In The New American Sport History sixteen scholars, many of them among the best known in the field, explore topics as diverse as the historical debate over black athletic superiority, the ''selling'' of sport in society, the eroticism of athletic activity, sexual fears of women athletes, and the marketing of the marathon. In line with the changing nature of sport history as a field of study, this volume focuses less on ''traditional'' topics and more on themes of class, gender, race, ethnicity, and national identity, which also define the larger parameters of social and cultural history. It is the first anthology to situation sport history within the broader fields of social history and cultural studies. Contributors are Melvin L. Adelman, William J. Baker, Pamela L. Cooper, Mark Dyreson, Gerald R. Gems, Elliott J.

Gorn, Allen Guttmann, Stephen H. Hardy, Peter Levine, Donald J. Mrozek, Michael Oriard, S. W. Pope, Benjamin G. Rader, Steven A. Riess, Nancy L. Struna, and David K.

Wiggins.''Impressive! Pope presents a variety of new social, cultural, and economic approaches to the study of sports in American society.''--George B. Kirsch, author of Golf in America.