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Games People Played: A Global History of Sport
by
8/99
Critics
6/99
Readers
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Scholars
2/99
Rating
15/99
Volume
11/99
Rating
2/99
Volume
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About This Book
Now in paperback, this first global history of sports offers all spectators and participants a reason to cheer—and to think. Games People Played is, surprisingly, the first global history of sports. The book shows how sports have been practiced, experienced, and made meaningful by players and fans throughout history. It assesses how sports developed and diffused across the globe, as well as many other aspects, from emotion, discrimination, and conviviality; to politics, nationalism, and protest; and how economics has turned sports into a huge consumer industry. It shows how sports are sociable and health-giving, and also contribute to charity. However, it also examines their dark side: sports' impact on the environment, the use of performance-enhancing drugs, and match-fixing. Covering everything from curling to baseball, boxing to motor racing, this book will appeal to anyone who plays, watches, and enjoys sports, and wants to know more about their history and global impact.
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Reviews
"The book does have an underlying mission, though, which is to argue for sport to be taken seriously as an object of study."
"But the result can sometimes seem odd, like a book on art history that is excellent about the social standing of the artists and the cost of their materials, but tells you nothing about the paintings."
"[Games People Played is clearly aimed at the commercial as well as the academic market, though his pedantically bureaucratic prose will stymie that hope."
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