Tag: Katarina Tornborg
A singularly entertaining and wonderfully complex historical study of women in water
In Swimming Pretty: The Untold Story of Women in Water (Liveright Publishing), Vicki Valosik traces two millennia of women and swimming, and a century of aquatic performance, from vaudeville to the Olympic arena, and brings to life the colorful cast of characters whose “pretty swimming” not only laid the groundwork for an altogether new sport but forever changed women’s relationships with water. In her thorough and readable review, Katarina Tornborg is impressed and enthused by Valosik’s well-written history of women’s emancipation and empowerment in the world of water sports.
Excellent anthology about sport, literature, and culture in eighteenth century Britain
The “long eighteenth century” denotes the period 1660–1815, which is when modern sports emerged in Britain. In Sharon Harrow’s anthology British Sporting Literature and Culture in the Long Eighteenth Century (Routledge) the intersection of sport, literature, and culture is examined. In her favorable review essay, Katarina Tornborg discusses and reflects on the cultural aspects of the sporting world of the day.
