

Robert W. Turner II is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Clinical Research and Leadership at The George Washington University School of Medicine & Health Science. He earned his Ph.D. in sociology at the Graduate Center, City University of New York. He also holds a position as a Research Scientist in the Center for Biobehavioral Health Disparities Research at Duke University. After attending James Madison University on an athletic scholarship, Dr. Turner played football professionally in the now defunct United States Football League, the Canadian Football League, and briefly in the National Football League. Dr. Turner is an active member of his local church and serves on the board of directors for the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Washington, D.C.
July 2018 | ISBN: 9780199892907 | Edition 1
Drawing on personal experience as a former pro football player and interactions with over 140 current and former NFL athletes, Dr. Robert W. Turner II reveals what it means to be a high school and college athlete pursuing the dream of playing in the NFL, and why so many players struggle with life after football.
"Robert Turner's ethnography of athletes' journeys to and through the NFL is provocative and deeply discerning. He draws on life course, developmental, and sociological theories to unveil what the NFL and its patrons turn a blind eye too because they assume the lives of professional football players are much more glorious and desirable than the reality. By sharing his own football trajectory and those of others, Turner skillfully awakens readers to how professional football players imagined lives become in short order, unimaginable." -Linda Burton, PhD, James B. Duke Professor of Sociology, Duke University
Robert Turner has the rarest of insights into what it means to be an NFL player. His time in the game combined with Turner’s scholarly expertise illuminate every issue facing the men who have played in the league. Not For Long is a gift to us all.
January 22nd, 2019
Chapel Hill, North Carolina
January 30th, 2019
North Hills, 4209-100 Lassiter Mill Road / Raleigh NC 27609
January 31, 2019 7:00pm
Atlanta, Georgia
February 3rd, 2019
February 8th, 2019
Columbia, Missouri
February 19, 2019
323 6th Ave / New York, NY 10014
October 1, 2018
235 Bowery / New York, NY 10002
September 26, 2018
4154 LSA Building, Arbor, Michigan 48104
September 6, 2018 5:45pm - 7:30pm
124 E Washington, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48104
September 5, 2018 6:00pm - 7:30pm
Featured Books & Brunch Book Club Event
Washington, D.C. Launch Event / Politics & Prose Bookstore / 5015 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Washington DC 20008
August 6, 2018 7:00pm - 8:00pm
WCAI 90.1 FM, Local NPR for the Cape, Coast & Islands, Living Lab Radio
September 11, 2018
Kristen Mitchell, GW Today
September 10, 2018
Mallory Chin, Hypebeast
September 7, 2018
Ross Atkin, The Christian Science Monitor
September 5, 2018
Colleen Kane, Chicago Tribune
September 1, 2018
Colleen Kane, Chicago Tribune
August 30, 2018
Kayla Randall, Washington City Paper
August 6, 2018
Unpaid college athletes generate billions of dollars for their institutions every year. Student Athlete unveils the exploitative world of high-revenue college sports through the stories of four young men at different stages of their athletic careers, as well as a coach-turned-advocate and a whistle-blowing shoe rep who exposes the money trail. The documentary spotlights: former college and NFL coach John Shoop; New Jersey high school basketball phenom Nick Richards, now at the University of Kentucky; Mike Shaw, who played at the University of Illinois and Bradley University; Shamar Graves, a former wide receiver at Rutgers University; and Silas Nacita, a walk-on who played at Baylor University.
Student Athlete is an HBO Sports presentation in association with LeBron James, Maverick Carter and Jamal Henderson at SpringHill Entertainment, and Steve Stoute at United Masters; directors, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy and Trish Dalton; technical advisor/consultant, Dr. Robert W. Turner II; executive producer, Rick Bernstein; supervising producer, Joe Perskie.
For Speaking Engagements:
Amanda Dissinger, Publicist
Email: Amanda.Dissinger@oup.com
Phone: 212-726-6495
Oxford University Press
198 Madison Avenue
New York, NY 10016
Literary Agent:
Neeti Madan
Phone: 646-652-3274
Sterling Lord Literistic, Inc.
115 Broadway
New York, NY 10006