Fall is the prime season to be a sports fan. The baseball playoffs—a million dramas in miniature—reach their apex, culminating in the World Series, which starts tonight; college football and the NFL are in full swing; the WNBA’s season wraps up just as the NBA and NHL begin playing; and soccer matches continue in all corners of all nations, all of the time. These months practically beg you to get lost in the excitement of a game-winning drive, the pathos of a missed layup at the buzzer, or the euphoria of a championship team spraying champagne all over the clubhouse.

For most fans, these are days of spectacle and adrenaline. But as tempting as it is to just shut your brain off, sports are always layered with meaning, and their influence extends far beyond their emotional appeal. For the ardent fan and the casual watcher alike, digging into the transformative trends behind the games—such as the rise of gambling, the increasing “sportswashing” of unethical policies and illiberal governments, and the labor-management battles between athletes and the powers that bankroll them—is a valuable pastime of its own. Here are seven great books that, like the games themselves, educate us, enthrall us, and remind us just how much the sports universe reflects (and defines) the wider world.

Blood, Sweat, & Tears: Jake Gaither, Florida A&M, and the History of Black College Football, by Derr