Jews, Sports, and the Rites of Citizenship

Jack Kugelmass is a professor of anthropology and director of the Center for Jewish Studies at the University of Florida, Gainesville. He is the author of The Miracle of Intervale Avenue.

"These essays are based on history and anthropology but they also offer a compelling analysis of modernity. . . . Citizenship and nationhood cannot be divorced from both the physical and the intellectual attributes of a group, which these authors clearly convey."--Contemporary Jewish Life"The eleven essays present some interesting topics and research."--Choice"What makes this collection significant is that it resists simply crowing about Jewish athletes . . . rather this collection brings together not sportswriters but rather historians, anthropologists, sociologists, and cultural theoreticians to give athletics a gravitas it seldom obtains. . . . The writing is at turns vivid, provocative, persuasive, speculative - never dry, never dull. Its essential theory - how athletics shapes cultural identity - is a rewarding and important premise for serious students of contemporary athletics."--Aethlon

• Contents Preface Acknowledgments Part I. Entering the Arena 1. Why Sports? Jack Kugelmass 2. "How Fiercely That Gentile Rides!": Jews, Horses and Equestrian Style John Hoberman 3. Unathletic Department Stephen J. Whitfield Part II. Sound Bodies, Healthy Nations 4. National Regeneration in the Ghetto: The Jewish Turnbewegung in Galicia Joshua Shanes 5. Zionism, Politics, Hedonism: Sports in 1920s and 1930s Tel- Aviv Anat Helman 6. Jewish Workers' Sports Movements in Inter-War Poland--Shtern and Morgnshtern in Comparative Perspective Jack Jacobs III. Odd Contestants 7. Sabbath Sport on the Shores of Tripoli: Muscles and Memory among the Jews of Libya Harvey E. Goldberg 8. On Matching Unmatchables: Football Games between Jews and Muslims in Casablanca Andr¿ Levy 9. Arab Soccer in a Jewish State Tamir Sorek IV. Civilizing the Body 10. The Shame of the City: CCNY Basketball, 1950-51 Edward Shapiro 11. The American Orthodox Athlete: From Contradiction in Terms to Institutional Standard Bearer Jeffrey S. Gurock Contributors Index