Tag: Christoph Wagner

John Connolly is a Professor at Dublin City University Business School with a special interest in figurational sociology, which he applies to the history of professional cycling in his latest book, Power, Pain and Professional Cycling: A Historical-Sociological Study (Edward Elgar). According to our reviewer Christoph Wagner, the book gets off to a slow start, but picks up the pace from chapter three onwards, highlighting the forces within professional cycling over the course of a century to present how things got to where they are today.

Jim Cherrington’s edited volume Mountain Biking, Culture and Society (Routledge) represents the first critical examination of the diverse, complex, and at times contradictory culture of MTB, an outsider action sport that achieved recognition with the inclusion into the Olympic family in Atlanta 1996. Our reviewer Christoph Wagner appreciates this academic study of a sport that deals with issues such as habitat destruction, climate change and land enclosure as well as social inequalities and the commodification, technologisation and datafication of outdoor spaces and sports.

In Black Mercuries: African American Athletes, Race, and the Modern Olympic Games (Rowman & Littlefield), David K. Wiggins, Kevin B. Witherspoon, and Mark Dyreson explore in detail the varied experiences of African American athletes, specifically in the summer games. Sometimes too detailed, too many names, writes our reviewer Christoph Wagner, while also pointing out that the multitude of actors is one of the key points that make the book so valuable and important. In conclusion, Black Mercuries is an important contribution.

In Crossing the line? The Press and Anglo-German Football Rivalry (Peter Lang Publishers), Christoph Wagner writes about England’s rivalry with West Germany/Germany played out on the football pitch in the second half of the twentieth century. The central sources for his study are newspapers from England and West Germany. Hans Bolling seems to have enjoyed the book (although he would have preferred to read it in German); it is well researched and instructive. And it mentions Kurt Hamrin.

Brittany Reid’s and Taylor McKee’s collected volume Duelism: Confronting Sport Through Its Doubles (Common Ground) curates critical readings from sport scholars across many fields that acknowledge and interrogate the concept of sport by exploring it in connection with its significant doubles, an approach termed “duelism.” Steph Doehler’s reading of the anthology evokes mainly positive reactions, while also indicating that critical comments are called for.

Soccer, a.k.a (association) football is the most popular mass spectator sport in the world. Soccer & Society is the first international journal devoted to the game of soccer, and aims to focus on the game in the context of a more global world. The Forum Editor’s pick from the current issue: FIFA and UEFA, a critical review of the two organizations through the lens of institutional theory and MacIntyre’s philosophical schema by Theofilos Pouliopoulos & Konstantinos Georgiadis.

Sport in History is a history journal that publishes original, archivally-based research on the history of sport, leisure and recreation. The journal encourages the study of sport to illuminate broader historical issues and debates. Includes an extensive reviews section.

Sport in History is a history journal that publishes original, archivally-based research on the history of sport, leisure and recreation. The journal encourages the study of sport to illuminate broader historical issues and debates. Includes an extensive reviews section.