Cheer!: Inside the Secret World of College Cheerleaders

The author has a startling ability to immerse herself in another universe and emerge able to translate that world to the rest of us. I'd never really cared much about cheerleading one way or the other, but when I finished this book, I couldn't stop watching the videos of the teams' performances (available at cheerthebook.com) over and over again, amazed at not just how much more I knew about what they were doing but how much I had come to care about the individuals doing it.

Wow thanks Kate for doing such a great job of showing what cheering is all about! You tell the good and the bad even though most people want to dwell on the negatives. For Monica it's been positive all the way,not that there weren't bumps, breaks, and bruises along the way. From the time she made the middle school squad in 7th grade , in a small West Tennessee town, till she wound up on the Memphis All Girl Squad,and in your book,it's made her the confident, successful young woman she is today. Thanks for bringing Cheer to the rest of the world because this book is great!

Like the author, I've never been a cheerleader and didn't really know much about them in high school. My lack of experience with this topic probably made me love this book even more. I feel like I learned a lot about this amazingly popular subculture, and it's just a really great story of teamwork, dedication and major high stakes (the whole season comes down to a few minutes of make or break competition, which makes for a nail-biting read!). Cheerleading is a serious sport that usually gets frivolous coverage. Kate Torgovnick has a totally different take and gives the subject the respect it deserves. I definitely recommend this book to anyone who likes sports and enjoys a thrilling, action-packed narrative.

CHEER! is an amazingly intimate and entertaining look inside the world of competitive college cheerleading. Only Torgovnick--a venerable journalist and curious Southern gal--could have done such exhaustive reporting, empathic analysis, and structured it all together in one perfect routine of a book. It is not to be missed--not just by those inside the cheerleading world, but those who consider themselves cultural critics, pop culture nuts, sports enthusiasts, sociologists, and gender theorists.

CHEER! jumps off the page like one of the gravity-defying stunts featured in the book. Kate Torgovnick brings us so close that we actually feel the adrenaline pulse through our own bodies, giving us a glimpse of what it's like to live on the edge, to care about something so much that we're willing to break our own neck. By the end of this emotionally raw, and often beautiful, physical and psychological exploration, we know why we want to "Save the Cheerleader."