Sports in American Life : A History

by Davies, Richard O.

• ISBN13: 9780470655467
• ISBN10: 0470655461
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2011-11-15
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

Summary

This new edition of Davies' highly praised narrative of American sports history makes use of the very latest research and now includes updated and expanded coverage of major sporting events since 2006, extreme sports, and women in sports. Extensively revised throughout, with particular attention to making a leaner, more fast-paced narrative Allows students and scholars to keep up-to-date with the fast-emerging scholarship in this field The most detailed history of American sports, with an emphasis upon major issues, trends, and interpretations Highlights the social, economic, and cultural interaction between sports and larger issues, such as gender, race, and class Instructor's Manual with Test Bank available on publication at www.wiley.com/go/davies

Author Biography

Richard O. Davies is Distinguished Professor of History at the University of Nevada, Reno, where he teaches courses in 20th Century American History, American Ideas and Values, and History of Sports. Among his most recent books are Rivals! The Ten Greatest American Sports Rivalries of the 20th Century (Wiley-Blackwell, 2010), Sports in American Life: A History (Blackwell, 2007), Betting the Line: Sports Wagering in American Life (2001), and Main Street Blues: The Decline of Small-Town America (1998).

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	p. xi
Preface	p. xiv
Acknowledgments	p. xx
The Emergence of Organized Sports, 1607-1860	p. 1
Games in Colonial New England	p. 2
Recreations in Southern Colonies	p. 4
The Revolutionary Era and Beyond	p. 8
The Democratization of Racing: The Trotters	p. 10
Racing by Land and Sea	p. 12
The Formative Years of Prizefighting	p. 15
Baseball: The Creation of "America's Game"	p. 20
Baseball: "This Noble and Envigorating Game"	p. 24
The Early Professional Era	p. 25
Henry Chadwick and a Game of Numbers	p. 29
Growing Pains	p. 30
Early Years of the Professional Game	p. 33
Emergence of the Modern Game	p. 36
The 1880s: A Decade of Rancor	p. 38
The Formative Years of College Football	p. 41
The Early Years of College Athletics	p. 42
Football American Style	p. 43
Yale and the Creation of Football	p. 44
Football Moves West	p. 49
Football as Spectacle	p. 51
Football in Crisis	p. 54
The Modernization of American Sports, 1865-1920	p. 60
Prizefighting Enters the Mainstream	p. 61
Sports and Social Class	p. 65
Strong Bodies and Devout Souls	p. 68
America's Greatest Athlete	p. 72
Organized Play for the Modern Era	p. 75
Interscholastic Sports	p. 77
Baseball Ascendant, 1890-1930	p. 79
The 1890s: Years of Discord	p. 80
Ban Johnson and the American League	p. 81
The Cyclone and the Georgia Peach	p. 83
Masters of Strategy	p. 85
The Federal League Challenge	p. 88
Crisis: Gamblers Fix the World Series of 1919	p. 90
The Babe	p. 94
Baseball's Golden Age	p. 98
Playing Nice: Women and Sports, 1860-1945	p. 102
The Early Years of Women's Sports	p. 103
The Demise of Women's Athletics	p. 107
Helen and Trudy: America's First Women Sports Stars	p. 109
Babe: The Texas Tomboy	p. 111
Women Play Hardball: The Peaches and the Chicks	p. 115
"An Evil To Be Endured": Sports on Campus, 1920-1950	p. 118
The Essential Myth of Big-Time College Athletics	p. 119
Football: Driving the Bus	p. 121
Football's Golden Age: The Twenties	p. 122
Knute Rockne and the Making of Notre Dame Football	p. 125
The Second Challenge to Big-Time Football	p. 130
Hoop Dreams	p. 133
Hoop Nightmares	p. 135
Sports in an Age of Ballyhoo, Depression, and War, 1920-1945	p. 138
Gee-Whiz: Sports Journalism during the 1920s	p. 139
Heroes for a Heroic Age	p. 141
Boxing Gains Respectability	p. 144
Baseball's Long Slump	p. 148
Seabiscuit: Sports Star for the Depression Era	p. 153
Baseball during the War Years	p. 155
America's Great Dilemma	p. 157
The "Fight of the Century"	p. 158
Separate and Unequal: The Negro Leagues	p. 162
Out of the Cotton Fields of Alabama: Jesse and Joe	p. 166
Jackie	p. 171
In the Shadow of Jackie Robinson	p. 175
Gentlepeople and Sanctimonious Hypocrites	p. 177
The Baron and the Bear	p. 180
Television Changes the Image of American Sports	p. 185
The Formative Years of Sports Television	p. 186
Tale of the Tube: Boxing	p. 188
Professional Football Comes of Age	p. 191
Pete and Roone	p. 193
Super Sunday and Monday Night	p. 196
ESPN: All Sports, All the Time	p. 200
College Sports in the Modern Era	p. 204
The Sanity Code Is Scuttled	p. 205
Creation of a Cartel	p. 206
Emphasis and De-Emphasis	p. 207
Woody and the Bear	p. 208
Criticism of Major College Sports	p. 213
Revenue vs Reform: An Unresolved Contradiction	p. 220
College Sports as Big Business	p. 223
Play for Pay	p. 227
A Tale of Two (Football) Cities	p. 227
Urban Relocation, Redevelopment, and Promotion	p. 230
The Economics of Organized Baseball	p. 232
Baseball's Labor Disputes	p. 237
The Magic of Parity: The National Football League	p. 240
The Wondrous World of Magic, Larry, and Michael	p. 243
Always Turn Left: NASCAR Takes the Checkered Flag	p. 247
Struggling To Be Major League	p. 253
Do You Believe in Miracles?	p. 255
The Cold War Shapes the Olympics	p. 258
Television Transforms the Olympics	p. 264
The Games Must Go On	p. 268
To Boycott or Not To Boycott	p. 271
The Triumph of Professionalism	p. 273
Athens and Beyond	p. 276
The Persistent Dilemma of Race	p. 278
"I'm the Greatest"	p. 280
Boycott, Backlash, and Beyond	p. 284
Breakthrough: A New Era in American Sports	p. 286
Hank Aaron Catches the Babe	p. 293
Can White Men Jump?	p. 295
Tiger	p. 298
Sister Act: Venus and Serena	p. 303
Playing Nice No Longer: Women's Sports, 1960-2010	p. 308
Deceit and Deception: The NCAA and Gender Equity	p. 309
Titanic Rivalry: Connecticut and Tennessee Basketball	p. 314
Billie Jean Sparks a Revolution	p. 319
Viva America! World Cup Winners	p. 322
"You've Come a Long Way Baby!" Or Have You?	p. 326
Title IX at Forty	p. 328
"Only in America!"	p. 331
Triumph of the Swoosh	p. 332
The World of Jimmy the Greek	p. 336
The Tragedy of Pete Rose	p. 338
The Demise of Boxing	p. 342
Iron Mike and the King of Boxing	p. 344
Whatever It Takes	p. 347
Under a Cloud: Barry Bonds Chases Hank Aaron	p. 353
The Democratization of Sports	p. 357
Community Cauldron: High School Sports	p. 357
Youth Sports	p. 361
Golf 's Golden Age: Arnie, the Super Mex, and the Golden Bear	p. 366
The Comeback Kids	p. 370
"Sidewalk Surfing" and the Rise of "X-treme" Sports	p. 375
Epilogue	p. 382
Notes	p. 387
Index	p. 407
Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved.