The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture: Volume 16: Sports and Recreation / Edition 1

by Harvey H. Jackson

Overview

What southerners do, where they go, and what they expect to accomplish in their spare time, their "leisure," reveals much about their cultural values, class and racial similarities and differences, and historical perspectives. This volume of The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture offers an authoritative and readable reference to the culture of sports and recreation in the American South, surveying the various activities in which southerners engage in their nonwork hours, as well as attitudes surrounding those activities.

Seventy-four thematic essays explore activities from the familiar (porch sitting and fairs) to the essential (football and stock car racing) to the unusual (pool checkers and a sport called "fireballing"). In seventy-seven topical entries, contributors profile major sites associated with recreational activities (such as Dollywood, drive-ins, and the Appalachian Trail) and prominent sports figures (including Althea Gibson, Michael Jordan, Mia Hamm, and Hank Aaron). Taken together, the entries provide an engaging look at the ways southerners relax, pass time, celebrate, let loose, and have fun.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780807871737
Publisher:	The University of North Carolina Press
Publication date:	01/15/2011
Series:	The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture , #16
Edition description:	1
Pages:	408
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.20(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Harvey H. Jackson III is Professor and Eminent Scholar in History at Jacksonville State University and is author, coauthor, or coeditor of nine books on various topics in southern history. Charles Reagan Wilson is Kelly Gene Cook Sr. Chair in History and Professor of Southern Studies at the University of Mississippi. He is coeditor, with William Ferris, of the original Encyclopedia of Southern Culture.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

Like its companions, this volume of The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture is a pure delight, with exhaustive coverage, a sense of humor, and a sharp eye for detail. From gardening to NASCAR, the South's favorite pastimes are all here, and as entertaining in print as they are in practice.—Harry Watson, director of the Center for the Study of the American South, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill



A dizzying testament to the vagaries and varieties of southern life, with a place for subjects as diverse as the passions of high school football, the ever-changing pageant of Latina quinceaneras, and the enduring ritual of 'passing the time' by talking about nothing and everything all at once. As with the other volumes, there is no way to summarize. You need to read it for yourself.—Pamela Grundy, author of Learning to Win: Sports, Education, and Social Change in Twentieth-Century North Carolina

Editorial Reviews

Recommended for all reference collections in the Southern region and for colleges with strong sports communication programs.—Library Journal

Very readable and entertaining. . . . Library collections will want to add this volume for its insights into what southerners enjoy in their nonworking hours. Recommended.—Choice

This volume would be a worthy addition both to academic and public libraries….One comes away from reading this volume with a more complete understanding of Southern culture.—Tennessee Libraries

An informative, awareness-raising volume that can be valuable as a textbook or as a personal resource.—Alabama Review

From the Publisher

The myth and the reality of the South in literature, environmental, and geographic landscape reflect the American story. In 1989, the Encyclopedia of Southern Culture (ESC) was released to widespread acclaim. The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture, sponsored by the Center for Study of Southern Culture at the University of Mississippi, builds on the 24 subjects of the original ESC with stand-alone volumes. The volume editors are respected figures with expertise and a network of scholars, and series editor Charles Reagan Wilson (director, Ctr. for the Study of Southern Culture) coedited, with William Ferris, the original ESC. Volume 15, Urbanization, is an authoritative reference to the rapid pace of change in the American South from the 18th century to the present. In 48 thematic essays, the urban South, immigration, white flight, and the global rise of CNN and FedEx show growth and population changes. Important issues such as gentrification and urban sprawl are addressed, as are 31 topical entries on individual cities, Mardi Gras, Dollywood, and more. This New South includes Hispanic workers, Asian and Middle Eastern religions, and dirty South hip-hop, far removed from the cotton field Southern plantation life. A fisherman holding a largemouth bass graces the cover of Volume 16, Sports & Recreation, which has 74 alphabetically organized thematic essays on the essential sports (college football, NASCAR, baseball) and recreations (Civil War reenactments, debutantes, golf, juke joints). Professional sports were slower to come to the South but led to modern mass-culture teams like the Atlanta Braves and Dallas Cowboys. Seventy-eight topical entries enhance the breadth of the volume. BOTTOM LINE The inexpensive paperback versions of these volumes fit most reference budgets. Recommended for all reference collections in the Southern region and for colleges with strong sports communication programs.—Laverne Mann, Piscataway P.L., NJ

Library Journal