A Companion to American Sport History represents the first comprehensive analysis of classic and contemporary scholarship relating to the burgeoning field of American sport history. Featuring contributions from many of the finest scholars working in the field of American sport history, essays begin by tracing the evolution of sports in America from colonial societies through to the era of sport in the United States today.

Table of Contents

• Notes on Contributors
• Introduction
• References
• Part I: Major Chronological Eras of Sport History
• Chapter One: The Emergence of Sport
• References
• Chapter Two: The Gilded Age and the Progressive Era, 1865–1920
• General Texts
• The Genesis of Sport History
• Sport and Ideology
• Sport and Urbanization
• Sport and Class
• Field Sports
• Immigration and Ethnicity
• Education and Athletics
• Social Class
• African Americans
• Gender
• Religion and Sport
• Imperialism
• Body Culture
• A Look to the Future
• References
• Chapter Three: The Interwar and Post-World War II Eras, 1920–1960
• The Golden Age of Sport
• American Sport in the Depression
• The 1940s: War and Its Aftermath
• The 1950s
• The Cold War Era
• Conclusion
• References
• Chapter Four: Sport Since the 1960s
• Sport and the Cold War
• Sport and Integration
• Women
• Sport and the Media
• The NCAA and Reform
• Major Sports
• Conclusion
• References
• Part II: Historical Processes and Sport
• Chapter Five: Scientific Habits of Mind, Technological Revolutions, and American Sport
• Science and Technology in American Sport: From the Original Histories to the New Sport History
• The Scientific and Technological Weltanschauung in the Colonial and Early National Eras
• Urbanization, Industrialization, and Technological Innovation
• Urban Technologies and Sport
• The Rise of Permanent Sites and the Dynamism of Ongoing Processes
• Sport and the Technologies of Mass Production
• Technological Sports
• The Science and Technology of Human Mechanisms
• The Science and Techniques of Doping
• References
• Chapter Six: Urbanization and American Sport
• Sport and the Rise of Urban Culture
• Sport in the Progressive Era
• Sport and Urban Society, 1920–1940
• Cities and Sports After World War II
• References
• Part III: Major Team Sports
• Chapter Seven: Baseball Before 1920
• The Origin Myths of Baseball
• Baseball in the Amateur Era
• Second Generation of Academicians Look at Early Baseball
• The Builders of Major League Baseball
• The Players
• Baseball Expands Overseas
• The Rise of Professional Baseball Leagues and Labor–Management Relations
• Team Histories
• Race and Baseball
• Women in Baseball
• Native Americans
• The Black Sox Scandal
• The Future
• References
• Chapter Eight: Baseball Since 1920
• Historical Surveys
• Oral Histories
• Cultural History
• Race, Ethnicity, Gender
• Economic History
• Era by Era
• Present and Future Trends
• References
• Chapter Nine: Reconciling the Consequences of Modernity
• Reform and Higher Education
• Industrialization and Masculinity
• Commercialism and the Media Spectacle
• Race and College Football
• Conclusion
• References
• Chapter Ten: Professional Football
• The Early Years
• Toward the Modern NFL
• The Rozelle Era and Beyond
• Race, Labor, and the Business of Pro Football
• America's Game
• References
• Chapter Eleven: Basketball
• The Foundations of Basketball
• Women on the Hard Court
• The Age of Big-Time College Basketball
• The National Basketball Association
• References
• Part IV: Major Individual Sports
• Chapter Twelve: Boxing
• References
• Chapter Thirteen: Golf and Tennis
• General History
• The Origins of American Golf and Tennis
• Anti-Semitism and Anti-Catholicism in Golf and Tennis
• Gender and Elite Sports
• Race and Elite Sports
• Golf and Tennis Biographies
• References
• Chapter Fourteen: American Motor Sport
• Early Racing and Long-Distance Runs
• Oval Tracks and the Democratization of Speed
• Lakesters, Dragsters, and Hot Rods
• Stock-Car Racing and NASCAR
• Sports Cars and the SCCA
• Start Your Engines
• References
• Chapter Fifteen: Historians, Track Stars, and Amateurism
• Athletes of Colonial America
• The Age of the Pedestrians
• Gilded Amateurs
• The Transformative Stockholm Olympiad of 1912
• The Heyday of Track and Field, 1920–1940
• Science, Democracy, and Cold War
• Professionalization of Track and Field
• References
• Part V: Sport, Government, and the Global Society
• Chapter Sixteen: The United States and International Sport
• References
• Chapter Seventeen: The United States in the Modern Olympic Movement
• Laying the Basis
• The Doyen's Olympic Scholarship
• Politics and the Olympics
• Commercialization of the Games
• Race, Ethnicity, and Gender in the Olympics
• The United States and Olympic Games Abroad
• The American-Hosted Olympic Games
• The Great Olympic Scandal of 2002
• Biography
• Future Directions
• References
• Part VI: Sport and Social History
• Chapter Eighteen: Historians Take on Ethnicity, Race, and Sport
• Textbooks on Sport History
• General Works on Ethnic Groups and Sport
• Whiteness Studies and Sport
• Colonists and the Old Immigrants
• New Immigrants from Eastern and Southern Europe
• Sport and Race
• Sport and Ethnicity in the American City
• Suggestions for Future Research
• References
• Chapter Nineteen: The African American Athlete
• Slavery
• Nadir Period, 1880–1920
• The Interwar Period
• Integration, 1945–1965
• The Rise of Black Power and American Sport
• Black Athletes in the Post-Civil Rights Era
• Conclusion
• References
• Chapter Twenty: Class and Sport
• The Colonial Era
• Class and the Antebellum Era
• Class and Sport, 1860–1940
• Class and Sport Since World War II
• New Questions, New Directions
• References
• Chapter Twenty-One: Manhood or Masculinity
• References
• Chapter Twenty-Two: Women in American Sport History
• Colonial America and the Sporting Activities of Women
• Antebellum American Women, Physical Health, and Sport
• American Women, Ethnicity, and Sport in the Post-Civil War Era to 1920
• American Sportswomen and Challenges in Athletics and Society, 1920–1950
• American Women and Growing Participation in Sport, 1950 to Present
• References
• Part VII: Sport and Capitalism
• Chapter Twenty-Three: Explaining Exceptionalism
• The Business History Framework
• Baseball and the Rise of American Sports Businesses
• Through Economic and Social History Lenses
• Club Finance, Profits, and Adaptation
• Minor and Rival Leagues, Stadiums, and Labor Issues
• Racial, Ethnic, and Gendered Variations
• The Two Modes of Professional Football
• The National Hockey League: The Import
• The Rise of Professional Basketball
• The “Other” Professional Sports
• Sporting Goods, Stadiums, TV, and the Business of Sports
• Future Directions
• References
• Chapter Twenty-Four: Sport and the Media
• Sports Journalism
• Sport and Radio
• Sport and Television
• The Increasing Relevance of Sports Study
• Conclusion
• References
• Chapter Twenty-Five: Stadiums, Arenas, and Audiences
• Reform, Team Sports, and the Rise of Commercialism
• Radio Broadcasts, Civic Monuments, and Shifting Power
• The Rise of Television, Professional Football, and Indoor Facilities
• Lavish Venues and High-Tech Spectatorship
• References
• Part VIII: Sport and Culture
• Chapter Twenty-Six: Sport and American Religion
• References
• Chapter Twenty-Seven: Not Always “Natural”
• Sport in American Culture: Establishing a Foundation
• Sport in American Literature, Art, and Music
• Sport in American Film
• Sport in American Media: Newspapers, Radio, and Television
• References
• Chapter Twenty-Eight: Sports Biographies
• American Athletes and Sport Pioneers of the Nineteenth Century
• Biography in the Twentieth Century
• Conclusion
• References