Wed. June 27

 If the title "Welcome to the Terrordome" sounds familiar, it's because it's also the title of a great album by one of hip hop's best, most radical, bands, Public Enemy. By choosing that title for his book about - at least in part - sports, Dave Zirin is telling you he's on the radical wing of things. Indeed his book begins with Hurricane Katrina and the roots of the Superdome construction - a working class section of New Orleans was destroyed to make room - and then the role it played in the aftermath of the hurricane. When he gets to sports, per se, Zirin looks at how players are forced to conform, how baseball ownership (and its blind eye) played a major role in the steroid scandal, how the NBA both exploits hip hop culture and attacks its roots. He looks at pervasive racism. He references sports rebels past, like Jim Boutin. Zirin's take on sports is one we often try to ignore. We just want the scores, we just want to root for the home team, we want to pretend the rest of it doesn't exist. It's the kid in all of us. Unfortunately, it all does and if you're up for that rocky ride go the Brookline Booksmith Wednesday June 27 at 7 p.m. to hear Zirin speak about the book. Free.

279 Harvard St., Brookline, 617-566-6660 brooklinebooksmith.com