American Sports From the Age of Folk Games to the Age of Televised Sports

by Rader, Benjamin G.

• ISBN13: 9780205665150
• ISBN10: 0205665152
• Edition: 6th
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-10-24
• Publisher: Pearson

Summary

This highly-acclaimed survey of American sports offers a reflective, analytical history from the colonial era to the present. With a focus on the historical relationship between sports, and gender, class, race, ethnicity, religion, and region, the book considers how sports transcend these fundamental categories, and how the experience of sports either as a player or as a fan can bind diverse groups together. The book also looks at how sports at various historical moments have reinforced or challenged the values and behaviors of society.

Author Biography

Benjamin G. Rader is James L. Sellers Professor of History at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and is coeditor of the Sport and Society Series of the University of Illinois Press

Table of Contents

Preface	p. vii
Acknowledgments	p. ix
Sports in Early America	p. 1
Britain's Festive Culture	p. 2
The Puritan Assault Upon Britain's Festive Culture	p. 5
"Lawful Sport" in New England and the Middle Colonies	p. 6
Sporting Ways of the Southern Colonies	p. 9
Tavern Pastimes	p. 13
The Backcountry's Sporting Ways	p. 14
Pastimes in the Revolutionary Era	p. 15
Conclusion	p. 17
Notes	p. 18
The Setting for Nineteenth-Century Sports	p. 20
Conquering Space and Time	p. 21
The Rise of Middle-Class Victorian Culture	p. 23
"Rational" Recreation and Muscular Christianity	p. 25
An Oppositional Culture	p. 27
Enclaves of the Oppositional Culture	p. 30
Nineteenth-Century Sporting Groups	p. 32
Conclusion	p. 34
Notes	p. 34
The Sporting Fraternity and Its Sectacles	p. 36
John Cox Stevens: Wealthy Patron of Antebellum Sporting Spectacles	p. 37
Pedestrianism, Rowing, and Billiards	p. 39
The Early History of American Prizefighting	p. 42
Meanings of Prizefighting	p. 43
Prizefighting in the Postbellum Era	p. 45
Enter John L. Sullivan	p. 47
Postbellum Thoroughbred Horse Racing	p. 49
Conclusion	p. 50
Notes	p. 51
The Rise of America's National Game	p. 52
The Club-Based Fraternal Game	p. 53
Baseball as a Commercial Enterprise	p. 55
The National League	p. 58
The Players' Revolt	p. 60
Ethnics and African Americans	p. 62
Between The Foul Lines and In the Stands	p. 63
Conclusion	p. 65
Notes	p. 66
Late Nineteenth-Century Sporting Communities	p. 67
Ethnic (or Immigrant) Sporting Communities	p. 69
Turner Societies	p. 71
African American Sporting Communities	p. 72
The Wealthy New York Sporting Community	p. 73
Sports and the Forging of an American Upper Class	p. 74
Athletic Clubs	p. 75
Amateurism and its Uses	p. 78
Cricket Clubs and Country Clubs	p. 80
Conclusion	p. 82
Notes	p. 82
The Rise of Intercollegiate Sports	p. 84
The First Intercollegiate Sport	p. 85
Early Intercollegiate Baseball, Track, and Football	p. 87
Walter Camp: Father of American Football	p. 89
Football and the Making of College Communities	p. 93
Football Becomes an Upper-Class Sporting Spectacle	p. 97
Conclusion	p. 100
Notes	p. 100
The Rise of Organized Youth Sports, 1880-1920	p. 102
The Social Context	p. 103
The Cultural Context	p. 104
Luther Halsey Gulick Jr.	p. 106
The Evolutionary Theory of Play	p. 108
The Public Schools Athletic League	p. 110
The Playground Movement	p. 112
Private Academy and Public High School Sports	p. 113
Conclusion	p. 117
Notes	p. 118
The Setting for Organized Sports, 1890-1950	p. 120
The Media and Sports	p. 121
The New Middle Class, Modern Consumer Culture, and the Quest for Excitement	p. 123
Islands of Pleasure	p. 125
The Strenuous Life	p. 128
Changing Ideals of Physical Beauty	p. 131
An Age of Racial Segregation	p. 134
Conclusion	p. 136
Notes	p. 136
The Age of Sports Heroes	p. 139
Babe Ruth	p. 140
Red Grange	p. 144
Jack Johnson	p. 147
The Golden Age of Boxing	p. 150
Conclusion	p. 155
Notes	p. 155
Baseball's Golden Age	p. 157
Baseball's Coming of Age	p. 158
An Age of the Pitcher	p. 161
Ty Cobb	p. 162
Organized Baseball's Quest for Order	p. 164
The Black Sox Scandal and the Reign of Kenesaw Mountain Landis	p. 166
An Age of Team Dynasties	p. 169
In the Great Depression and World War II	p. 173
Black Baseball	p. 174
Conclusion	p. 175
Notes	p. 175
The Intercollegiate Football Spectacle	p. 177
The Age of Crisis, 1890-1913	p. 178
The Issue of Brutality and Major Rule Changes	p. 181
The Formation of Conferences	p. 183
The Reign of King Football	p. 184
The Football Coach as Hero	p. 187
The Incomplete Democratization of College Football	p. 189
Continuing Controversies	p. 192
Conclusion	p. 193
Notes	p. 193
The Club Sports Go Public	p. 195
Tennis Goes Public	p. 196
Golf Goes Public	p. 199
The Emperor, Bobby Jones	p. 202
Track and Field	p. 204
The Revived Olympic Games	p. 205
International Politics and the Games	p. 207
Conclusion	p. 210
Notes	p. 210
The Rise and Decline of Organized Women's Sports, 1890-1960	p. 212
The Athletic Girl	p. 213
Early Women's Basketball	p. 215
The Arrival of Women Sports' Heroes	p. 218
The War Over Turf and Principles	p. 221
Female Cheerleaders	p. 224
The Rise and Decline of Women's Softball and Baseball	p. 226
Conclusion	p. 228
Notes	p. 229
The Setting of Organized Sports Since 1950	p. 231
Sprawling Metropolises	p. 232
The Inner City and the Suburbs	p. 236
The Nation's Sporting Ideology	p. 239
The Sporting Ideology Under Assault	p. 240
The Quest for Self-Sufficiency and the Fitness Cult	p. 243
The Advent of Televised Sports	p. 245
Roone Arledge and Howard Cosell	p. 248
The New Era of Sports and the Media	p. 250
An Assessment of the Media	p. 252
Conclusion	p. 253
Notes	p. 254
Professional Team Sports in the Age of Television	p. 256
The Woes of Baseball	p. 257
On the Diamond	p. 259
The Early Days of Pro Football	p. 261
The Making of Pro Football	p. 262
The Golden Age of Pro Football	p. 265
Professional Basketball	p. 267
Marketing Pro Team Sports	p. 269
A New Age of Pro Team Sports	p. 270
Conclusion	p. 274
Notes	p. 275
College Sports in the Age of Television	p. 276
The NCAA Becomes an Economic Cartel	p. 277
The Soaring Popularity of College Football	p. 279
A New Era of Television Rights	p. 282
The Requirements for Success	p. 283
College Basketball Enters the National Arena	p. 285
The Rising Popularity of College Basketball	p. 287
The Scandals of the 1980s	p. 289
The Financial Arms Race	p. 293
Conclusion	p. 295
Notes	p. 296
American Sports in A Global Arena	p. 299
The Politics of the Olympic Games	p. 300
The Escalation of the Stakes	p. 303
Amateurism Abandoned	p. 305
Television and the Ascent of Golf	p. 307
Tennis-Open to All	p. 311
The New Global Sports Marketplace	p. 313
Conclusion	p. 316
Notes	p. 317
The African American Quest for Equity in Sports	p. 318
The Origins of Desegregation	p. 319
Rickey and Robinson Integrate the National Game	p. 322
Muhammad Ali	p. 324
The Black Athletic Revolt	p. 325
Continuing Discrimination	p. 327
Have Sports Damaged Black America?	p. 329
Conclusion	p. 332
Notes	p. 332
The Quest for Equity in Women's Sports	p. 334
Continuing Issues in Women's Sports	p. 334
The Impetus for Change	p. 337
Rising Hopes and Expectations	p. 339
Resistance to Equity in Women's Sports	p. 341
Continuing Constraints on Women's Sports	p. 343
Conclusion	p. 345
Notes	p. 346
The Athletes	p. 348
Heroes or Merely Celebrities?	p. 349
Escaping Serfdom	p. 351
Free Agency	p. 354
Mixed Responses	p. 357
Youth Athletes	p. 360
Conclusion	p. 365
Notes	p. 365
American Sports: A Concluding Statement	p. 367
Index	p. 370
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