Pigskin Nation: How the NFL Remade American Politics
Jesse Berrett
(Author)
21,000+ Reviews
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Description
Cast as the ultimate hardhats, football players of the 1960s seemed to personify a crewcut traditional manhood that channeled the Puritan work ethic. Yet, despite a social upheaval against such virtues, the National Football League won over all of America--and became a cultural force that recast politics in its own smashmouth image. Jesse Berrett explores pro football's new place in the zeitgeist of the 1960s and 1970s. The NFL's brilliant harnessing of the sports-media complex, combined with a nimble curation of its official line, brought different visions of the same game to both Main Street and the ivory tower. Politicians, meanwhile, spouted gridiron jargon as their handlers co-opted the NFL's gift for spectacle and mythmaking to shape a potent new politics that in essence became pro football. Governing, entertainment, news, elections, celebrity--all put aside old loyalties to pursue the mass audience captured by the NFL's alchemy of presentation, television, and high-stepping style. An invigorating appraisal of a dynamic era, Pigskin Nation reveals how pro football created the template for a future that became our present.
Product Details
Price
$150.00
Publisher
University of Illinois Press
Publish Date
April 11, 2018
Pages
304
Dimensions
6.1 X 1.0 X 9.2 inches | 1.05 pounds
Language
English
Type
Hardcover
EAN/UPC
9780252041709
BISAC Categories:
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Become an affiliateAbout the Author
Jesse Berrett earned a PhD in History at the University of California, Berkeley. He has worked as a rock critic, television columnist, and book reviewer. He teaches history at University High School in San Francisco.
Reviews
"A superb cultural history."--Publisher's Weekly
"Jesse Berrett's Pigskin Nation is an insightful account of how professional football intersected with politics between 1966 and 1974, and how the sport "became both a metaphor for American achievement and an effective means of reaching voters."" --Journal of American History
"Pigskin Nation makes an important contribution and should find a welcome home in sport history courses and among general readers interested in how pro football became a commonplace part of political culture." --Sport History Review
"The book is extensively researched throughout, and Berrett includes copious notes, which will prove helpful for sports historians and general readers alike. Recommended." --Choice
"Pigskin Nation: How the NFL Remade American Politics offers much to chroniclers of the relationship between popular culture and politics. . . . In its all-encompassing depiction of the decades-long relationship between American football and American politics that can, in turn, provide a more productive way to consider the political realities and ramifications of football in the twenty-first century." --Journal of American Culture
"Accessible, well-researched, and insightful, Pigskin Nation is a compelling book." --Journal of Sport History
"Jesse Berrett's Pigskin Nation is an insightful account of how professional football intersected with politics between 1966 and 1974, and how the sport "became both a metaphor for American achievement and an effective means of reaching voters."" --Journal of American History
"Pigskin Nation makes an important contribution and should find a welcome home in sport history courses and among general readers interested in how pro football became a commonplace part of political culture." --Sport History Review
"The book is extensively researched throughout, and Berrett includes copious notes, which will prove helpful for sports historians and general readers alike. Recommended." --Choice
"Pigskin Nation: How the NFL Remade American Politics offers much to chroniclers of the relationship between popular culture and politics. . . . In its all-encompassing depiction of the decades-long relationship between American football and American politics that can, in turn, provide a more productive way to consider the political realities and ramifications of football in the twenty-first century." --Journal of American Culture