The American Dream and the National Game
Leverett T. Smith Jr.
Sports in our lives—from the Babe to Vince Lombardi
This
engaging study examines sports as both a symbol of American culture
and a formative force that shapes American values. Leverett T.
Smith Jr. uses high culture, in the form of literature and criticism,
to analyze the popular culture of baseball and professional football.
He explores the history of baseball through three important events:
the fixing of the 1919 World Series, the appointment of Judge
Landis as commissioner of baseball with dictatorial powers, and
the emergence of Babe Ruth as the "new" kind of ball
player. Finally, he documents the emergence of professional football
as the national game through the history and writings of former
Green Bay Packers coach Vince Lombardi, who emerges as both a
critic of the business-oriented society and a canny businessman
and manager of men himself.
Leverett T. Smith Jr. is professor emeritus of English at North Carolina
Wesleyan College and a member of the Society for American Baseball
Research.
Media & bookseller inquiries regarding review copies, events, and interviews can be directed to the publicity department at publicity@uwpress.wisc.edu or (608) 263-0734. (If you want to examine a book for possible course use, please see our Course Books page. If you want to examine a book for possible rights licensing, please see Rights & Permissions.)
A trade imprint of the University of Wisconsin Press
Media & bookseller inquiries regarding review copies, events, and interviews can be directed to the publicity department at publicity@uwpress.wisc.edu or (608) 263-0734. (If you want to examine a book for possible course use, please see our Course Books page. If you want to examine a book for possible rights licensing, please see Rights & Permissions.)
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Spring 2010
LC: 75-015290 GV
286 pp. 6 x 9
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