MUNCIE, Ind. --"Mark McGwire’s Little Helper: Sports, Society and the New Sex Hormone Market" is the topic for a March 4 lecture at Ball State University.

John Hoberman, professor of Germanic languages at the University of Texas, speaks at 11 a.m. in Bracken Library Room 225. The free public talk is part of the Provost’s Lecture Series.

Hoberman, considered a leading specialist in the political and cultural history of sport, has written four books addressing controversial aspects of 20th century sports. His 1997 book, "How Sport Has Damaged Black America and Preserved the Myth of Race," focused on the African-American community’s emphasis on sport as the primary means of achieving success.

"The Olympic Crisis: Sport, Politics, and the Moral Order" received the 1987 Olympic Book of the Year Award from the United States Olympic Committee Education Council. His other books are "Sport and Political Ideology" and "Mortal Engines: The Science of Performance and the Dehumanization of Sport."

Hoberman is currently working on "Testosterone Dreams: Hormone Therapy and the Future of Medical Rejuvenation," to be published by the University of California Press. He received a National Endowment for the Humanities fellowship for independent study and research in 1982-83.