Reading Football: How the Popular Press Created an American Spectacle

by Michael Oriard

Book Overview

Is football an athletic contest or a social event? Is it a game of skill, a test of manhood, or merely an organized brawl? Michael Oriard, a former professional player, asks these and other intriguing questions in Reading Football, the first contemporary book about football's formative years.

American football began in the 1870s as a game to be played, not watched. Within a brief ten years, it had become a great public spectacle with...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0807847518
• ISBN13: 9780807847510
• Release Date: August 1994
• Publisher: University of North Carolina Press
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 1.21 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.2" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Touchdown!

This book offers the reader an evaluation of the early years of football and the press' role in popularizing football for the American consumer. A must-read for anyone who loves football.