Sport and the British

Book excerpt: This is a lively and deeply researched history of British sport since 1800 - the first of its kind. It goes beyond a few great names and moments to explain how sport has changed, and what it has meant to ordinary people. Sport and the British shows how the way we play reflects not only our lives as citizens of a predominantly urban and industrialised world, but what is especially distinctive about British sport. Modern media coverage of sport, gambling, violence and attitudes towards it, nationalism, and the role of sport in sustaining male identity, are all examined in this account which combines entertaining anecdote with more serious historical understanding.