Patriotic Games: Sporting Traditions in the American Imagination, 1876-1926 (Sports and History)

In Patriotic Games, historian Stephen Pope explores the ways sport was transformed from a mere amusement into a metaphor for American life. Between the 1890s and the 1920s, sport became the most pervasive popular cultural activity in American society. During these years, basketball was invented, football became a mass spectator event, and baseball soared to its status as the "national pasttime." Pope demonstrates how America's sporting tradition emerged from a society fractured along class, race, ethnic, and gender lines. Institutionalized sport became a trans- class mechanism for packaging power and society in preferred ways--it popularized an interlocking set of cultural ideas about America's quest for national greatness. Nowhere was this more evident than the intimate connection established between sport and national holiday celebrations. As Pope reveals, Thanksgiving sports influenced the holiday's evolution from a religious occasion to a secular one. On the Fourth of July, sporting events infused patriotic rituals with sentiments that emphasized class conciliation and ethnic assimilation. In a time of social tensions, economic downturns, and unprecedented immigration, the rituals and enthusiasms of sport, Pope argues, became a central component in the shaping of America's national identity. Between The 1876 Centennial And The 1926 Sesquicentennial, A National Sporting Culture Was Firmly Established In The United States. In Patriotic Games, Historian S. W. Pope Examines This Remarkable Rise Of Sport And America's Sporting Ideology, Telling A Story That Illuminates The Deepest Workings Of A Society Coping With Social Tension, Economic Dislocation, And Unprecedented Immigration. As Pope Reveals, The Study Of Sport's Ascension Offers A Unique Window Into A Larger Historical Process Whereby Men And Women, Social Classes, And Racial And Ethnic Groups Struggled Over Different Versions Of Not Only How To Work And Play, But What To Value. More Than Mere Amusement, Sport Both As Metaphorical Activity And Class Drama Helped Define And Present Distinct American Visions Through Public Discourse And Through People's Actual Experiences On Ballfields, In Gymnasiums, And On Playgrounds Throughout The Country. By 1920, Most Americans Thought Organized Sports Provided The Social Glue For A Nation Of Diverse Classes, Regions, Ethnic Groups, And Competing Political Loyalties. How Did This Consensus Come About? Incorporating Eric Hobsbawm's Suggestion That Nations Throughout The Western World Invented Rituals, Mythologies, And Rhetorical Traditions, Pope Shows How Sport Became A Key Cultural Carrier Of Patriotic Meaning.--book Jacket. I. Americanizing Sport For A National Culture. Sport And American Identity -- Amateurism : The Invention Of An Athletic Tradition -- Ii. Inventing Athletic Prowess And Benevolence. Olympic Spectacles And The Redemption Of The Amateur Ethos -- The National Pastime : Baseball, Professionalism, And Nostalgia -- Iii. Holidays, Patriotism, And Sport. Thanksgiving Football And National Glory Rituals -- Fourth Of July Sporting Celebrations -- Iv. War Games And National Vitality. Sport, Fitness, And National Preparedness -- The World War I American Military Sporting Experience. S.w. Pope. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 163-203) Index. Contents......Page 14 One: Sport and American Identity......Page 18 Two: Amateurism: The Invention of an Athletic Tradition......Page 33 Three: Olympic Spectacles and the Redemption of the Amateur Ethos......Page 60 Four: "The National Pastime": Baseball, Professionalism, and Nostalgia......Page 82 Five: Thanksgiving Football and National Glory Rituals......Page 108 Six: Fourth of July Sporting Celebrations......Page 124 Seven: Sport, Fitness, and National Preparedness......Page 144 Eight: The World War I American Military Sporting Experience......Page 162 Epilogue......Page 180 Notes......Page 186 B......Page 228 C......Page 229 G......Page 230 L......Page 231 O......Page 232 R......Page 233 U......Page 234 Y......Page 235 Between the 1880s and the 1920s sport became the most pervasive popular cultural activity in American society. Pope examines how this American sporting tradition emerged from a society fractured along class, race, ethnic, and gender lines, and became strongly linked with American patriotism.