Susan Ware

Title IX: A Brief History with Documents

(Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2007; reissued by Waveland Press, 2014)

The phrase "Title IX" is practically synonymous with women's athletics, but few students understand how recent the revolution in women's sports is or how highly contested the breakthroughs were. The events leading up to Title IX's passage in 1972, and the struggle ever since to figure out how to implement the law fairly, demonstrate how athletics became part of the broader political and cultural struggles of the late twentieth century. Title IX also provides a textbook case of the difficulties – and the rewards – of putting abstract principles like equal opportunity and gender equity into concrete, everyday practice.