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Join us as we celebrate Salinas native Michael A. Messner and his new book, "The High School - Sports, Spirit, and Citizens, 1903-2024" with an author event and reception. Expect lots of school spirit, live music, fun and food for 6pm-9pm on Friday, April 11th, 2025 at Downtown Book & Sound.Michael and his siblings attended Salinas High and his father was an athletic coach there for many years. His exploration of how high the high school experience shapes our youth and how that experience has changed over the years.
The author will be on had to informally meet and greet his friends and fans as well a conduct a brief reading and interactive interview live-streamed on Facebook and YouTube for folks who cannot attend in person.
Please accept our personal invitation to join us for this fun and highly local event! Free parking on the street and in the rear lot. Downtown Book & Sound also validates up to 3 hours for the Monterey Street parking garage. See you here!
More about the book:
High school yearbooks provide both a vivid snapshot of student life and a reflection of what the adults in the community valued the most. For instance, athletics are often covered more than academics, and boys’ sports routinely receive more attention than girls’ sports. But how have those values changed over time?
In The High School, acclaimed sociologist Michael A. Messner reads through 120 years of El Gabilan, the yearbook from his own alma mater, Salinas High School in California, where his father taught and coached. Treating the yearbooks as a historical archive, Messner makes surprising discoveries about the school he thought he knew so well. For example, over fifty years before Title IX, the earliest yearbooks gave equal spotlights to boys’ and girls’ athletics, while the cheerleaders were all boys.
Tracing American life and culture from 1903 to 2024, Messner illuminates shifts in social practices at his high school that reflect broader changes in American culture across the twentieth century. The High School spotlights how the meanings and iconography of certain activities have changed radically over the decades, even as the “sports spirit complex”—involving athletes, cheerleaders, band members, and community boosters—has remained a central part of the high school experience. By exploring evolving sports cultures, socioeconomic conditions, racial demographics, and gender norms, Messner offers a fresh perspective on a defining feature of American teenage life.
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Event Venue & Nearby Stays
213 Main Street, Salinas, CA, United States, California 93901
