1st Edition

Sport and American Society Exceptionalism, Insularity, ‘Imperialism’

Edited By Mark Dyreson, J A Mangan Copyright 2007
    278 Pages
    by Routledge

    278 Pages
    by Routledge

    A special issue of the International Journal of the History of Sport, this collection of provocative essays explores the many faces of sport in America. Drawing upon insights from anthropology, history, philosophy and sociology and with reference throughout to politics and economics, the contributors outline the story of how American sport has contributed to a climate of insularity, exceptionalism and imperialism, from a symbolic rejection of British rule and British sports to the current status of all-American sports such as baseball and basketball in the face of globalization.

    1. Prologue  James Mangan  2. Benevolent America: Rural women, physical recreation, sport and health reform in ante-bellum New England  Linda Borish  3. Aggressive America: Media nationalism and the ‘War’ over Olympic pictures in sport’s 'golden age'  Mark Dyreson  4. Insular America: The NBA began in Akron? The midwest conference in the 1930s  Murray R. Nelson  5. Integrating America: Jackie Robinson, critical events and baseball black and white  John Kelly  5. Exclusionary America: Jackie Robinson, decolonization and baseball not black and white  John Kelly  6. Reformist America: ‘The oberlin experiment - The limits of Jack Scott’s ‘athletic revolution’ in post-1960s America  Tim Elcombe  7. Community America: Who owns Wrigley Field?  Holly Swyers  8. Exceptionalist America: American sports fans’ reaction to internationalization  Sean Frederick Brown  9. Rejected America: Adolfo Luque, American interventionism and 'Cubanidad'  Benjamin Eastman  10. Challenged America: China and America – women and sport, past, present and future  Susan Brownell  11. Epilogue  Mark Dyreson

    Biography

    Mark Dyreson is an Associate Professor of Kinesiology at Pennsylvania State University

    J. A. Mangan is Emeritus Professor at the University of Strathclyde