Winning is the Only Thing: Sports in America since 1945 / Edition 1

by Randy Roberts, James S. Olson

Overview

In Winning Is the Only Thing, Randy Roberts and James Olson take a hard look at the dark side of American sports. The scandals. The role of organized crime. How politicians and businessmen exploit the Olympics. Who gets rich and who goes broke. Why the fitness craze has nothing to do with fitness. And how TV sports czars like Roone Arledge—inventor of the "instant replay"—actually dictate how games are played.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780801842405
Publisher:	Johns Hopkins University Press
Publication date:	04/01/1991
Series:	The American Moment
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	272
Product dimensions:	5.75(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Randy Roberts is the author of A Season in the Sun: The Rise of Mickey Mantle, Blood Brothers: The Fatal Friendship Between Muhammad Ali and Malcolm X, and many more.

James S. Olson is the Texas State University System Regents Professor of History at Sam Houston State University. He has written and edited dozens of books, including Bathsheba's Breast: Women, Cancer, and History, also published by Johns Hopkins.

Table of Contents

Preface
Chapter 1. The World That Hiroshima Created: The Olympic Games and the Cold War
Chapter 2. The Integration of American Sports
Chapter 3. Work and Play: The Business of Professional Sports
Chapter 4. Scandal Time
Chapter 5. Television, Sports, and Mass Culture
Chapter 6. The Roone Revolution
Chapter 7. The New Rules of the Game
Chapter 8. The Black Rebellion in American Sports
Chapter 9. In the Shadow of Munich
Chapter 10. Sports and Self in Modern America
Bibliographic Essay
Index

What People are Saying About This

Tug McGraw

Important reading for anybody who cares about sports.

From the Publisher

Important reading for anybody who cares about sports.
—Tug McGraw

Editorial Reviews

An important and absorbing book . . . Scholars, students, and the general adult reading public all have much to gain from it.
—Arthur McClure, History

Probably the best brief treatment of the culture and business of American sports and the warping influence of television, commercialism, nationalism, and narcissism . . . An ambitious overview, Winning Is the Only Thing treats politico-cultural themes and a host of other subjects in a book that is clearly aimed at both general and scholarly audiences.
—Lawrence N. Powell, Journal of Southern History

A provocative essay on sports in America. It provides analyses of a multitude of people and trends, it is a synthesis of the best sports writing and sports history of the last several decades, and it offers insight into this significant part of American culture.
—Orlando Sentinel

Reminds us that while the sports world may be seamier than ever, scandals are nothing new.
—Felicia E. Halpert, The Nation

From the Publisher

Reminds us that while the sports world may be seamier than ever, scandals are nothing new.

The Nation - Felicia E. Halpert

Probably the best brief treatment of the culture and business of American sports and the warping influence of television, commercialism, nationalism, and narcissism . . . An ambitious overview, Winning Is the Only Thing treats politico-cultural themes and a host of other subjects in a book that is clearly aimed at both general and scholarly audiences.

Journal of Southern History - Lawrence N. Powell

An important and absorbing book . . . Scholars, students, and the general adult reading public all have much to gain from it.

History - Arthur McClure

A provocative essay on sports in America. It provides analyses of a multitude of people and trends, it is a synthesis of the best sports writing and sports history of the last several decades, and it offers insight into this significant part of American culture.

Orlando Sentinel

"A provocative essay on sports in America. It provides analyses of a multitude of people and trends, it is a synthesis of the best sports writing and sports history of the last several decades, and it offers insight into this significant part of American culture."

Orlando Sentinel

Reminds us that while the sports world may be seamier than ever, scandals are nothing new.

— Felicia E. Halpert

The Nation

Probably the best brief treatment of the culture and business of American sports and the warping influence of television, commercialism, nationalism, and narcissism... An ambitious overview, Winning Is the Only Thing treats politico-cultural themes and a host of other subjects in a book that is clearly aimed at both general and scholarly audiences.

— Lawrence N. Powell

Journal of Southern History

An important and absorbing book... Scholars, students, and the general adult reading public all have much to gain from it.

— Arthur McClure

History