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Title details for Famous for a Time by Jason Wilson - Available

Famous for a Time

Forgotten Giants of Canadian Sport

by Jason Wilson
Richard M. Reid
ebook
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Celebrating Canadian athletes and sporting history.
The cultural impact of sport on a nation is not slight. Famous for a Time explores a number of important, if not well remembered, Canadian athletes and the sports they played to help explain the nation's complicated history, sporting and otherwise. It is an exploration that reveals the socio-cultural trends that have shaped Canada since Confederation.
Through the prism of some exceptional athletes, the prevailing attitudes of many Canadians about class, race, masculinity, femininity, and national identity are laid bare. Here, from the sidelines, we learn how these attitudes have changed — or not, as the case may be — over time.
From team sports such as lacrosse, baseball, and cricket to Canada's cycling craze, track and field, and boxing, each chapter offers insight into an important aspect of the nation's narrative. The winners and losers of Canada's games simply mirror the larger questions that have faced Canadian society across three centuries.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    July 25, 2023

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Read

      • ISBN: 9781459749979

    • EPUB ebook

      • ISBN: 9781459749979
      • File size: 23054 KB

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Library Journal

      July 21, 2023

      Historians Wilson (Univ. of Guelph; King Alpha's Song in a Strange Land) and Reid (emeritus, Univ. of Guelph; African Canadians in Union Blue) focus on late-1800s Canada, when the newly independent nation wanted to create a distinctive national identity. One way of achieving this was through sports. Snowshoeing, ice hockey, and skating were embraced due to their link to fur traders and their supposed association with Northern virility. Lacrosse, originated by numerous Indigenous peoples, was also adopted by Canadians, but racism relegated the Indigenous progenitors of the sport to the sidelines. This book points out that social class played a key role in how some sports caught on. Shortly after Canada's Confederation in 1867, cricket and baseball were equally popular; eventually, however, more people grew to prefer baseball. It was a faster-paced game open to all, while cricket remained slow and in the realm of the upper classes. Wilson and Reid's book also delves into how the sporting prowess of individuals--the 1920s two-time Olympic gold-medalist sprinter Percy Williams, for example--captured the ardor of the nation and engendered much national pride. But he was also subsequently forgotten. VERDICT An engaging book that looks at the link between sports, race, class, and nation building.--Brian Renvall

      Copyright 2023 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Formats

  • OverDrive Read
  • EPUB ebook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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