{"product_id":"2940170690527","title":"Forty Million Dollar Slaves: The Rise, Fall, and Redemption of the Black Athlete","description":"\u003cp\u003eFrom Jackie Robinson to Muhammad Ali and Arthur Ashe, African American athletes have been at the center of modern culture, their on-the-field heroics admired and stratospheric earnings envied. But for all their money, fame, and achievement, says former \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e columnist William C. Rhoden, black athletes still find themselves on the periphery of true power in the multibillion-dollar industry their talent built.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eProvocative and controversial, Rhoden's \u003ci\u003eForty Million Dollar Slaves\u003c\/i\u003e weaves a compelling narrative of black athletes in the United States, from the plantation to their beginnings in nineteenth-century boxing rings and at the first Kentucky Derby to the history-making accomplishments of notable figures such as Jesse Owens, Althea Gibson, and Willie Mays. Rhoden makes the cogent argument that black athletes' \"evolution\" has merely been a journey from literal plantations to today's figurative ones, in the form of collegiate and professional sports programs. Drawing from his decades as a sportswriter, Rhoden contends that black athletes' exercise of true power is as limited today as when masters forced their slaves to race and fight.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSweeping and meticulously detailed, \u003ci\u003eForty Million Dollar Slaves\u003c\/i\u003e is an eye-opening exploration of a metaphor we only thought we knew.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Tantor Audio","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47117515522288,"sku":"2940170690527","price":16.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940170690527_p0.jpg?v=1763812701","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940170690527","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}