Burton Barr Central Library will host a free reading and discussion with author Matthew C. Whittaker from 7 to 8 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 9, at 1221 N. Central Ave.

Whittaker will discuss his new book, “African American Icons of Sport: Triumph, Courage and Excellence,” offering an examination of African Americans in sports from a variety of perspectives and through a lively range of rhetoric styles. It also explores the extent to which modern mass media and popular culture have contributed to the rise, and sometimes fall, of these powerful symbols of athletic, individual and group excellence.

Whitaker is associate professor of U.S. History, African and American Studies, and Justice and Social Inquiry at Arizona State University. He is also the author of “Race Work: The Rise of Civil Rights in the Urban West