A SUMMER of sport might appear to some as a distraction from real-world issues, yet this misses the point. Sport is a terrain on which the battles over neoliberalism and austerity, race and nationhood, gender, sexuality and plenty more not only take place but for many millions are brought to life with a passion and accessibility traditional politics too often fails to come close to matching.

My top-10 summer sports books each in their different ways illustrate how — and are a great read at the same time.

Cutting through sports-hype takes a combination of a love for and understanding of sport with a critique of all that it threatens to become. Jules Boykoff is a renowned expert at precisely this kind of combination his latest book Activism and the Olympics provides a record of activist opposition to the 2010 Vancouver Winter Games and London 2012.