"The Big Red Machine," an assemblyline of sober, unsmiling Olympic champions--this was the image that dominated Western thinking about Soviet sports. But for Soviet citizens the experience of watching sports in the USSR was always very different. Soviet spectators paid comparatively little attention to most Olympic sports. They flocked instead to the games they really wanted to watch, rooted for teams and heroes of their own choosing, and carried on with a rowdiness typical of sportsfans everywhere. The Communist state ...
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"The Big Red Machine," an assemblyline of sober, unsmiling Olympic champions--this was the image that dominated Western thinking about Soviet sports. But for Soviet citizens the experience of watching sports in the USSR was always very different. Soviet spectators paid comparatively little attention to most Olympic sports. They flocked instead to the games they really wanted to watch, rooted for teams and heroes of their own choosing, and carried on with a rowdiness typical of sportsfans everywhere. The Communist state sought to use sports and other forms of mass culture to instill values of discipline, order, health, and culture. The fans, however, just wanted to have fun. Official Soviet ideology was never able to control or comprehend the regressed and pleasure-seeking component not only of spectator sport but of all popular culture. In Serious Fun , Robert Edelman provides the first history of any aspect of Soviet sports, covering the most popular spectator attractions from 1917 up to the end of the Soviet Union in 1991. Edelman has used the highly candid sports press, memoirs, instruction books, team yearbooks, and press guides and supplmented them with Soviet television broadcasts and interviews with players, coaches, team officials, television bureaucrats, journalists, and fans to detail how spectator sport withstood the power of the state and became a sphere of life that allowed citizens to resist, deflect, and even modify the actions of the authorities. Focusing on the most popular sports of soccer, hockey, and basketball, Edelman discusses the dominant teams and the biggest stars: the international competitive successes as well as the many failures. He covers a variety of topics familiar to Western sports fans including professionalism, fan violence, corruption, political meddling, the sports press, television, and the effect of big money on competition. More than just a sports book, Serious Fun takes us deep into the social fabric of Soviet life. Edelman shows how the Big Red machine so visible in international competition was much like the giant steel mills and dams of which the Soviets boasted. These were the achievements of a state that put production above all else, but spectator sport was part of a long-suffering consumer sector that the industrial giant would never satisfy. This volume will bring a broader, richer understanding of Soviet life not only to students of popular culture and Russian history but to sports fans everywhere.
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Add this copy of Serious Fun: a History of Spectator Sports in the Ussr to cart. $3.19, very good condition, Sold by More Than Words rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Waltham, MA, UNITED STATES, published 1993 by Oxford University Press, USA.
Add this copy of Serious Fun: a History of Spectator Sports in the Ussr to cart. $4.56, good condition, Sold by Blue Vase Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Interlochen, MI, UNITED STATES, published 1993 by Oxford University Press, USA.
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Seller's Description:
The item shows wear from consistent use, but it remains in good condition and works perfectly. All pages and cover are intact (including the dust cover, if applicable). Spine may show signs of wear. Pages may include limited notes and highlighting. May NOT include discs, access code or other supplemental materials.
Add this copy of Serious Fun: a History of Spectator Sports in the Ussr to cart. $36.78, good condition, Sold by Bonita rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Newport Coast, CA, UNITED STATES, published 1993 by Oxford University Press.
Add this copy of Serious Fun: a History of Spectator Sports in the Ussr to cart. $51.00, very good condition, Sold by John C. Newland rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Cheltenham, Glos., UNITED KINGDOM, published 1993 by Oxford University Press Inc.
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Used-Very Good. VG hardback in VG dust jacket. Owner's name on front free end paper; binding tight; dust jacket a little faded, with trace of shelf-wear.
Add this copy of Serious Fun: a History of Spectator Sports in the U.S.S to cart. $53.84, very good condition, Sold by Pistil Books Online rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Seattle, WA, UNITED STATES, published 1993 by Oxford University Press.
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Near Fine in Fine jacket. Russia Book is in excellent condition. Binding is solid and square, covers have sharp corners, exterior shows no blemishes, text/interior is clean and free of marking of any kind. Dust jacket is as new, now wrapped in clear protective cover. Previous owner's name or sticker in front section of the book. 286 pages with some b&w photos and illus. Contents include: Socailism and spectator sports, Watching games before the revolution, Early rituals of stalinist sport, Soviet soccer's golden age, Birth of Soviet hockey, Impact of television, Soviet sports fans, Ways of watching: old and new, etc.
Add this copy of Serious Fun: a History of Spectator Sports in the Ussr to cart. $59.99, new condition, Sold by West Coast Bookseller rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Moorpark, CA, UNITED STATES, published 1993 by Oxford University Press.
Add this copy of Serious Fun: to cart. $61.08, very good condition, Sold by Anthony C. Hall rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Isleworth, MIDDX, UNITED KINGDOM, published 1993.
Add this copy of Serious Fun: a History of Spectator Sports in the Ussr to cart. $100.86, new condition, Sold by GridFreed rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from North Las Vegas, NV, UNITED STATES, published 1993 by Oxford University Press.
Add this copy of Serious Fun: a History of Spectator Sports in the Ussr to cart. $148.34, new condition, Sold by Bonita rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Newport Coast, CA, UNITED STATES, published 1993 by Oxford University Press.
