Brow Beat

A good sports book needs conflict. It should also have high stakes. But how do you signal to readers that your tome captures the titanic clash of this or any age? Jeff Carroll's Perfect Rivals , published Aug. 31, broadcasts its importance with a fateful subtitle: "Notre Dame, Miami, and the Battle for the Soul of College Football." Chad Millman and Shawn Coyne's The Ones Who Hit the Hardest , which came out on Sept. 2, uses pretty much the same subtitle in service of a slightly more sweeping argument: "The Steelers, the Cowboys, the '70s, and the Fight for America's Soul."

It's not just sportswriters who see soul-rending conflict in their chosen field. While struggles for the soul predominate in a couple of subject areas (Islamic studies, evolution) you're likely to find soul tug-of-war in every section of the bookstore—there's a struggle for the soul of physics, as well as a struggle for the soul of judo. (I must disclose that these subtitles are not just a publishing industry epidemic: Slate has identified struggles for the soul of the Republican Party , figure skating , and a fantasy baseball league .)

In the list below, I've collected 62 battles for the soul, broken down by category. If I'm missing any book-world soul fights—or if you want to nominate another favorite book title cliché—please drop a line in the comments.

Business:
Backfire: Carly Fiorina's High-Stakes Battle for the Soul of Hewlett-Packard
The Battle for the Soul of Capitalism
Blue Blood and Mutiny: The Fight for the Soul of Morgan Stanley

Crime:
Big Trouble: A Murder in a Small Western Town Sets Off a Struggle for the Soul of America
Getting Ghost: Two Young Lives and the Struggle for the Soul of an American City
L.A. Noir: The Struggle for the Soul of America's Most Seductive City

Darwinism:
The Darwin Wars: The Scientific Battle for the Soul of Man
The Evolutionists: The Struggle for Darwin's Soul
Monkey Girl: Evolution, Education, Religion, and the Battle for America's Soul
Only a Theory: Evolution and the Battle for America's Soul

Economics:
The Struggle Over the Soul of Economics