Tag: Matthew Taylor

Historian Matthew Taylor’s new book World of Sport: Transnational and Connected Histories (Routledge) examines the development of modern sport from the mid-nineteenth century to the 1960s in the light of transnational approaches to history. Historian Hans Bolling is our reviewer, and after introducing us to transnational figure skating legend Jackson Haines, he applies himself to the book with a slightly critical stance, expressing doubts about the historiographical gains of Taylor’s transnational application, while still being impressed by the author’s scholarship – “sports history at its best.”

Carol A. Osborne & Fiona Skillen’s edited collection Women in Sports History: Ten Years On (Routledge) examines the developments in women’s sports history in Britain in the last 10 years, following on from its successful predecessor Women in Sports History (2010). Susanna Hedenborg reviewed the 2010 volume, and she agreed to take on the sequel. Now as then, she finds much to appreciate, it’s an historians delight, but also now as then there is room for improvement.

Peace and war, or camaraderie and struggle, are keywords for a lot of sports – and for Matti Goksøyr’s long and impressive work as a researcher. He earned his doctorate at the NIH in 1991 and became professor of sports history eight years later. In December 2022 he turned 70, and how better to celebrate that than with a Festschrift. Christian Tolstrup Jensen enjoyed reading Fred og krig: Festskrift til Matti Goksøyr [Peace and war: Festschrift to Matti Goksøyr], edited by Gudmund Skjeldal & Allan Bennich Grønkjær.

Midland History is a refereed journal which prints articles on midlands subjects from professional and independent historians and research students in the United Kingdom and elsewhere. The Forum Editor’s pick from the current issue: ‘With No Cinder Path for Track Training, Our Position Is Hopeless’: The Development of Athletics Facilities in Birmingham, 1879-1929 by Luke J. Harris.

Sport in History encourages the study of sport to illuminate broader historical issues and debates. Includes an extensive reviews section, an annual compendium of sports-related accessions to British archives and a 'Sport in Public History' section. The Forum Editor’s pick from the current issue: MARGUERITE WILSON AND OTHER ‘HARD-RIDING … FEMININE SPACE EATERS’: CYCLING AND MODERN FEMININITY IN INTERWAR BRITAIN by Neil Carter.

Det gläder vår recensent Hans Bolling att redaktörerna bakom utmärkta antologin Building Europe with the Ball: Turning Points in the Europeanization of Football, 1905–1995 (Peter Lang Publishing), Philippe Vonnard, Grégory Quin och Nicolas Bancel, verkligen använder historien för att förstå samtiden, samtidigt som han funderar över i vilken mån forskningsfinansiering styrt valet av forskningsobjekt och forskningens innehåll.

The anthology «Methodology in Sports History», edited by Wray Vamplew and Dave Day (Routledge) seemed to be just what the supervisor ordered for a Ph.D. student at a crucial point in the dissertation process. For our reviewer Robert Svensson, however, it was somewhat of a disappointment. The book confuses method with methodology, and deals more with history in general than with sport history.

Hans Bolling Historiska institutionen, Stockholms universitet Matthew Taylor The Leaguers: The Making of Professional Football in England, 1900–1939 320 sidor, hft., ill. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press 2005 ISBN 0-85323-649-6 Inför sommaren stora idrottsbegivenheten, fotbolls-VM, formligen översköljdes vi av fakta, analyser och anekdoter. Den mängd förhandsinformation som publicerats säger en hel del om fotbollens ställning både som folkets och alla andras spel. Alla de träd som kommer...