in and explores the relation that the people of the Dominican Republic have with United States in the context of baseball. The author, Alan Klein, argues that the Dominican Republic is a country underdeveloped, exploited, abused, ravaged in poverty, destitution, and most importantly inundated with American culture; but yet still finds a way to express their independence and nationality through baseball. He further argues that Dominican Baseball, though an American game with American influences has managed to survive with a distinctly Dominican feel; and this feeling is a source of resistance to American hegemony.
How does one prove cultural resistance against cultural hegemony? Klein attempts it through insightful historical investigation and related to personal observations of behavior with in the culture. However, his premise is inherently intangible. His evidence lies not in overt actions, but in the passive behaviors of the Dominican fan. Behaviors that seen like conscious efforts to behave un-American. If one were to point out any of form of resistance one would not see resistance, it is only when taken in the cultural construct as a whole that one begins to see Klein's point.
Because of the inherently intangibly nature of culture, Klein fails to prove clear cultural resistance, rather he succeeds in establishing the conflict that Dominicans have as both needing to assimilate with American culture in order to gain a better life, and their need for a since of national superiority, and independence free from American dominance. Klein essentially establishes the existence of a love-hate relationship through the game of baseball in the Dominican Republic.

In Sugarball, author Alan Klein attempts to draw on the complicated relationship between baseball in the United States and the Dominican Republic by equating it to that of a neocolonial power to its subordinate nation. In the same way that all the resources are tapped from the underdeveloped nation and utilized by the parent, the United States has exploited the Dominican Republic's most lucrative export, baseball players. The exchange has become institutionalized and the top players from the Dominican leagues major aim is to move into the Major League Baseball system, leaving the economic desolation of home and depleting the nation's culture.

The relationship is both revered and abhorred by the people of the nation. As most boys in the Dominican Republic have few choices of employment after their minimal education, baseball is seen as a way out of the poverty that pervades the country. The Dominican attitude toward the Americans is typical of the aforementioned neocolonial relationships; we are loathed and imitated all at once. In a show against US control, the game has been altered by Dominicans to showcase their own culture and values, thereby serving to stamp their own mark on the sport in the most public fashion.

Though Klein's reasoning is mostly sound throughout, he does make some stretches in his interpretation of the hegemonic behavior exhibited by the Dominican people. It would have been beneficial to have more in-depth information about how the Dominican players feel about the choices they make in leaving their homeland. Additionally, further discussion into how the purported baseball resistance is making a difference throughout the country would have been of interest. Overall however, Sugarball is a valuable look into how the economic state of the Dominican economy lead to its virtual rule by American industry and how the all-time American game, baseball, has been used and altered by the Dominican people into a game with their own flair and culture stamped on it.