Making the American team

Mark Dyreson locates the invasion of sport at the heart of American culture at the turn of the century. It was then that social reformers and political leaders believed that sport could revitalize the "republican experiment," that a new sense of national identity could forge a new sense of community and a healthy political order as it would serve to link America's thinking classes with the experiences of the masses. Nowhere was this better exemplified than in American accounts of the Olympic Games held between 1896 and 1912. In connecting sport to American history and culture, Dyreson has stepped up to the plate and hit one out of the park.

First sentence: Between the centennial celebration of their nation's founding and the end of World War I, Americans used sport to debate the meaning of their republic.

Year

1997

Language

English

Publisher

University of Illinois Press

Editions

1

Pages

288

ISBN

9780252066542

Data source: Wikidata