Sheldon Anderson is professor of modern European history and international studies at Miami University.

Given the tremendous cultural, economic, and political impact of sports, it is surprising how little sport is analyzed and taught. . . .Employing a historical framework, Anderson begins with the origins of modern European sport and its eventual transmission to former colonies, including the United States. He then discusses more recent phenomena: Cold War competition, nation building, race and ethnicity. In the closing chapters, Anderson examines the impact of globalization, competing and hybridizing conceptions of identity, and the politics and economic development aspects of hosting major sporting events. This well-researched book is a useful first resource for scholars and students of sports and politics, though Jarvie offers more systematic discussion of a wider number of issues and Markovits and Rensmann’s argument is clearer and more ambitious. Depending on the particular needs and intentions of readers or teachers, this book may certainly provide the happy medium. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty; general readers.

• Chapter 1: British Sports and National Identity in Nineteenth Century EuropeChapter 2: Sports and Construction of American National Identity, and the Export of Baseball Abroad Chapter 3: Sports in the Service of Fascism and Communism in the Interwar Period. Chapter 4: Sports and the Cold WarChapter 5: Communist Sport Rivalries and the Role of Sport in the German QuestionChapter 6: Sports and the Reconstruction of Postwar Western Europe and JapanChapter 7: Sports, Decolonization, and Nation BuildingChapter 8: Globalization and Competing Sporting IdentitiesChapter 9: The Politics and Economics of Hosting International Sporting Events

Sheldon Anderson is professor of modern European history and international studies at Miami University.

Given the tremendous cultural, economic, and political impact of sports, it is surprising how little sport is analyzed and taught. . . .Employing a historical framework, Anderson begins with the origins of modern European sport and its eventual transmission to former colonies, including the United States. He then discusses more recent phenomena: Cold War competition, nation building, race and ethnicity. In the closing chapters, Anderson examines the impact of globalization, competing and hybridizing conceptions of identity, and the politics and economic development aspects of hosting major sporting events. This well-researched book is a useful first resource for scholars and students of sports and politics, though Jarvie offers more systematic discussion of a wider number of issues and Markovits and Rensmann’s argument is clearer and more ambitious. Depending on the particular needs and intentions of readers or teachers, this book may certainly provide the happy medium. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty; general readers.

• Chapter 1: British Sports and National Identity in Nineteenth Century EuropeChapter 2: Sports and Construction of American National Identity, and the Export of Baseball Abroad Chapter 3: Sports in the Service of Fascism and Communism in the Interwar Period. Chapter 4: Sports and the Cold WarChapter 5: Communist Sport Rivalries and the Role of Sport in the German QuestionChapter 6: Sports and the Reconstruction of Postwar Western Europe and JapanChapter 7: Sports, Decolonization, and Nation BuildingChapter 8: Globalization and Competing Sporting IdentitiesChapter 9: The Politics and Economics of Hosting International Sporting Events

Sheldon Anderson is professor of modern European history and international studies at Miami University.

Given the tremendous cultural, economic, and political impact of sports, it is surprising how little sport is analyzed and taught. . . .Employing a historical framework, Anderson begins with the origins of modern European sport and its eventual transmission to former colonies, including the United States. He then discusses more recent phenomena: Cold War competition, nation building, race and ethnicity. In the closing chapters, Anderson examines the impact of globalization, competing and hybridizing conceptions of identity, and the politics and economic development aspects of hosting major sporting events. This well-researched book is a useful first resource for scholars and students of sports and politics, though Jarvie offers more systematic discussion of a wider number of issues and Markovits and Rensmann’s argument is clearer and more ambitious. Depending on the particular needs and intentions of readers or teachers, this book may certainly provide the happy medium. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty; general readers.

• Chapter 1: British Sports and National Identity in Nineteenth Century EuropeChapter 2: Sports and Construction of American National Identity, and the Export of Baseball Abroad Chapter 3: Sports in the Service of Fascism and Communism in the Interwar Period. Chapter 4: Sports and the Cold WarChapter 5: Communist Sport Rivalries and the Role of Sport in the German QuestionChapter 6: Sports and the Reconstruction of Postwar Western Europe and JapanChapter 7: Sports, Decolonization, and Nation BuildingChapter 8: Globalization and Competing Sporting IdentitiesChapter 9: The Politics and Economics of Hosting International Sporting Events