I wrote a review of Jon Peterson’s new book The Elusive Shift: How Role-Playing Games Forged Their Identity, from MIT Press. If you are interested in real old-time game theory, back when fans and players took the lead, before companies took over the direction of role-playing games, you will want to read this book.
The review is here on my blog.
(I also recommend his earlier, much more detailed book on the birth of D&D and its cultural background, called Playing at the World, from 2012.)