Tag: Hans Bolling
A short, perspective-rich history of sport in France
Drawing on examples from the past six centuries, David Owen’s Aux Armes!: Sport and the French, an English perspective (Harvester Press) explores sport’s philosophical standing in France’s cultural DNA; its role in the popularisation of the Republic; the birth of the Olympics, the Tour de France and the football World Cup. Seasoned sport historian Hans Bolling would have liked more of everything, but settles, quite content, with Owen’s choice of stories and format; an appetizer from which the reader can move on, and in doing so being a more well-read person.
Svensk idrottsforskning fyller 50!
Sedan historikern Jan Lindroth disputerade med sin avhandling om idrotten som folkrörelse 1974 har det gått ett halvt sekel, och således firar svensk idrottsforskning sitt femtioårsjubileum 2024. Under perioden har idrottsvetenskap vuxit fram som ett nytt utbildnings-, forsknings- och forskarutbildningsämne. Idag finns det idrottsvetenskapliga institutioner eller motsvarande vid tio lärosäten, och fem av dem har forskarutbildning. Forskningsämnena, som från början var pedagogik, historia och psykologi, omfattar idag över trettio olika ämnesdiscipliner.
The life of Jim Thorpe, the man who won and lost two Olympic gold medals
Jim Thorpe rose to world fame as a mythic talent who excelled at every sport. Most famously, he won gold medals in the decathlon and pentathlon at the 1912 Stockholm Olympics. In Path Lit by Lightning: The Life of Jim Thorpe (Simon & Schuster) David Maraniss details the life of the great athlete. Historian Hans Bolling, who has written extensively about the 1912 Olympics, is our reviewer, and he finds that Maraniss’ comprehensive biography really lets its reader meet Jim Thorpe.
Swinging clubs from Indian culture and society to British fitness culture: A history well told
Conor Heffernans new book Indian Club Swinging and the Birth of Global Fitness: Mugdars, Masculinity and Marketing (Bloomsbury) tells the story of the rise and growth of club swinging as it spread from India to Europe and America, asking why and how it became so popular. Hans Bolling likes a good historical account, and the history of Club Swinging was new to him. He commends and recommends Heffernan’s interesting, readable and well-researched book about a phenomenon that fell out of fashion well over a century ago.
Football history meets political history – England vs. (West) Germany
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.
Kvindelige gymnastikdirektørers uddannelse og livsskæbner analyseres og formidles i historisk pionerarbejde
I Leif Yttergrens och Hans Bollings Kroppens apostlar. Kvinnliga gymnastikdirektörer 1864–2020 (Stockholmia Förlag) berättas historien om det år 1813 inrättade Gymnastiska centralinstitutet (GCI) i Stockholm där både män och kvinnor utbildades till gymnastikdirektörer, i en tid då kvinnor ännu var omyndiga. Jørn Hansen har tagit del av de bägge historikernas fascinerande berättelse och rekommenderar boken varmt till intresserade i såväl historia och idrottshistoria som kvinnostudier.
Yet another story about the World Cup
In The FIFA World Cup: A History of the Planet's Biggest Sporting Event (Rowman & Littlefield), veteran soccer reporter Clemente A. Lisi chronicles the tournament from 1930 to today, including a preview of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. Lisi’s effort is reviewed here by historian Hans Bolling, who finds both the classic fallacies of non-historians writing history and a few embarrassing editorial mistakes. Still, he enjoyed reading it and recommends it for people with a general interest in football to read before future World Cup tournaments.
Highly detailed history of football in the Irish capital
Conor Curran’s Soccer and Society in Dublin: A History of Association Football in Ireland’s Capital (Four Courts Press) is the first full-length assessment of the history of soccer in Dublin and the game’s role within society in the city. Sports (and not least football) historian Hans Bolling read the book at our behest, and he found too much empirical detail about soccer at the expense of society, while also recognizing the value of the empirical material in the book for future studies of Irish football and of the development of football in other European capitals.
Interesting empirical football history studies might have fared better in the hands of a trained historian
How did the world’s most popular sport begin? How was the ancient family of pastimes called «folk football» transformed into a new codified game – «association football»? Gavin Kitching tackles the question in A Fateful Love: Essays on Football in the North-East of England 1880–1930 (Peter Lang Publishing). Hans Bolling, experienced football historian, finds the book interesting but points out some historiographic problems therein, deriving from the fact that the author is not a trained historian.
1983, ett märkesår i dansk fotbollshistoria, berättas om i en kort men innehållsrik och läsvärd bok
Aarhus Universitetsforlag fick en idé: 100 böcker av 100 forskare på 100 sidor under 100 månader som var och en beskriver ett år i Danmarks historia. 1983 var året när Danmarks fotbollsherrar besegrade England på Wembley med 1–0. Christian Tolstrup Jensen berättar om detta i Sejren på Wembley, som vi bad Hans Bolling läsa och recensera. Han kan konstatera att Jensen lyckats väl med uppdraget, och man kan inte längre använda tidsbrist som bortförklaring för att inte läsa in sig på dansk fotbollshistoria.