The World Cup as World History uses football’s premier event to analyze modern sports and world history. William D. Bowman traces the history of a tournament that has become a global phenomenon that generates intense political, economic, and cultural interest and profound discussions about racial, ethnic, and gender identity in the contemporary era. By focusing on the World Cup, the book keeps a tight thematic focus that allows for an integrated discussion of the core issues of globalization, money and finance, sport as spectacle, race and gender, and contemporary politics.
William D. Bowman is the Johnson Distinguished Teaching Professor in the Humanities and professor of history at Gettysburg College. His books include Imperialism in the Modern World and Priest and Parish in Vienna, 1780 to 1880. At Gettysburg College, he teaches courses on modern European and world history as well as the history of sports.
AcknowledgmentsIntroduction1 The Origins of Modern Football and the First World CupKicking Games around the WorldThe Creation of Modern FootballFootball’s Spread to South AmericaFootball’s Spread to Africa and AsiaFootball in Canada, Australia, and South AfricaFootball in the United StatesThe First World Cup: Uruguay 1930Documents and Artifacts Related to the Origins and Development of FootballSuggestions for Further Reading and ResearchNotes2 The Politics of the World CupJules Rimet, Stanley Rous, and the First Several Decades of FIFAThe Havelange and Blatter Revolutions and the Further History of FIFAThe Politics of Individual World Cups: The 1930sThe World Cup in the Post-Second World War Era: 1945–1970s The Politics of Recent World CupsConclusionDocuments and Artifacts Related to the Politics of the World CupSuggestions for Further Reading and ResearchNotes3 The Economics of the World CupWorld Cup AttendanceThe Havelange Economic RevolutionBidding, Staging, Qualifying, and the World Cup DrawThe Television RevolutionAdvertisingPlayers’ Salaries and BonusesConclusionDocuments and Artifacts Related to the Economics of the World CupSuggestions for Further Reading and ResearchNotes4 The World Cup and Gender, Race, and EthnicityWomen, Gender, and FootballWomen and Football before the FIFA World CupWomen’s World Cup: 1991–PresentRace and Ethnic IdentityConclusionDocuments and Artifacts Related to Gender, Race, Ethnicity, and the World CupSuggestions for Further Reading and ResearchNotes5 Football as a Spectacle Arenas and CrowdsWorld Cup Stars as Sporting IconsWomen Icons of FootballConclusionDocuments and Artifacts Related to the Spectacle of the World CupSuggestions for Further Reading and ResearchNotesConclusionBibliographyIndex
A flexible, valuable tool for the classroom. It uses a famous event—the World Cup—as an entering wedge into the study of world history. It situates the evolution of the World Cup in the context of political, economic, and cultural globalization in ways that are accessible to students and useful to teachers.