The American Dream and the National Game

Leverett T. Smith, Leverett T. Smith, Jr.

• Publisher: Popular Press 3
• Year: 2004
• Print ISBN:
  9780879728670
  9780879721121
• eBook ISBN:
  9780879728779

This engaging study examines sports as both a symbol of American culture and a formative force that shapes American values. Leverett T. Smith Jr. uses "high" culture, in the form of literature and criticism, to analyze the popular culture of baseball and professional football. He explores the history of baseball through three important events: the fixing of the 1919 World Series, the appointment of Judge Landis as commissioner of baseball with dictatorial powers, and the emergence of Babe Ruth as the "new" kind of ball player. He also looks at literary works dealing with leisure and sports, including those of Thoreau, Twain, Frost, Lardner, and Hemingway.  Finally he documents the emergence of professional football as the national game through the history and writings of former Green Bay Packers coach Vince Lombardi, who emerges as both a critic of the business-oriented society and a canny businessman and manager of men himself.

First paperback edition

Table of contents

• Table of Contents
• Introduction
• Chapter I. Johan Huizinga’s World of Work and Play
• Chapter II. How To Live In It
• Chapter III. Professional Sports: The Case of Ring Lardner
• Chapter IV. Professional Baseball: The Black Sox, Judge Landis, Babe Ruth
• Chapter V. Vince Lombardi’s World
• Chapter Notes
• Index