Sports in American Life : A History,9781405106481

Sports in American Life : A History

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Edition: 1st
ISBN13: 9781405106481
ISBN10: 1405106484
Format: Paperback
Pub. Date: 2006-12-25
Publisher(s): Wiley-Blackwell
List Price: $70.56

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Summary

This richly documented book traces the evolution of American sports from the colonial period to the present, when sports have become fully integrated into the political, social, cultural, and economic fabric of the nation. The narrative is organized around the argument that sports have been a significant social force throughout much of the history of the United States, providing Americans with a venue in which major cultural and social issues have been debated, contested, and, in some notable instances, resolved. Extensively illustrated and accessibly written, this text is ideal for undergraduate courses in sports history.

Author Biography


Richard O. Davies is University Foundation Professor of History at the University of Nevada, Reno. He is the author or editor of twelve books, including America's Obsession: Sports and Society Since 1945 (1994), and Main Street Blues: The Decline of Small-Town America (1998), which was named one of the top 25 books in American History by Choice. Although his publications range widely over the history of twentieth-century American history, he has in the past decade established himself as one of the leading scholars in the growing field of American sports history.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations
xi
Preface xv
Acknowledgments xxi
Games the Colonists Played
1(20)
The English Heritage
2(1)
The Commoners at Play
3(4)
The Games of the English Gentry
7(1)
The Puritan Reaction
8(2)
Games in Colonial New England
10(4)
Games of the Southern Elite
14(3)
Sporting Life of the Colonial Working Class
17(2)
The Revolutionary Era
19(2)
The Emergence of Organized Sports, 1815--60
21(21)
Sports in the Early National Period
22(3)
The Democratization of Racing: the Trotters
25(2)
Racing by Land and Sea
27(4)
The Formative Years of Prizefighting
31(6)
Baseball: the Creation of ``America's Game''
37(5)
``This Noble and Envigorating Game''
42(20)
The Early Professional Era
44(3)
Henry Chadwick and a Game of Numbers
47(2)
Growing Pains
49(3)
Early Years of the Professional Game
52(4)
Emergence of the Modern Game
56(2)
The 1880s: A Decade of Rancor
58(4)
The Formative Years of College Football
62(21)
The Early Years of College Athletics
63(1)
Football American Style
64(2)
Yale and the Creation of Football
66(5)
Football Moves West
71(3)
Football As Spectacle
74(3)
Football in Crisis
77(6)
Sports and the Emergence of Modern America, 1865--1920
83(26)
Boxing Enters the Mainstream
84(6)
Sports and Social Class
90(5)
The Early Years of Women's Sports
95(3)
Strong Bodies and Devout Souls
98(4)
America's Greatest Athlete
102(3)
Organized Play for the Modern Era
105(2)
Interscholastic Sports
107(2)
Baseball Ascendant, 1890--1930
109(25)
The 1890s: Years of Discord
110(2)
Ban Johnson and the American League
112(2)
The Cyclone and the Georgia Peach
114(4)
Calling the Shots: the Manager
118(2)
The Federal League Challenge
120(2)
Crisis: Gamblers Fix the World Series of 1919
122(4)
The Babe
126(4)
Baseball's Golden Age
130(4)
``An Evil to be Endured,'' Sports on Campus, 1920--50
134(27)
The Essential Myth of Big-Time College Athletics
135(3)
Football: Driving the Bus
138(1)
Football's Golden Age: the Twenties
139(4)
Knute Rockne and the Making of Notre Dame Football
143(4)
The Second Challenge to Big-Time Football
147(4)
``Playing Nice'': the Demise of Women's Athletics
151(4)
Hoop Dreams
155(3)
Hoop Nightmares
158(3)
Sports in an Age of Ballyhoo, Depression, and War, 1920--45
161(32)
Gee-Whiz: Sports Journalism During the 1920s
162(3)
Heroes for a Heroic Age
165(6)
Boxing Becomes Respectable
171(4)
Babe: the Texas Tomboy
175(6)
Baseball's Long Slump
181(6)
Seabiscuit: Sports Star for the Depression Era
187(3)
Baseball During the War Years
190(3)
America's Great Dilemma
193(35)
Racism Shapes American Sports
194(2)
The ``Fight of the Century''
196(3)
Separate and Unequal: the Negro Leagues
199(5)
Out of the Cotton Fields of Alabama: Jesse and Joe
204(6)
Jackie
210(5)
In the Shadow of Jackie Robinson
215(3)
Gentlepeople and Sanctimonious Hypocrites
218(3)
The Baron and the Bear
221(7)
Television Changes the Face of American Sports
228(24)
The Formative Years of Sports Television
229(3)
Tale of the Tube: Boxing
232(3)
Professional Football Comes of Age
235(3)
Pete and Roone
238(4)
The NFL and the AFL Make Peace
242(1)
Super Sunday and Monday Night
242(4)
ESPN: All Sports, All the Time
246(6)
College Sports in the Modern Era
252(31)
The Sanity Code Is Scuttled
253(1)
Creation of a Cartel
254(2)
Emphasis and De-Emphasis
256(2)
Woody and the Bear
258(5)
Deceit and Deception: the NCAA and Gender Equity
263(7)
Criticism of Major College Sports
270(7)
Television and the Triumph of Commercialized College Sports
277(3)
The Knight Commission Report
280(3)
Play For Pay
283(34)
A Tale of Two (Football) Cities
283(3)
Urban Rivalry, Redevelopment, and Promotion
286(3)
The Travails of Baseball
289(5)
Baseball's Labor Disputes
294(4)
Reaping the Spoils: the NFL and the World of Parity
298(6)
The Wondrous World of Magic, Larry, and Michael
304(5)
Always Turn Left: NASCAR Takes the Checkered Flag
309(7)
Struggling To Be Major League
316(1)
Do You Believe in Miracles?
317(31)
The Cold War Shapes the Olympics
321(8)
Television Transforms the Olympics
329(5)
The Games Must Go On
334(4)
To Boycott or Not To Boycott
338(5)
The Triumph of Professionalism
343(2)
Athens and Beyond
345(3)
The Persistent Dilemma of Race
348(30)
``I'm the Greatest''
350(5)
Boycott, Backlash, and Beyond
355(2)
A New Era in Race Relations
357(5)
Hank Aaron Catches the Babe
362(2)
Can White Men Jump?
364(4)
Tiger
368(4)
Sister Act: Venus and Serena
372(6)
``Only In America!''
378(32)
Triumph of the Swoosh
380(4)
The World of Jimmy the Greek
384(4)
The Tragedy of Pete Rose
388(3)
The Demise of Boxing
391(7)
Whatever It Takes
398(8)
Under a Cloud: Barry Bonds Chases Hank Aaron
406(4)
The Democratization of Sports
410(32)
Community Cauldron: High School Sports
410(6)
Conflicting Views of Youth Sports
416(7)
Golf's Golden Age: Arnie, the Super Mex, and the Golden Bear
423(7)
Billie Jean Sparks a Revolution
430(4)
The Comeback Kids
434(4)
Viva America! America's Soccer Women
438(4)
Epilogue 442(6)
Notes 448(25)
Index 473

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