Sports in World History

<p>This lively and clear survey provides a wide-ranging overview of the history of modern sports covering such topics as:</p><ul> <li>why human beings are athletes</li> <li>how the major modern sports came about and how they spread throughout the world with the help of enthusiastic individuals sports organizations the YMCA and the Olympic movement</li> <li>discussions of some of the most popular of the 300 modern world sports including: soccer basketball baseball cricket table tennis tennis Formula One racing golf swimming skiing volleyball track and field boxing judo and cycling</li> <li>the history of both western and non-western sports in depth as well as the increasing globalization of sports today</li> <li>the challenges facing the world of sports today such as commercialization and the use of performance-enhancing drugs.</li> </ul><p>Sports historians and cultural studies students will all find this book gives a fascinating and invaluable insight into the world of sport through history.</p>