Book Watch

AUTHOR AND FORMER New York Times sports columnist Robert Lipsyte calls Dave Zirin "the best young sportswriter in America ," but readers don't turn to Zirin 's columns in Slam magazine and on edgeofsports.com for scores-and-sweat stories. Zirin , 33, is more concerned with sports' place in the political and sociological arenas, and in Welcome to the Terrordome: The Pain, Politics and Promise of Sports, he forcefully takes on what he calls the "athletic-industrial complex." Able to rant without losing a sense of reason, Zirin laments the political apathy of today's star athletes, argues that our games are still gripped by racism and makes a strong case that local governments court pro teams at the expense of the public they should be serving. Whether you agree with Zirin 's politics or not, this is a provocative, sometimes chilling, look at sports and society right now.