The Whole World Was Watching: Sport in the Cold War

by Robert Edelman (Editor), Christopher Young (Editor)

Overview

In the Cold War era, the confrontation between capitalism and communism played out not only in military, diplomatic, and political contexts, but also in the realm of culture—and perhaps nowhere more so than the cultural phenomenon of sports, where the symbolic capital of athletic endeavor held up a mirror to the global contest for the sympathies of citizens worldwide. The Whole World Was Watching examines Cold War rivalries through the lens of sporting activities and competitions across Europe, Asia, Africa, Latin America, and the U.S. The essays in this volume consider sport as a vital sphere for understanding the complex geopolitics and cultural politics of the time, not just in terms of commerce and celebrity, but also with respect to shifting notions of race, class, and gender. Including contributions from an international lineup of historians, this volume suggests that the analysis of sport provides a valuable lens for understanding both how individuals experienced the Cold War in their daily lives, and how sports culture in turn influenced politics and diplomatic relations.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781503611016
Publisher:	Stanford University Press
Publication date:	12/10/2019
Series:	Cold War International History Project
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	352
File size:	4 MB

About the Author

Robert Edelman is Professor of History at the University of California, San Diego. Christopher Young is Professor of Modern and Medieval German Studies and Head of the School of Arts and Humanities at the University of Cambridge.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Explaining Cold War Sport
 —Robert Edelman and Christopher Young
1. The State-Private Network: Overt and Covert US Intervention in Early Cold War Sport
 —Toby C. Rider
2. "No Quarrel with Them Vietcong": Muhammad Ali's Cold War
 —Elliott J. Gorn
3. Breaking the Ice: Alexei Kosygin and the Secret Background of the 1972 Hockey Summit Series
 —James Hershberg
4. Action in the Era of Stagnation: Leonid Brezhnev and the Soviet Olympic Dream
 —Mikhail Prozumenshikov
5. Soccer Artistry and the Secret Police: Georgian Football in the Multiethnic Soviet Empire
 —Erik R. Scott
6. Russian Fever Pitch: Global Fandom, Youth Culture, and the Public Sphere in the Late Soviet Union
 —Manfred Zeller
7. Eulogy to Theft: Berliner FC Dynamo, East German Football, and the End of Communism
 —Alan McDougall
8. Sports, Politics, and "Wild Doping" in the East German Sporting "Miracle"
 —Mike Dennis
9. "The Most Beautiful Face of Socialism": Katarina Witt and the Sexual Politics of Sport in the Cold War
 —Annette F. Timm
10. Learning from the Soviet Big Brother: The Early Years of Sport in the People's Republic of China
 —Amanda Shuman
11. "The Communist Bandits Have Been Repudiated": Cold War–Era Sport in Taiwan
 —Andrew D. Morris
12. New Regional Order: Sport, Cold War Culture, and the Making of Southeast Asia
 —Simon Creak
13. Negotiating Colonial Repression: African Footballers in Salazar's Portugal
 —Todd Cleveland
14. Deflected Confrontations: Cold War Baseball in the Caribbean
 —Rob Ruck
15. Ambivalent Solidarities: Cultural Diplomacy, Women, and South-South Cooperation at the 1950s Pan American Games
 —Brenda Elsey

Editorial Reviews

"This insightful collection of essays shows how the Cold War was fought out on ice, on the football and baseball fields, in boxing rings, and in Olympic stadiums. A fantastic contribution to both the history of sport and the history of the Cold War."—Sergey Radchenko, Cardiff University

"This superb collection of essays should lay to rest any doubts about sport's place as a uniquely significant and powerful force in the cultural Cold War. The editors' scope is ambitious, and contributors bring nuance to the complex issues of global politics at play in every sprint, shot, and stroke."—Rita Liberti, Cal State East Bay

"The Cold War wends its way through almost every aspect of post-WWII sports history but is so rarely considered as a whole. It is a great pleasure, then, to see the many disparate strands of the sporting front of the conflict brought together in this book with such acuity."—David Goldblatt, author of The Games: A Global History of the Olympics

"Providing a more comprehensive analysis than the standard considerations of the US-USSR rivalry or the Olympics, this book fills the gap for a "go-to" text on the role of sports in the Cold War....highly recommended for anyone interested in the history, sport history, or culture of the Cold War."—A. Curtis, CHOICE

"The Whole World Was Watching is a multifaceted analysis of sport as an instrument of soft power. It is not only about the impact states make in international contests. It is also about how actions of sportswomen and sportsmen made sense in the ideological dimension of the Cold War."—Kristian Gerner, idrottsforum.org

"This compilation is well worth the time of Cold War scholars and anyone with a passing interest in international sports. Each essay is concise, yet well-sourced and informative. Taken as a whole, the authors present a clear case as to why and how sports factored into the cultural Cold War; in other words, why the whole world was watching."—Erin Redihan, The New England Journal of History

From the Publisher

"The Whole World Was Watching is a multifaceted analysis of sport as an instrument of soft power. It is not only about the impact states make in international contests. It is also about how actions of sportswomen and sportsmen made sense in the ideological dimension of the Cold War."

idrottsforum.org - Kristian Gerner

"This insightful collection of essays shows how the Cold War was fought out on ice, on the football and baseball fields, in boxing rings, and in Olympic stadiums. A fantastic contribution to both the history of sport and the history of the Cold War."

Cardiff University - Sergey Radchenko

"The Cold War wends its way through almost every aspect of post-WWII sports history but is so rarely considered as a whole. It is a great pleasure, then, to see the many disparate strands of the sporting front of the conflict brought together in this book with such acuity."

author of The Games: A Global History of the Olympics - David Goldblatt

"Providing a more comprehensive analysis than the standard considerations of the US-USSR rivalry or the Olympics, this book fills the gap for a "go-to" text on the role of sports in the Cold War....highly recommended for anyone interested in the history, sport history, or culture of the Cold War."

CHOICE - A. Curtis

"This superb collection of essays should lay to rest any doubts about sport's place as a uniquely significant and powerful force in the cultural Cold War. The editors' scope is ambitious, and contributors bring nuance to the complex issues of global politics at play in every sprint, shot, and stroke."

Cal State East Bay - Rita Liberti