Description
Book SynopsisCelebrating Canadian athletes and sporting history.
The cultural impact of sport on a nation is not slight. Famous for a Time explores a number of important, if not well remembered, Canadian athletes and the sports they played to help explain the nation's complicated history, sporting and otherwise. It is an exploration that reveals the socio-cultural trends that have shaped Canada since Confederation.
Through the prism of some exceptional athletes, the prevailing attitudes of many Canadians about class, race, masculinity, femininity, and national identity are laid bare. Here, from the sidelines, we learn how these attitudes have changed or not, as the case may be over time.
From team sports such as lacrosse, baseball, and cricket to Canada's cycling craze, track and field, and boxing, each chapter offers insight into an important aspect of the nation's narrative. The winners and losers of Canada's games simply mirror the larger
Trade Review
Wilson and Reid make clear that fame is fickle, and hero-making is a messy business. If it feels like the older stories do more of the heavy lifting in our nation-building, it is probably also good to remember that hero-making continues…and so does the shaping of our national image. * CBC Sports *
