From Ritual to Record - by Allen Guttmann (Paperback)

About the Book

Originally published in 1978, this book was one of the first to recognize the importance of sports as a lens on the fundamental structure of societies. In this reissue, Guttmann emphasizes the many ways that modern sports, dramatically different from the sports of previous eras, have profoundly shaped contemporary life.

Book Synopsis

Originally published in 1978, From Ritual to Record was one of the first books to recognize the importance of sports as a lens on the fundamental structure of societies. In this reissue, Guttmann emphasizes the many ways that modern sports, dramatically different from the sports of previous eras, have profoundly shaped contemporary life.

Review Quotes

[Guttmann's] lucid, original, stimulating, blessedly jargon-free book does something to lighten our darkness. His pleasant, incisive style reflects a mind uncluttered by prejudice or ideology.--Brian Glanville "London Sunday Times"

A pioneering work in a field remarkably little touched... For any future writer about the philosophy or the sociology of sport in general, this book will be required reading.--Julian Symons "Times Literary Supplement"

The chief advantage that Guttmann has over other sports theoreticians is a willingness to employ the techniques of modern rhetoric in creating some order out of the ideological confusion now swirling around his subject. He is a definer, a synthesizer, a causal analyst, as well as an arguer and a counter-arguer.-- "Virginia Quarterly"

About the Author

Allen Guttmann is professor of American studies at Amherst College. His many books include The Olympics: A History of the Modern Games, Games and Empires: Modern Sports and Cultural Imperialism (Columbia), and a translation of Peter Kühnst's Sports: A Cultural History in the Mirror of Art. He lives in Leverett, Massachusetts.