Games People Played

If you're looking for a dry book about sports history, this book is not for you. Preferring a thematic as opposed to a chronological approach, sports historian Wray Vamplew covers everything from the variety of sports practiced in the pre-modern era, the effect of industrialization and urbanization on sports development and the advent of the sporting "mega event". Witty and thorough, Games People Played pays homage not just to the big names but to the also-rans and the fourth-place finishers of history.