Sports & Recreation - (New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture) by Harvey H Jackson & Charles Reagan Wilson (Paperback)

About the Book

"Sponsored by The Center for the Study of Southern Culture at the University of Mississippi."

Book Synopsis

What southerners do, where they go, and what they expect to accomplish in their spare time, their "leisure," reveals much about their cultural values, class and racial similarities and differences, and historical perspectives. This volume of The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture offers an authoritative and readable reference to the culture of sports and recreation in the American South, surveying the various activities in which southerners engage in their nonwork hours, as well as attitudes surrounding those activities.

Seventy-four thematic essays explore activities from the familiar (porch sitting and fairs) to the essential (football and stock car racing) to the unusual (pool checkers and a sport called "fireballing"). In seventy-seven topical entries, contributors profile major sites associated with recreational activities (such as Dollywood, drive-ins, and the Appalachian Trail) and prominent sports figures (including Althea Gibson, Michael Jordan, Mia Hamm, and Hank Aaron). Taken together, the entries provide an engaging look at the ways southerners relax, pass time, celebrate, let loose, and have fun.

Review Quotes

"An informative, awareness-raising volume that can be valuable as a textbook or as a personal resource." -- Alabama Review

"Recommended for all reference collections in the Southern region and for colleges with strong sports communication programs." -- Library Journal

"This volume would be a worthy addition both to academic and public libraries....One comes away from reading this volume with a more complete understanding of Southern culture." -- Tennessee Libraries

"Very readable and entertaining. . . . Library collections will want to add this volume for its insights into what southerners enjoy in their nonworking hours. Recommended." -- CHOICE

About the Author

Harvey H. Jackson III is Professor and Eminent Scholar in History at Jacksonville State University and is author, coauthor, or coeditor of nine books on various topics in southern history. Charles Reagan Wilson is Kelly Gene Cook Sr. Chair in History and Professor of Southern Studies at the University of Mississippi. He is coeditor, with William Ferris, of the original Encyclopedia of Southern Culture.