In 1981, the South African rugby team toured New Zealand, and the tour is remembered for the thousands of New Zealanders who took to the streets to demonstrate against the Springboks. Large numbers of protesters were arrested, games were interrupted, violence occurred, and two matches were canceled due to security concerns. Derek Catsam suggests the tour is “arguably the most controversial politicized sporting event or series of sporting events in history” (xxiii). A relatively large body of scholarly and popular publications focuses on the 1981 tour, protests, and their aftermath. The Springboks were unable to fly home on the traditional route via Australia and instead went straight to tour the United States. Catsam chronicles the Springbok tour of the United States and firmly places the protests on American soil in contrast to the larger anti-apartheid movement globally. The Springboks played three matches in the United States in less than a week in front of tiny crowds.Catsam draws from an impressive range of sources. He uses archives and libraries in six different countries and should be commended for accessing over a dozen in South Africa and the United States. Moreover, Catsam uses player biographies and autobiographies to great effect. In particular, he uses them when recalling episodes and matches on the tour. At times, however, he uses long quotes, which are seemingly left for the reader to interpret. Notwithstanding this minor quibble, player biographies and autobiographies are often neglected and overlooked in academic scholarship, and Catsam uses these well and to great effect.In chapter 1, Catsam discusses the genesis and evolution of the South African team's tour in the United States. He shows how the American Doug Reid convinced rugby officials in both countries that the tour was feasible. He also importantly highlights Reid's political support of South Africa. This is further contextualized in terms of Ronald Reagan's “Constructive Engagement” and support of the Pretoria regime. Chapters 2 and 4 deal with the 1981 rugby season and the Irish tour to South Africa and the Springbok tour to New Zealand. Catsam discusses these tours in detail and does not shy away from writing about the rugby matches themselves. This makes for enjoyable reading and affirms that this is a story about sport, after all. Chapter 4 reads like a tour diary in places, but this does not distract from the broader themes and arguments. Errol Tobias made his Springbok debut as the first Black player to represent the national team during the 1981 season. Catsam suggests he was “the reluctant, contested pioneer,” and, on the evidence, I think this is fair (20). While Tobias was talented on the field of play, he was also part of the broader “cosmetic” “reforms” instigated by Pretoria (25). Chapters 5, 6, and 7 deal with the American leg of the tour and the three matches played over six days. These are fascinating chapters, and Catsam clearly has a talent for writing a good story. The lengths to which the American organizers and their South African counterparts went to fool would-be protesters, the media, the public, and Springbok players themselves is staggering. This is engrossing reading and first-rate.In his assessment of the tour to the United States, Catsam suggests the tour went ahead because South Africa needed political and sporting allies. This was, as he notes “a living embodiment of ‘constructive engagement’” (145). While Catsam rightly suggests the tour fueled the anti-apartheid movement in the United States, he may be overstating this. While the United States did not have similar sporting ties such as those of Australia, Britain, and New Zealand to South Africa, and despite large numbers of South African soccer and tennis players plying their trade across the country, American businesses and the nation's entertainment industry did. While Catsam does acknowledge the latter, he does not engage in the role of organized labor and its important role in the anti-apartheid movement.Catsam bookends his book with a preface that deals with the emergence of the first Black South African rugby captain, Siya Kolisi and a conclusion in which he chronicles Kolisi's captaining of the Springboks to their third World Cup victory in 2019. While this deserves its own book, Catsam addresses some of the themes during this latter period well. There are instances of incorrect translations and repetition across the text, and we read on more than one occasion that loose forward Rob Louw was known for his “liberal views” and was a close friend of Tobias. While Catsam may overstate the case of how the Springbok tour of the United States fueled the country's anti-apartheid movement, this is an excellent book and an important contribution to the scholarship on rugby and anti-apartheid protests. Catsam highlights and shows the lengths to which rugby officials went to ensure the tour was a success. He details their collaboration, acquiescence, and subterfuge with great skill.