Magic in the Air: The Myth, the Mystery, and the Soul of the Slam Dunk

“The entire social, cultural, and athletic evolution of basketball can be traced through the slam dunk,” according to this energetic history. Philadelphia Inquirer sports columnist Sielski (The Rise) notes that in the early 20th century, basketball coaches considered dunking antithetical to the sport’s higher aspirations to improve young men’s moral character, believing the technique too ostentatious. Debates over dunking were inextricably entwined in midcentury basketball’s racial politics, Sielski contends, describing how the National Basketball Committee banned dunking in college and high school hoops in 1967 to stymie the success of UCLA center Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who was famed for his dunks, and other Black players pushing the sport forward in the late 1960s. Arguing that dunking played a crucial role in turning the NBA into a multi-billion-dollar enterprise, Sielski describes how the thrills of the American Basketball Association’s inaugural slam dunk contest in 1976 hastened the decision of the comparatively staid NBA to merge with its competitor later that year. Briskly told and grounded in observant portraits of famous dunkers (New York streetball legend Earl Manigault is portrayed as a tragic figure whose tireless pursuit of transcendence on the court was hampered by heroin addiction), this scores. Agent: Susan Canavan, Waxman Literary. (Feb.)