Introduction : explaining Cold War sport / Robert Edelman and Christopher Young -- In the twilight warzone : overt and covert dimensions of the US sports offensive / Toby C. Rider -- No quarrel with them Vietcong : Muhammad Ali's Cold War / Elliott J. Gorn -- Breaking the ice : Alexei Kosygin and the secret background of the 1972 hockey summit series / James Hershberg -- Action in the era of stagnation : Leonid Brezhnev and the Soviet Olympic dream / Mikhail Prozumenshikov -- Soccer artistry and the secret police : Georgian football in the multiethnic Soviet empire / Erik R. Scott -- Russian fever pitch : global fandom, youth culture, and the public sphere in the late Soviet Union / Manfred Zeller -- "Eulogy to theft" : Berliner FC Dynamo (BFC), East German football, and the end of communism / Alan McDougall -- Sports, politics and "wild doping" in the East German sporting "miracle" / Mike Dennis -- "The most beautiful face of socialism" : Katarina Witt and the sexual politics of sport in the Cold War / Annette F. Timm -- Learning from the Soviet big brother : the early years of sport in the People's Republic of China / Amanda Shuman -- "The communist bandits have been repudiated" : Cold War-era sport in Taiwan / Andrew D. Morris -- New regional order : sport, Cold War culture, and the making of Southeast Asia / Simon Creak -- Negotiating colonial repression : African footballers in Salazar's Portugal / Todd Cleveland -- Deflected confrontations : Cold War baseball in the Caribbean / Rob Ruck -- Ambivalent solidarities : cultural diplomacy, women and South-South cooperation at the 1950s Pan-American Games / Brenda Elsey.
Summary:
"In the Cold War era, the confrontation between capitalism and communism played out not only in military, diplomatic, and political contexts, but also in the realm of culture--and perhaps nowhere more so than the cultural phenomenon of sports, where the symbolic capital of athletic endeavor held up a mirror to the global contest for the sympathies of citizens worldwide. The Whole World Was Watching examines Cold War rivalries through the lens of sporting activities and competitions across Europe, Asia, Africa, Latin America, and the U.S. The essays in this volume consider sport as a vital sphere for understanding the complex geopolitics and cultural politics of the time, not just in terms of commerce and celebrity, but also with respect to shifting notions of race, class, and gender. Including contributions from an international lineup of historians, this volume suggests that the analysis of sport provides a valuable lens for understanding both how individuals experienced the Cold War in their daily lives, and how sports culture in turn influenced politics and diplomatic relations."-- Provided by publisher.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.