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Npr this is FRESH AIR.
I'm Tanya Moseley, and right now, tens of thousands of people have converged on the United Center Stadium in Chicago for the Democratic National Convention.
We hereby call the in person portion of the 49th quadrennial democratic Democratic National Convention to order.
Like the fit serve in Milwaukee for the RNC a few weeks ago, the United center stadium has transformed into the beating heart of the DNC in the presidential race.
It's a tradition that has endured for over 150 years.
Stadiums are the epicenter of politics, sports and entertainment.
And as my guest today writes in his new book, there are also venues where people go to wrestle with defining the soul of America.
Frank Garrides new book, the An American History of Politics, protest and play, is a deeply researched look at the role of stadiums in the United States from the 1920s pro nazi rally at Madison Square Garden to the 2020 Barclays center racial justice protests in the wake of George Floyd's murder.
Stadiums, Garrity writes, are our nation's public squares, where we battle over race, class, gender and sexual inequities.
He also delves into how stadiums have become billboards for corporations and their influence on urban development and gentrification, and how it came to be that taxpayers often pay to build and maintain stadiums with little economic benefit for communities.
Garrity spent 15 years conducting research for his book.
His previous book, the Sports how Texas changed the culture of american athletics, is about the sports revolution of the sixties and seventies, when civil rights and feminist movements were reshaping the nation.
He's a professor of history and african american studies at Columbia University.
And Frank Garridi, welcome to fresh aiR.
Frank, thank you for having me.
It's great to be here.
What a timely discussion, because your book actually starts off by taking us to the Democratic National Convention 100 years ago.