"Human beings cannot live by bread alone. They dream and they strive. Not merely for warmth do they take fire from the altar of the gods; curiosity is their glory and their pain. They climb mountains, cross uncharted seas, and explore outer space for reasons other than material benefit. They thrive on challenges. Seekers of laurel, they especially measure themselves in competition with fellow humans. Where there is no contest, they create one. From deep within, and from millennia past, comes the impulse for athletic competition. This book is about the history of competitive sports in the Western world--from ancient religious ritual and simple tribal contests to highly organized modern spectacles."--From the introduction

William J. Baker is a professor emeritus of history at the University of Maine. He is the author of Jesse Owens: An American Lifeand coeditor of Sports in Modern America, Sports and the Humanities, and Sport in Africa: Essays in Social History.