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For over 1,000 years, between 776 BC and AD 395, people from all over the classical world flocked every four years to Olympia in Western Greece to see famous athletes compete for the olive crowns of the ancient Olympic Games. The Games were huge, and so was the build-up: virtually the whole of the preceding year was devoted to the preparations of the site and the athletes. But these games were much more than just a sporting event: religion, power, politics, scandal, and propaganda were all at the center of the five-day festival. Held in honor of Zeus, the supreme god of Greek mythology, a visit to Olympia was also a pilgrimage to his sacred temple.In this updated edition of her indispensable guide to the ancient Games, Judith Swaddling traces their mythological and religious origins. Describing the events, the sacred ceremony, and the celebrations that were an essential part of the Olympic festival, this book paints a vivid picture of what it was like to be at these prestigious games.Concluding with a chapter on the modern Olympics that brings the story right up to the preparations for the London 2012 Games, this fascinating book is essential reading for anyone interested in the Olympics, the greatest games of them all.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

Polka Heartland"" captures the beat that pulses in the heart of Midwestern culture--the polka--and offers up the fascinating history of how ""oompah-pah"" came to be the sound of middle America. From the crowded dance tent at Pulaski Polka Days to an off-the-grid Mexican polka dance in small-town Wisconsin, ""Polka Heartland"" explores the people, places, and history behind the Midwest's favorite music.From polka's surprising origin story as a cutting-edge European fad to an exploration of the modern-day polka scene, author Rick March and photographer Dick Blau take readers on a joyful romp through this beloved, unique, and richly storied genre. ""Polka Heartland"" describes the artists, venues, instruments, and music-makers who have been pivotal to polka's popularity across the Midwest and offers six full-color photo galleries to immerse readers in today's vibrant polka scene.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• Intro; Contents; Author's Note; Round
• 1: Muhammad Ali; The Sanitization of Muhammad Ali; Muhammad Ali and Congress Remembered; The Hardest Thing to Do in Boxing; The Athlete of the Century; Muhammad Ali at Notre Dame: A Night to Remember; Round
• 2: The Fights; Foreman-Holmes: The Countdown Begins; Styles Make Fights; Roy Jones Jr. and the Pensacola Invasion; A New ""Sugar"" Is Crowned; Pound-for-Pound"" and ""Sugar"" Shane; Lennox Lewis versus Shannon Briggs; The Next Generation; Has the Landscape Changed?; The Heir Apparent; The Long Road Back; Lennox Lewis and Emanuel Steward.

• The Greatest Olympic Boxing Team of All TimeRound
• 3: Non-Combatants; Don Elbaum; The Wizard of Bos; Donald Turner; Lou DiBella: (l)Promoter, (2)Manager, (3)Advisor, (4)None of the Above; Dan Goossen and America Presents; Kevin Wynne and the New York Renaissance; Jim Thomas; Ross Greenburg and Sports if the 20th Century; Jay Larkin; Ferdie Pacheco Moves On; Roy Jones and Jim Lampley: One Night, Two Professionals; Harold Lederman; Arthur Curry; Ron Borges; MediaWorks; Divena Freeman: An Appreciation; Wilt Chamberlain: August 21, 1936-0ctober 12, 1999; Round
• 4: Issues and Answers.

• How Not to Run a State Athletic CommissionFrom Bad to Worse: The New York State Athletic Commission; A Culture of Lawlessness; Judging the Judges; The Third Man in the Ring; King's Crowning Glory; Open Scoring ... Consensus Scoring ... How about Honest Scoring!; How Reliable Are ""Punch Stats""?; Arum v. Katz; College Boxing; The Standing Eight Count; Should Boxing Have a New Accidental-Head-Butt Rule?; Boxing-The Open Sport; Go to a Fight; Hype and Glory; ESPN2 Friday Night Fights; Lennox Lewis: An Appreciation; Evander Holyfield: A Tarnished Legacy?; Tyson, Michigan, and Zoloft.

• Pity the Poor RefereeThe Intimidation Factor; Pound-for-Pound 2001; Some Thoughts on Boxing; A Dangerous Game; Round
• 5: Curiosities; Hello, Mr. Ring Canvas; A Simple Solution; Fistic Valentines; The Odd Couple; Ms. Heavyweight Explosion; Sister Smoke"" Turns Pro; Works in Progress; Lennox's Mum; Rating the Heavyweights; The Once-in-a-Lifetime Boxing FundraisingAuction; Fistic Musings; The Epitome of Style; Survivor; Tyson-Golota:The Whole Story; Gentleman Mike Tyson; How George W Bush Won Florida; Two Conversations with George Foreman; A Christmas Eve Visit from George Foreman.

• Contents
• Foreword by David Herlihy
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction: How Wisconsin Became a Great Bicycling State
• 1. Velocipede Mania
• 2. The Dawn of Wisconsinâ€?s High-Wheel Era
• 3. The Rise of Wisconsinâ€?s Amateur Cycling Clubs
• 4. The Safety Model and the Beginning of Wisconsinâ€?s Bicycling Boom
• 5. The Troubled Beginnings of Wheel Fever
• 6. The Leading Division of the West
• 7. Women and Labor during the Boom
• 8. Walter Sanger, Major Taylor, and Professional Racing at the End of the Boom
• Conclusion
• Notes
• Index

• A wide spot in the road
• Getting cotton from rocks
• The giraffes of West Texas
• Uncle Sam's team
• Like a rifle shot
• The bomb squad
• On a roll
• Bigger fish to fry
• A robust cycle of prosperity
• The martini bowl
• Bring down the thunder
• Written in concrete
• Sweet deal
• Six feet four and bulletproof
• Brought down by a french fry
• Bigger in Dallas
• The fate of all dreamers.

Cloyce Box was an American original. He was handsome, athletic, intelligent, and ambitious, and his life was the stuff of which dreams and miniseries are made. Starting out as a dirt-poor farm boy from the Texas backcountry, he used his great talents to become a star in the National Football League, a corporate CEO, and a very wealthy man. He was fearless, flamboyant, and controversial. His story is an epic Texas tale of football, cattle, horses, oil, money, power, incredible success, and spectacular failure. The ranch he owned near Frisco, Texas, became famous as the fictional Southfork Ranch on the hit television show Dallas. Financial over-reaching eventually cost him his fortune, just before his death in 1993. With access to Cloyce Box's personal files and photographs as well as the assistance of his subject's family and friends, Michael Barr has crafted a biography that is at once clear-eyed and sensitive, allowing the complex character of Cloyce Box to engage and challenge the reader.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• Intro; Contents; Acknowledgments; Preface;
• Chapter 1. The Savage Battler and Clever Little Mike;
• Chapter 2 â#x80; #x9C; The Wild Man of the Boulevardsâ#x80; #x9D; ;
• Chapter 3. â#x80; #x9C; The Leopard. . .his Spots, the Ethiopian . . .his Skinâ#x80; #x9D; ;
• Chapter 4. â#x80; #x9C; A First-Class Fighting Manâ#x80; #x9D; ;
• Chapter 5. â#x80; #x9C; Tough Luck!â#x80; #x9D; ;
• Chapter 6. â#x80; #x9C; A Hero, Perhaps . . .â#x80; #x9D; ;
• Chapter 7. The Phantom Fighters at Salle Wagram;
• Chapter 8. â#x80; #x9C; Yes, We Have No Bananas!â#x80; #x9D; ;
• Chapter 9. â#x80; #x9C; I No Fightâ#x80; #x9D; ;
• Chapter 10. Apes and Peacocks;
• Chapter 11. â#x80; #x9C; Trop de Cinémaâ#x80; #x9D; ;
• Chapter 12. Tagged; Afterword; Notes; Works Cited; Index.

• Queen of the courts: Ora Washington and the emergence of America's first black female sport celebrity
• "The Tuskegee flash": Alice Coachman and the challenges of 1940s U.S. women's track and field
• "A nationwide community project": Althea Gibson, class, and the racial politics of 1950s black tennis
• "Foxes, not oxes": Wilma Rudolph and the de-marginalization of American women's track and field
• "The Swiftie from Tennessee State": Wyomia Tyus and the racial reality of black women track athletes in the 1960s and 1970s
• "A Jackie of all trades": Jackie Joyner-Kersee and the challenges of being the world's greatest female athlete
• Performance-enhanced athletes and "ghetto Cinderellas": black women athletes enter the twenty-first century.

"When high jumper Alice Coachman won the high jump title at the 1941 national championships with'a spectacular leap, 'African American women had been participating in competitive sport for close to twenty-five years. Yet it would be another twenty years before they would experience something akin to the national fame and recognition that African American men had known since the 1930s, the days of Joe Louis and Jesse Owens. From the 1920s, when black women athletes were confined to competing within the black community, through the heady days of the late twentieth century when they ruled the world of women's track and field, African American women found sport opened the door to a better life. However, they also discovered that success meant challenging perceptions that many Americans--both black and white--held of them. Through the stories of six athletes--Coachman, Ora Washington, Althea Gibson, Wilma Rudloph, Wyomia Tyus, and Jackie Joyner-Kersee--Jennifer H. Lansbury deftly follows the emergence of black women athletes from the African American community; their confrontations with contemporary attitudes of race, class, and gender; and their encounters with the civil rights movement. Uncovering the various strategies the athletes use to beat back stereotypes, Lansbury explores the fullness of African American women's relationship with sport in the twentieth century."-- EBSCOhost.

• The purest of rivalries: Rafer Johnson, C.K. Yang, and the 1960 Olympic Decathlon / Joseph M. Turrini
• The King and the Bear: the Arnold Palmer-Jack Nicklaus rivalry and the rise of modern golf / George B. Kirsch
• The mortality of kings: Ali versus Frazer / Gerald Early
• "We were about winning": Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, and the rivalry that remade the NBA / Daniel A. Nathan
• Friendly rivals: Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert / Mary Jo Festle
• The battle of the Carmens: Debi Thomas versus Katarina Witt / Alison M. Wrynn and Annette R. Hofmann
• Bitter foes, but marketing pros: the Red Sox-Yankee rivalry / Ryan King-White
• A tale of two cities: the Toronto Maple Leafs versus the Montreal Canadiens / Brian P. Soebbing and Daniel S. Mason
• Like cats and dogs: the Massillon-Canton McKinley football rivalry / Lawrence W. Hugenberg and Brian C. Pattie
• A rivalry for the ages: Tennessee-UConn women's basketball / Jaime Schultz
• Three yards and a pool of blood: Ohio State versus Michigan / Brad Austin
• Corporate Cowboys and blue-collar bureaucrats: the Dallas-Washington football rivalry / Stephen H. Norwood
• Imperial rivalries: America versus Britain for the Davis Cup / S.W. Pope
• This has nothing to do with money: the Ryder Cup and international rivalry in golf / John Nauright
• The match of the century: The U.S.-USSR rivalry in sports / Chris Elzey
• Dare to dream: U.S. Women's Soccer versus the world / Lindsey J. Meân.

This title deals with unforgettable fans, teams, and athletes. The sixteen original essays in this collection cover influential and famous rivalries from a variety of sports, including track and field, golf, boxing, basketball, tennis, ice skating, baseball, football, soccer, and more. The essays are diverse, but together they illustrate what is common to any rivalry: equally matched opponents that often have decidedly different backgrounds, styles, and personalities. These differences may center on race and culture, political and societal ideologies, personality, geography, or religion - a singular mix intensified by fans and the media. From highly publicized and emotionally charged individual competitions to bitterly fought team contests, ""Rivals"" illuminates what one-of-a-kind opponents and the passion they inspire tell us about ourselves and our society.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• Hamilton "Ham" Fish Jr.
• Hobart "Hobey" Baker
• Nile Kinnick
• Robert "Bob" Kalsu
• Patrick "Pat" Tillman.

In the spring of 2002, motivated by the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, National Football League stalwart Patrick Daniel Tillman turned down a multimillion-dollar contract to join the US Army. Two years later, he died while serving his country in the mountains of Afghanistan. In the process, he became an American icon. Inspired by Pat Tillman's story, Fallen Stars captures the lives and times of Tillman (1976-2004) and four other war-hero American athletes: Hamilton "Ham" Fish (1873-98), Hobart "Hobey" Baker (1892-1918), Nile Kinnick (1918-43), and Robert Kalsu (1945-70), all of whom died while serving in the US military. Why a focus on fallen war-hero athletes, and why these five? Because here we have a century's worth of men who faced the fears and uncertainties that come with life and made the ultimate sacrifice. Their stories give us a kaleidoscopic picture of America over the course of more than one hundred years, and through them we can explore the wars America has participated in, the values that Americans have celebrated, and what it has meant, over time, to be an American hero.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• Preface
• 1. Striving for athletic success in a Jim Crow society
• 1. Jimmy Winkfield : the "Black maestro" of the racetrack / Susan Hamburger
• 2. Marshall "Major" Taylor : the fastest bicycle rider in the world / Andrew Ritchie
• 3. The strange career of William Henry Lewis / Gregory Bond
• 4. Jack Johnson and the quest for racial respect / Gerald R. Gems
• 2. Fashioning a world of sport behind segregated walls and on the international stage
• 5. Ora Washington : the first Black female athletic star / Pamela Grundy
• 6. Satchel Paige's struggle for selfhood in the era of Jim Crow / Donald Spivey
• 7. Jesse Owens : leading man in modern American tales of racial progress and limits / Mark Dyreson
• 8. Joe Louis, boxing, and American culture / Anthony O. Edmonds
• 9. Alice Coachman : quiet champion of the 1940s / Jennifer H. Lansbury
• 10. Jackie Robinson : racial pioneer and athlete extraordinaire in an era of change / Michael E. Lomax.

• 3. The fight for civil rights through athletic performance, persuasion, and protest
• 11. "Jackie Robinson without the charm" : the challenges of being Althea Gibson / Mary Jo Festle
• 12. Wilma Rudolph : the making of an Olympic icon / Wayne Wilson
• 13. Bill Russell : pioneer and champion of the sixties / Maureen M. Smith
• 14. Jim Brown : superlative athlete, screen star, social activist / J. Thomas Jable
• 15. Muhammad Ali : flawed rebel with a cause / Gerald Early
• 16. "The quiet militant" : Arthur Ashe and Black athletic activism / Damion Thomas
• 4. Race, sport, and celebrity culture
• 17. Bound by blackness or above it? Michael Jordan and the paradoxes of post-civil rights American race relations / Douglas Hartmann
• 18. "Race, " family, and nation : the significance of Tiger Woods in American culture / S.W. Pope
• 19. "Ghetto Cinderellas" : Venus and Serena Williams and the discourse of racism / R. Pierre Rodgers and Ellen B. Drogin Rodgers
• Notes
• Bibliographical note
• Contributors
• Index.

The original essays in this collection examine the lives and sports of famous and not-so- famous African American men and women athletes from the nineteenth century to today. Here are twenty biographies that furnish perspectives on the changing status of these athletes and how the changes mirrored the transformation of sport, American society, and civil rights legislation. Out of the Shadows shows us athletes struggling to make it in a Jim Crow society--Jimmy Winkfield in horse racing, Marshall Taylor in bicycling, William Henry Lewis in football, and Jack Johnson--and those achieving success on an international stage while suffering segregation at home--Ora Washington (tennis), Satchel Paige, Jesse Owens, Joe Louis, Alice Coachman (track and field), and Jackie Robinson. In the twentieth century athletes saw opportunities to fight for civil rights through their performances as was the case with Althea Gibson (tennis), Wilma Rudolph, Bill Russell, Jim Brown, Muhammad Ali, and Arthur Ashe. Today's successful African American athletes, such as Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, and Venus and Serena Williams, deal with issues of race and celebrity culture. --From publisher's description.

• Introduction: Identities, Opportunities, Inequities (C. Richard King)--
• 1. Negotiating a Native American Identity through Sport: Assimilation, Adaptation, and the Role of the Trickster (Gerald Gems)--
• 2. "Looking Backward:" The Life and Legend of Louis Francis Sockalexis (Daniel Barr)--
• 3. "Simply Marvelous": The 1904 Girls' Basketball Team from Fort Shaw Indian Boarding School (Laura Peavy and Ursula Smith)--
• 4. "Winnebago is a Great Nation!" George Howard Johnson's Life in Baseball-- (Jeff Powers-Beck)--
• 5. The Forgotten Irish-Indian: Ethnicity, Class and Football in the Life of Thomas Yarr-- (William Bauer, Jr.)--
• 6. Playing Football, Playing Indian: An History of the Native Americans Who Were the NFL's Oorang Indians (Charles Fruehling Springwood)--
• 7. Women's Basketball on the Navajo Nation: The Shiprock Cardinals, 1960-1980-- (Ann Cummins, Cecilia Anderson, and Georgia Briggs)--
• 8. An Examination of Sport for Aboriginal Females on the Six Nations Reserve, 1968 to 1980 (Vicky Paraschak)--
• 9. Suanne Big Crow: Her Legend and Legacy (Ellen J. Staurowsky)--
• 10. A Notable Exception: Notes on Notah Begay, Race, and Sports (C. Richard King)--
• 11. No Fall from Grace: Grace Thorpe's Athlete of the Century Campaign for Her Father (John Bloom)-- Epilogue (C. Richard King).
• (source: Nielsen Book Data)

Though many Americans might be aware of the Olympian and football Hall of Famer Jim Thorpe or of Navajo golfer Notah Begay, few know of the fundamental role that Native athletes have played in modern sports: introducing popular games and contests, excelling as players, and distinguishing themselves as coaches. The full breadth and richness of this tradition unfolds in Native Athletes in Sport and Society, which highlights the accomplishments of Indigenous athletes in the United States and Canada but also explores what these accomplishments have meant to Native American spectators and citizens alike. Here are Thorpe and Begay as well as the Winnebago baseball player George Johnson, the Snohomish Notre Dame center Thomas Yarr, the Penobscot baseball player Louis Francis Sockalexis, and the Lakota basketball player SuAnne Big Crow. Their stories are told alongside those of Native athletic teams such as the NFL's Oorang Indians, the Shiprock Cardinals (a Navajo women's basketball team), the women athletes of the Six Nations Reserve, and the Fort Shaw Indian Boarding School's girls' basketball team, who competed in the 1904 World's Fair. Superstars and fallen stars, journeymen and amateurs, coaches and gatekeepers, activists and tricksters appear side by side in this collection, their stories articulating the issues of power and possibility, difference and identity, representation and remembrance that have shaped the means and meaning of American Indians playing sport in North America.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)