A People's History of Sports in the United States

by Zirin, Dave

• ISBN13: 9781595581006
• ISBN10: 1595581006
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2008-09-09
• Publisher: New Pr

Summary

In this long-awaited book from the rising superstar of sportswriting, whose blog 'œThe Edge of Sports' is read each week by thousands of people across the country, Dave Zirin offers a riotously entertaining chronicle of larger-than-life sporting characters and dramatic contests and what amounts to an alternative history of the United States as seen through the games its people played. Through Zirin's eyes, sports are never mere games, but a reflection of'”and spur toward'”the political conflicts that shape American society. Half a century before Jackie Robinson was born, the black ballplayer Moses Fleetwood Walker brandished a revolver to keep racist fans at bay, then took his regular place in the lineup. In the midst of the Depression, when almost no black athletes were allowed on the U.S. Olympic team, athletes held a Counter Olympics where a third of the participants were African American. A People's History of Sports in the United States is replete with surprises for seasoned sports fans, while anyone interested in history will be amazed by the connections Zirin draws between politics and pop flies. As Jeff Chang, author of Can't Stop Won't Stop , puts it, 'œAfter you read him, you'll never see sports the same way again.'

Table of Contents

Series Preface	p. ix
Preface	p. xi
Acknowledgments	p. xv
Until the Twentieth Century	p. 1
Rough Riding	p. 33
Sports and Leisure	p. 49
No Depression	p. 63
War and Its Discontents	p. 91
Have We Gone Soft?	p. 113
Sports on the Edge of Panic	p. 131
The Flood Gates	p. 181
The 1980s: Welcome to Hell	p. 211
C.R.E.A.M.	p. 229
More of the Same Versus Change	p. 253
Notes	p. 269
Index	p. 293
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.