Read to Lead Series with Diane Roberts, NPR Contributor and Author of Tribal

Diane Roberts is a self-described feminist with a PhD from Oxford. She’s also a second-generation season ticket holder—and an English professor—at one of the most elite college football schools in the country. So every Saturday from September through December she surrenders to her Inner Barbarian. The same goes for the rest of her “tribe,” those thousands of hooting, hollering, beer-swilling Seminoles who, like Roberts, spent the 2013—14 season basking in the loping, history-making Hail Marys of Jameis Winston, the team’s Heisman-winning quarterback, when they weren’t gawking, dumbstruck, at the headlines in which he was accused of sexual assault.

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In Tribal, Roberts explores college football’s grip on the country at the very moment when gender roles are blurring, social institutions are in flux, and the question of who is an American is frequently challenged. For die-hard fans, the sport is a comfortable retreat into tradition, proof of our national virility, and a reflection of an America without troubling ambiguities. Yet, Roberts argues, it is also a representation of the buried heart of this country: a game and a culture built upon the dark past of the South, secrets so obvious they hide in plain sight. With her droll Southern voice, Roberts offers a sociological unpacking of the sport’s dubious history that is at once affectionate and cautionary.

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Roberts will be reading from, signing copies of, and taking questions regarding Tribal. All ages are welcome for what is sure to be a fascinating event!