The American Dream and the National Game

This engaging study examines sports as both a symbol of American culture and a formative force that shapes American values. Leverett T. Smith Jr. uses "high" culture, in the form of literature and criticism, to analyze the popular culture of baseball and professional football. He explores the history of baseball through three important events: the fixing of the 1919 World Series, the appointment of Judge Landis as commissioner of baseball with dictatorial powers, and the emergence of Babe Ruth as the "new" kind of ball player. He also looks at literary works dealing with leisure and sports, including those of Thoreau, Twain, Frost, Lardner, and Hemingway.  Finally he documents the emergence of professional football as the national game through the history and writings of former Green Bay Packers coach Vince Lombardi, who emerges as both a critic of the business-oriented society and a canny businessman and manager of men himself.First paperback edition

The American dream and the national game

Politics & Social Sciences

Smith, Jr., Leverett T.

Social Sciences

Bowling Green University Popular Press

Popular Press 3

Michael Rumaker was a writing student at Black Mountain College during the final traumatic years of the college. From a blue-collar background, his personal poverty paralleled that of the school. Teachers like Charles Olson and Robert Creeley helped him to a good start in gritty published stories and longer fiction, and he later produced important chronicles of the American gay experience.

Michael Rumaker: Eroticizing The Nation: Black Mountain College Dossier #6

Literature & Fiction

Smith, Leverett T. Jr.

History & Criticism

Black Mountain College Museum & art

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Smith, Jr., Leverett T.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Smith, Jr., Leverett T.