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The Quality of Home Runs offers engaging and provocative perspectives on socialism, nationalism, masculinity, and the embodiment and poetics of sport in Cuba, all seen from the vantage point of the stadium stands and the streets of Havana. Thomas F. Carter's emphasis on themes such as spectacle, social drama, struggle, and discipline--of both players and fans, on and off the field--builds a persuasive analysis of changing notions of what it means to be Cuban. --Thomas M. Wilson, Binghamton University Thomas Carter reveals in this fascinating examination of the relationship between baseball and Cuban identity that it is not clear when the lionised Che first swapped his rifle for a baseball bat, with some accounts implausibly even suggesting he learned how to play the game in the Sierra Maestra in between fighting the Batista regime... The Quality of Home Runs explores the unique relationship between Cuba and baseball, tracing the history of the game on the island and such key themes as the role of the state in its evolution. The author, an anthropologist, teases out narrative practices found within baseball to provide insights into how the game both at home and abroad informs what it means to be Cuban. A labour of love written, it would appear, despite the political sensitivity of the game on the island and its own inner politics, The Quality of Home Runs uses baseball as a tool with which to provide an engaging and interesting perspective on Cuban identity. - The Latin American Review of Books, March 09 [D]espite the seriousness of many of his themes, Carter has a sharp anthropologist's eye for the colourful detail of baseball fandom...Carter's work proves just how illuminating it can be when sport's pleasures - and its inevitable links with politics and real life - are taken as seriously as they deserve to be. -Mathew Reisz, Times Higher Education, 30th April 2009

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Thomas F. Carter, an anthropologist, is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Brighton, Chelsea School.

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