Sports in American Life : A History

by Davies, Richard O.

• ISBN13: 9781405106474
• ISBN10: 1405106476
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2007-01-02
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

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