The Vietnam era’s tensions—between tradition and new possibilities, black and white, young and old, male and female—were played out on the field of professional and organized sports. SportsWars shows that the century-old position of sports as the standard-bearer for American values, and as a central way of building character, made it a prime target in this time of general disenchantment. Critics began to challenge not only individual abuses but sport’s very ideals, and for the first time these critics included athletes themselves. Zang locates a variety of larger cultural debates within professional sports and organized sports more generally: changing valuations of hard work and the physical, winning versus character, and challenges to authority. He also considers the relationships between sports and other domains of popular culture, including the counterculture, rock and roll, and Hollywood.
SportsWars
Athletes in the Age of Aquarius
David W. Zang
July 2001
Available In:
Paper: $24.95 (978-1-55728-770-0)
Cloth: $39.95 (978-1-55728-713-7)
“A fascinating book . . . a unique and thought-provoking look back at an exciting and troubled time.”
—David Pitt, Booklist
“I loved it, loved almost every page. What I like most is the literary quality of the writing—and the rich cultural context and the wonderful stories. Bewitching, and perfectly crafted.”
—Randy Roberts, author of Winning Is the Only Thing: Sports in America Since 1945 and Where the Domino Fell: America and Vietnam, 1945 to 1990
“This is history served fresh, a wonderful read, unsentimental and smart, that opens windows on the sixties as well as on sports.”
—Robert Lipsyte, New York Times
“Dave Zang in one our most astute observers of sport and American culture. He knows the sixties and he knows sports and he has brought them together in a lively, lucid narrative. SportsWars is a first rate book.”
—Jules Tygiel, author of Baseball’s Great Experiment: Jackie Robinson and His Legacy
“A wonderful book! Zang captures the emotions—anxiety, anger, heartbreak and hope—and the people that made sports in the 60’s so dramatic. And he does it with such style.”
—Bill Walton, Basketball Hall of Fame, Academic All America
“SportsWars is a deeply satisfying work of both sport history and cultural criticism. Moreover, it is as compulsively readable as it is intellectually shrewd.”
—Michael Oriard, author of Reading Football: How the Popular Press Created an American Spectacle