- Gebundene Ausgabe: 332 Seiten
- Verlag: PublicAffairs,U.S. (Juni 2004)
- Sprache: Englisch
- ISBN-10: 1586482521
- ISBN-13: 978-1586482527
- Größe und/oder Gewicht: 23,6 x 16,5 x 3 cm
- Durchschnittliche Kundenbewertung: 3.0 von 5 Sternen Alle Rezensionen anzeigen (1 Kundenrezension)
- Amazon Bestseller-Rang: Nr. 1.416.085 in Englische Bücher (Siehe Top 100 in Englische Bücher)
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The Meaning Of Sports
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Kurzbeschreibung
One thinking fan explains to other sports fans and non-fans alike just what it is that draws us to America's most popular sports. In The Meaning of Sports , Michael Mandelbaum, a sports fan who is also one of the nation's preeminent foreign policy thinkers, examines America's century-long love affair with team sports. In keeping with his reputation for writing about big ideas in an illuminating and graceful way, he shows how sports respond to deep human needs; describes the ways in which baseball, football and basketball became national institutions and how they reached their present forms; and covers the evolution of rules, the rise and fall of the most successful teams, and the historical significance of the most famous and influential figures such as Babe Ruth, Vince Lombardi, and Michael Jordan.Whether he is writing about baseball as the agrarian game, football as similar to warfare , basketball as the embodiment of post-industrial society, or the moral havoc created by baseball's designated hitter rule, Mandelbaum applies the full force of his learning and wit to subjects about which so many Americans care passionately: the games they played in their youth and continue to foll
Synopsis
One thinking fan explains to other sports fans and non-fans alike just what it is that draws us to America's most popular sports. In The Meaning of Sports , Michael Mandelbaum, a sports fan who is also one of the nation's preeminent foreign policy thinkers, examines America's century-long love affair with team sports. In keeping with his reputation for writing about big ideas in an illuminating and graceful way, he shows how sports respond to deep human needs; describes the ways in which baseball, football and basketball became national institutions and how they reached their present forms; and covers the evolution of rules, the rise and fall of the most successful teams, and the historical significance of the most famous and influential figures such as Babe Ruth, Vince Lombardi, and Michael Jordan.Whether he is writing about baseball as the agrarian game, football as similar to warfare , basketball as the embodiment of post-industrial society, or the moral havoc created by baseball's designated hitter rule, Mandelbaum applies the full force of his learning and wit to subjects about which so many Americans care passionately: the games they played in their youth and continue to foll
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Einleitungssatz
Baseball, football, and basketball loom large in American life. Lesen Sie die erste Seite
Buchdeckel | Copyright | Inhaltsverzeichnis | Auszug | Stichwortverzeichnis | Rückseite
Baseball, football, and basketball loom large in American life. Lesen Sie die erste Seite
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Format:Taschenbuch
The Meaning of Sports has as its premise a fascinating idea: Explain our national obsession with our three top sports . . . ones that fail to captivate people in most of the rest of the world. I had often wondered about that subject, and looked forward to learning a lot. Well, I didn't really learn very much at all on that subject.
While the book purports to take an anthropologist's view of our sports, we need to remember that anthropologists mostly work with scraps and remnants left behind from the past. The skills of psychology are probably more relevant to explaining sports fanaticism, and this book doesn't apply that reference very often.
Mr. Mandelbaum chooses to characterize each sport in an overly simplified way. Baseball harkens back to the happy summers of our youth when we had lots of unstructured time. Baseball is a reference to our agrarian roots. Football allows us to turn our fascination with violence into a more positive direction than invading other countries (recent events might challenge that interpretation), while being an emblem of the industrial culture that we are leaving behind. Basketball reflects the new world order of working in flexible teams on changing assignments, and is a good metaphor for the post-industrial society we live in today. For impoverished youths, basketball has some of the nostalgia that baseball has for the middle class. I found these references and conclusions to be pretty superficial and not very insightful.
What I was surprised to find in the book was a pretty thorough history of each of the three sports. For a non fan who wants to get up-to-speed with the fans in her or his life, those parts are valuable. If you just wanted to become knowledgeable in the least amount of time on the sports, this is a five-star effort.
Sports provide lots of emotional pleasures, and a book with this much intellectual perspective doesn't quite connect with those pleasures. The home team may be losing by three touchdowns . . . but the fans are still there. Why? Many would claim it is loyalty. But it's more likely to be that the home team still has as chance to beat the point spread. Although gambling is mentioned in the book, the full impact of the appeal of betting on the games isn't quite captured.
I hope someone will eventually explain why we pursue these games . . . rather than the other ones that fascinate the rest of the world.
While the book purports to take an anthropologist's view of our sports, we need to remember that anthropologists mostly work with scraps and remnants left behind from the past. The skills of psychology are probably more relevant to explaining sports fanaticism, and this book doesn't apply that reference very often.
Mr. Mandelbaum chooses to characterize each sport in an overly simplified way. Baseball harkens back to the happy summers of our youth when we had lots of unstructured time. Baseball is a reference to our agrarian roots. Football allows us to turn our fascination with violence into a more positive direction than invading other countries (recent events might challenge that interpretation), while being an emblem of the industrial culture that we are leaving behind. Basketball reflects the new world order of working in flexible teams on changing assignments, and is a good metaphor for the post-industrial society we live in today. For impoverished youths, basketball has some of the nostalgia that baseball has for the middle class. I found these references and conclusions to be pretty superficial and not very insightful.
What I was surprised to find in the book was a pretty thorough history of each of the three sports. For a non fan who wants to get up-to-speed with the fans in her or his life, those parts are valuable. If you just wanted to become knowledgeable in the least amount of time on the sports, this is a five-star effort.
Sports provide lots of emotional pleasures, and a book with this much intellectual perspective doesn't quite connect with those pleasures. The home team may be losing by three touchdowns . . . but the fans are still there. Why? Many would claim it is loyalty. But it's more likely to be that the home team still has as chance to beat the point spread. Although gambling is mentioned in the book, the full impact of the appeal of betting on the games isn't quite captured.
I hope someone will eventually explain why we pursue these games . . . rather than the other ones that fascinate the rest of the world.
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31 von 32 Kunden fanden die folgende Rezension hilfreich
More valuable for it's historical v. social analysis.
9. Juni 2004
Format:Gebundene Ausgabe
Michael Mandelbaum is not a sports writer. He's part of the Washington foreign policy establishment and a professor of International studies at Johns Hopkins University. So, while he is an academic he's neither an anthropologist nor a social historian. He is, obviously, an ardent sports fan. Knowing these facts helps to understand both why this book works and why it fails.
The book works superbly as an historical analysis. Even dedicated sports fans of the Big Three (football, baseball and basketball) will learn quite a bit about the development of their favorite sports as well as about the titans of the games that whose accomplishments fueled their growth. He also provides some interesting and unique insights as to turning points in the history of each sport and how the vortex of those turning points was so similar. For example, Ruth in baseball, Rockne in football and Hank Lusetti in basketball all provided an elevation point for their respective sports both by providing dramatic, interesting, charismatic personalities but also through feats that made the ball easy to see in dramatic fashion (Ruth with the towering home run, Rockne by popularizing the forward pass, Lusetti in inventing the jump shot).
The book is far less successful as a vehicle of social analysis. Mandelbaum uses allusion a lot as a means for evoking the social meaning of sport. I'm not aware that allusion is a key too of either social science in general or anthropology in particular. A comparative analysis that juxtaposes baseball with agrarian values, football with industrial and martial values and basketball with spectacularly ill defined "post industrial" values may have some illustrative value but fails as an analytical tool. This discussion is often interesting but it fails to address two basic issues, to wit (1) the meaning of sports in general and (2) the enigma that the most popular US sports are of little significance to the rest of humanity.
On the whole this is a lively and informative book, and I very much enjoyed reading it. However, it doesn't even come close to its stated goal of explaining the meaning of sports, and in the end that is a major disappointment.
17 von 18 Kunden fanden die folgende Rezension hilfreich
Outstanding - A great book for Sports Fans & Thinkers Alike
10. Juli 2004
Format:Gebundene Ausgabe
What a wonderful and unique addition to the world of sports publishing. Not only are there facts galore that educate even a highly knowledgeable sports fan, the insights and analysis are unparrelled. I could not put it down.
This amazing book by Professore Mandelbaum can be read on many levels (far more than I can probably grasp) and yet it appears approachable by anyone; be they sports fan, someone who questions why sports are important in our society, and even those looking for lessons on how to lead people or manage a business.
The contrasting of baseball, football and basketball provides a fascinating window on why we Americans are who we are today and how we got here. The interlacing of history with observations about how people operate in our society and within organizations is really amazing.
We love our football in Texas and Mandelbaum is right on in his analysis about football in every sense. He hits the mark on baseball and basketball as well. This book really makes you think, but gives so much in return that you come away feeling as though you just had a wonderful meal for your mind. I now enjoy watching sports more than I did before reading The Meaning of Sports.
I am going to read it again.
11 von 11 Kunden fanden die folgende Rezension hilfreich
a terrific read--and not just for sports fans
30. Juni 2004
Format:Gebundene Ausgabe
Michael Mandelbaum, who happens to be one of the country's leading experts on international politics, offers here a beautiful written, engaging account of the history of America's three major sports: baseball, football, and basketball. Sports enthusiasts will love this book, but so will those--like me--who have only a passing interest in sports, or none at all, for Mandelbaum not only tells us about the colorful personalities and defining moments of American sports; he shows us how sports shaped who we are as a people. There is an abundance of wit, wisdom, and insight in this book, and the prose is so elegant and effortless that the pages turn (all too) rapidly. Buy this book. You'll be swept away. Great for summer reading and likely to become a classic.
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