Background
Pope, Steven Wayne was born on January 22, 1962 in Grand Rapids, Michigan, United States. Son of James Lewis Pope and Loretta Thompson.
( Choice “Outstanding Academic Book” (1998) “Nationa...)
Choice “Outstanding Academic Book” (1998) “Nationalism and amateurism. While countless scholars have written on one or the other of these two important concepts, S.W. Pope has undertaken to explore the relationship between them. His subtle analysis on this relationship is but one of many highlights in this wonderfully insightful and multi-faceted book.” -Allen Guttmann, Amherst College “Pope has done a masterful job of combining his reading from secondary sources with his own original research to give us a definitive account of the time when sports and national identity came to be connected. The clarity and specificity of language made this book a pleasure to read. Those in the development of American sports should read this book, as should anyone curious about how the rhetoric of nationalism became dependent upon its connection to the rhetoric of athletics.” -The International Journal of the History of Sport “The strength of the text lies in the rich contextual detail that Pope has assembled to illustrate the fusion of national ideology and sport in the American context. This is especially the case when he draws upon the primary sources . . . The result is a series of carefully rendered studies tracing ideological contestation in various spheres of sporting discourse.” -International Review of the Sociology of Sport “Patriotic Games is gracefully written and explores more fully and satisfactorily than any previous book the relationship between nationalism and American sports in the years between the American centennial in 1876 and the sesquicentennial in 1926.”-Journal of American History “The documentation of sources is exceptionally well done and exhaustively detailed. This thoroughly readable work is highly recommended for upper-division undergraduates through faculty collections.” -Choice “Patriotic Games challenges sport historians to look more closely at the ways in which sports rhetoric weaves national, social, and personal agendas into tightly knit fabric. In so doing, it offers a provocative perspective on the ideological function of sports that will help to advance this growin area of sports scholarship.”-Journal of Sport History
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1572334983/?tag=2022091-20
(In Patriotic Games, historian Stephen Pope explores the w...)
In Patriotic Games, historian Stephen Pope explores the ways sport was transformed from a mere amusement into a metaphor for American life. Between the 1890s and the 1920s, sport became the most pervasive popular cultural activity in American society. During these years, basketball was invented, football became a mass spectator event, and baseball soared to its status as the "national pasttime." Pope demonstrates how America's sporting tradition emerged from a society fractured along class, race, ethnic, and gender lines. Institutionalized sport became a trans- class mechanism for packaging power and society in preferred ways--it popularized an interlocking set of cultural ideas about America's quest for national greatness. Nowhere was this more evident than the intimate connection established between sport and national holiday celebrations. As Pope reveals, Thanksgiving sports influenced the holiday's evolution from a religious occasion to a secular one. On the Fourth of July, sporting events infused patriotic rituals with sentiments that emphasized class conciliation and ethnic assimilation. In a time of social tensions, economic downturns, and unprecedented immigration, the rituals and enthusiasms of sport, Pope argues, became a central component in the shaping of America's national identity.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0195091337/?tag=2022091-20
editor author history educator
Pope, Steven Wayne was born on January 22, 1962 in Grand Rapids, Michigan, United States. Son of James Lewis Pope and Loretta Thompson.
Bachelor in History, Hope College, 1984. Master of Arts in History, University Connecticut, 1988. Doctor of Philosophy in History, University Maine, 1993.
Research fellow University Maine, Orono, 1988-1989, teaching assistant, 1989-1992, adjunct assistant professor, 1995-1996. Lecturer University South Maine, Portland, 1992-1995. Program scholar Maine Humanities Council, 1995-1997.
Acquisitions editor Human Kinetics Public, Champaign, Illinois, 1997-1999. Assistant professor University Tennessee, Knoxville, since 2000. Editor film, media, museum reviews Journal Sport History, 1996-2000.
(In Patriotic Games, historian Stephen Pope explores the w...)
( Choice “Outstanding Academic Book” (1998) “Nationa...)
Faculty advisor Green Party Student Organization, University Tennessee, since 2000. Member North America Society Sport History (chairman publications board 1998-2001), Phi Alpha Theta.
Married Cathleen D. Pope, June 27, 1987.