Synopses & Reviews
The Olympics have developed into the world's premier sporting event. They are simultaneously a competitive exhibition and a grand display of cooperation that bring together global cultures on ski slopes, shooting ranges, swimming pools, and track ovals. Given their scale in the modern era, the Games are a useful window for better comprehending larger cultural, social, and historical processes, argues Jules Boykoff, an academic social scientist and a former Olympic athlete.
In Activism and the Olympics, Boykoff provides a critical overview of the Olympic industry and its political opponents in the modern era. After presenting a brief history of Olympic activism, he turns his attention to on-the-ground activism through the lens of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics and the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.and#160; Here we see how anti-Olympic activists deploy a range of approaches to challenge the Olympic machine, from direct action and the seizure of public space to humor-based and online tactics.and#160; Drawing on primary evidence from myriad personal interviews with activists, journalists, civil libertarians, and Olympics organizers, Boykoff angles in on the Games from numerous vantages and viewpoints.
Although modern Olympic authorities have strivedandmdash;even through the Cold War eraandmdash;to appear apolitical, Boykoff notes, the Games have always been the site of hotly contested political actions and competing interests. During the last thirty years, as the Olympics became an economic juggernaut, they also generated numerous reactions from groups that have sought to challenge the eventandrsquo;s triumphalism and pageantry. The 21st century has seen an increased level of activism across the world, from the Occupy Movement in the United States to the Arab Spring in the Middle East. What does this spike in dissent mean for Olympic activists as they prepare for future Games?
Review
andquot;This book contributes significantly to the fields of sports history, African American history, U.S. history, and civil rights history and
provides a fresh look at the integration of college athletics from several different regions of the United States. This interregional focus illustrates the complex and multifaceted ways in which integrationandmdash;primarily in college athleticsandmdash;occurred in the post-World War II era. It also reveals much about the broader forces that shaped the push to dismantle barriers to political, economic, and social equality.andquot;
Review
andquot;In using college football as a means for understanding the civil rights movement, this book reveals much about broad issues surrounding integration and the push to break down racial barriers and is a valuable resource for those interested in sports, civil rights, and African American history. Recommended.andquot;
Review
"This book will occupy an important—and previously empty—place on the bookshelf of American sports history for many years to come." Choice
Review
andquot;Well-written and at times even lyrical, Activism and the Olympics provides a provocative contribution to ongoing discussions regarding the role of sport in society. Utilizing media analyses in concert with ethnographic field research, Boykoff takes us inside the world of Olympic activists and illustrates the intertwined nature of sport and politics on the global stage.andquot;
Review
andquot;Drawing on 70 interviews and analysis and observation of selected cases, Boykoff explores in unprecedentedly illuminating fashion the spaces of dissent within Olympic events. Interdisciplinary, critical, investigative, he shows how protest and fearless speech ('parrhesia') question Olympic myth and ideology.andquot;
Review
"This is an important, compelling, and cogently argued analysis of the complex relationship among sport, militarism, and American nationalism during the Cold War era."
Review
"Theoretically grounded and empirically rich, this book breaks new ground: moving beyond traditional football histories, Montez de Oca investigates everyday engagements with popular social structures and meanings."
Review
"Montez de Oca analyzes the relationships between sport, militarism, and US nationalism in very compelling ways, breaking new ground in the understanding of everyday social organization and significance. Recommended."
Review
"Discipline and Indulgence is a superb illustration of how sport creates, maintains, and reinforces shared meanings, identities, norms, and other important aspects of culture. Filled with rich data from of a wide variety of primary sources, the author produced a theoretically sound and thorough analysis of college football and the American way of life during the early Cold War."
Review
andquot;This book will occupy an importantandmdash;and previously emptyandmdash;place on the bookshelf of American sports history for many years to come.andquot;
Synopsis
Even the most casual sports fans celebrate the achievements of professional athletes, among them Jackie Robinson, Muhammad Ali, and Joe Louis. Yet before and after these heroes staked a claim for African Americans in professional sports, dozens of college athletes asserted their own civil rights on the amateur playing field, and continue to do so today.
Integrating the Gridiron, the first book devoted to exploring the racial politics of college athletics, examines the history of African Americans on predominantly white college football teams from the nineteenth century through today. Lane Demas compares the acceptance and treatment of black student athletes by presenting compelling stories of those who integrated teams nationwide, and illuminates race relations in a number of regions, including the South, Midwest, West Coast, and Northeast. Focused case studies examine the University of California, Los Angeles in the late 1930s; integrated football in the Midwest and the 1951 Johnny Bright incident; the southern response to black players and the 1955 integration of the Sugar Bowl; and black protest in college football and the 1969 University of Wyoming andquot;Black 14.andquot; Each of these issues drew national media attention and transcended the world of sports, revealing how fansandmdash;and non-fansandmdash;used college football to shape their understanding of the larger civil rights movement.
Synopsis
Integrating the Gridiron, devoted to exploring the racial politics of college athletics, examines the history of African Americans on predominantly white college football teams from the nineteenth century through today. Lane Demas compares the acceptance and treatment of black student athletes by presenting compelling case studies of those who integrated teams nationwide, and illuminates race relations in a number of regions, including the South, Midwest, West Coast, and Northeast.
Synopsis
and#160;In Activism and the Olympics, Boykoff provides a critical overview of the Olympic industry and its political opponents in the modern era. After presenting a brief history of Olympic activism, he turns his attention to on-the-ground activism through the lens of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics and the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, drawing from personal interviews with activists, journalists, civil libertarians, and Olympic organizers.and#160;
Synopsis
Discipline and Indulgence demonstrates how American popular culture during the early Cold War (1947–1964), especially college football, addressed the nation’s postwar affluence and consumerism and their effects on the population by integrating men into the economy of the Cold War as workers, warriors, and consumers. It assesses the period’s institutional linkage of sport, higher education, media and militarism and finds connections of contemporary sport media to today’s War on Terror.
Synopsis
The early Cold War (1947–1964) was a time of optimism in America. Flushed with confidence by the Second World War, many heralded the American Century and saw postwar affluence as proof that capitalism would solve want and poverty. Yet this period also filled people with anxiety. Beyond the specter of nuclear annihilation, the consumerism and affluence of capitalism’s success were seen as turning the sons of pioneers into couch potatoes.
In Discipline and Indulgence, Jeffrey Montez de Oca demonstrates how popular culture, especially college football, addressed capitalism’s contradictions by integrating men into the economy of the Cold War as workers, warriors, and consumers. In the dawning television age, college football provided a ritual and spectacle of the American way of life that anyone could participate in from the comfort of his own home. College football formed an ethical space of patriotic pageantry where men could produce themselves as citizens of the Cold War state. Based on a theoretically sophisticated analysis of Cold War media, Discipline and Indulgence assesses the period’s institutional linkage of sport, higher education, media, and militarism and finds the connections of contemporary sport media to today’s War on Terror.
About the Author
and#160;JULES BOYKOFF is an associate professor in the department of politics and government at Pacific University and the author ofand#160;
Celebration Capitalism and the Olympic Games.and#160;