King Football

“Oriard captures the self-aggrandizing illogic of the game’s cultural role in his absorbing study of early 20th-century culture.”—New York Times

“This excellent book should be required reading on any American Studies course worth the name. . . . Oriard’s detailed and well-written work shows us how the game has been constructed through notions of national, gendered and ethnic—and, as he insists, also class—identities.”—Journal of American Studies

“A rich and comprehensive survey. . . . King Football is an important successor [to Reading Football], tracing the sport’s evolution in the media right up to 1960, at the doorstep of the television age. In a country where sports continue to be deeply ingrained in the national identity, this is a topic worth examining.”—ForeWord Reviews

“Oriard shows that the media were a powerful force in constructing the football culture we know today. He also shows how football culture reflects broader changes in U.S. society. . . . A book football enthusiasts will enjoy, this is recommended for all libraries.”—Library Journal

“In this unique, detailed book Oriard describes and analyzes the game of football from the 1920s through the 1950s. . . . Documentation of sources is exceptionally well done and painstakingly detailed. This book is highly recommended for general readership.”—CHOICE

“For the fan with a scholarly bent.”—USA Today

“When it comes to explaining why football—in partnership with complacent and compliant media—has become such a dominant cultural force in American society, Michael Oriard is unsurpassed. King Football only adds to his achievements as a historian, sociologist and writer.”—Sandy Padwe, Graduate School of Journalism, Columbia University

“Brilliantly and exhaustively researched, clear and well-written, Michael Oriard’s King Football both continues his previous work on the role of college sports in American culture and takes it to a new level. Among other accomplishments, he explains where all those images of coaches and players in our heads come from and, in so doing, demystifies them. King Football is a wonderful book, essential reading for anyone interested in this uniquely American phenomenon.”—Murray Sperber, author of Beer and Circus: How Big-Time College Sports Is Crippling Undergraduate Education

“This excellent book should be requried reading on any American Studies course worth the name.” — Andrew Blake, Journal of American Studies