Herbert J. Storing (Ed.), The Anti-Federalist; Writings by the Opponents of the Constitution, selected by Murray Dry from The Complete Anti-Federalist, University of Chicago Press, 1985, pp. 374, consisting of material originally written 1787-8.
W.S.Gilbert, The Savoy Operas Volume I with an Introduction by David Cecil and Notes on the Operas by Derek Hudson, pp.396 and Volume II with an Introduction by Bridget D’Oyly Carte, also with Notes on the Operas by Derek Hudson, pp. 423, Oxford University Press (World’s Classics), 1962. First produced 1875-96.
John Stuart Mill, Autobiography, in John Stuart Mill, Autobiography and Literary Essays, being Volume I of the Collected Works, edited by John M. Robson and Jack Stillinger, University of Toronto Press and Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1981, pp. 1-290 including alternative versions of the text. First published 1873.
Harold D. Lasswell, Psychopathology and Politics, A New Edition with Afterthoughts by the Author, Viking Press, New York, 1960, pp. 319. First published 1930.
Antonio Gramsci, The Modern Prince and other writings, translated by Louis Marks, International Publishers (New York), 1968, pp. 192. (Italian versions in Antonio Gramsci, Gli Intellettuali (pp. 282) and Note sul Machiavelli (pp. 475), both Editori Riuniti (Rome), 1971.
Giovanni Gentile, Origins and Doctrine of Fascism, with selections from other works, translated, edited and annotated by A. James Gregor, Transaction Publishers, fourth printing, 2007.
Thomas More, Utopia, first (Latin) edition Louvain, 1516. First English edition in a translation by Ralph Robinson, London, 1551. Included in Thomas More, Francis Bacon, Henry Neville, Three Early Modern Utopias, edited and introduced by Susan Bruce, Oxford World’s Classics, 1999, pp. 250.
.Niccolo Machiavelli, Il Principe (De Principatibus), edited by Brian Richardson, Manchester University Press, 1979, pp. 153. First published 1532; written around 1513.
Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince, translated and edited by Peter Bondanella and Mark Musa, Oxford University Press (World’s Classics), 1984, pp. 101.
.Sigmund Freud, Totem and Taboo, Some Points of Agreement between the Mental Lives of Savages and Neurotics, translated by James Strachey,Routledge, 1960, pp. 172. First published as Totem und Tabu, Hugo Heffer (Vienna, 1913).
William Wordsworth, Guide to the Lakes, Henry Froude, 1906, an “exact replica” with appendices of the 5th edition published by Spottiswoode in 1835, pp.203. First edition 1810.
Niccolo Machiavelli, Il Principe (De Principatibus), edited by Brian Richardson, Manchester University Press, 1979, pp. 153. First published 1532; written around 1513.
Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince, translated and edited by Peter Bondanella and Mark Musa, Oxford University Press (World’s Classics), 1984, pp. 101.
Kingsley Amis, Lucky Jim, Penguin Classics, 2000, pp.251. First published 1954
Grimm or What? Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, The Complete Grimm’s Fairy Tales, with an Introduction by Padraic Colum, Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1975, pp. 863.
Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, Selected Tales, Translated with an Introduction and notes by David Luke, Penguin Classics, 1982, pp. 422.
The Grimm Brothers’ Home Page: http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/grimm.html
The Boys’ Book of All Knowledge Winwood Reade, The Martyrdom of Man, Watts (Thinkers’ Library), 1932, pp.454. First published, 1872.
What is it about Lizzy? (Retrospective Reviews No. 1: Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice, 1813)
April 2005
Joseph Maguire
. Power and Global Sport, Zones of prestige, emulation and resistance, Routledge, 2005, pp. 198. ISBN 0 415 25280 6 (pb)
Power and Global Sport is a continuation of Maguire’s work-in-progress on sport, culture and globalisation. The author is acknowledged as a central figure in the field as in the cultural sociology of sport defined broadly. This particular book takes a slightly unusual form: although only Maguire’s name appears on the cover, most of the chapters are written with more junior co-authors. The story of NFL and NBA expansion into England is written in collaboration with Mark Falcous. Catherine Possamai is the collaborator on both Charlton’s departure from – and return to – the Valley and an account of the clash between global and local conceptions of Rugby League. There are collaborations with David Stead on migrant cricketers, Jason Tuck on Irish Rugby and Mike Burrows on English attitudes to Germany as expressed around Anglo-German football matches. The fourth and final section on “Sporting Futures” is entirely by Maguire and consists of an essay on the politics surrounding the allocation of the Beijing Olympics and a broad consideration of the “sports-industrial complex”.
I remain generally sceptical and ambivalent about the genre of social theory as applied to sport – as opposed to the narratives and ethical evaluations which are contained and often obfuscated within it. Much of it seems subject to Moliere’s satirical comment on the virtus dormitiva, the implication being that there is a confusion between explanation or “theory” and an evaluative renaming. For instance, in order to account for the Charlton supporters’ determination to return to the Valley, Maguire and Possamai invoke the concepts of “topophilia” and heimat, suggesting a general totemistic response by football fans to their historic grounds. All very well and quite intuitively satisfactory to me since I am a Turf Moor topophile. But the evidence actually suggests that most fans care much less about their grounds and have been happy to move to a new one; Middlesborough fans seem to have been particularly keen to see the back of Ayresome Park. So what we require here is a particular explanation of the Charlton phenomenon and some investigative research on what the Charlton board were up to – an issue which remains as a black hole in this essay.
Having said this, the particular form of social theory which dominates this book – “figurationalist” with some deference to Norbert Elias – always seems to me to win the award for “least silly” social theory. This is because it allows a flexible understanding of the relationship between social structures and individual free will and therefore allows the telling of important stories and the development of ethical arguments. And this is a good selection of stories around the theme of global forces and local reactions, though it’s often at it’s best when the story is allowed to prevail and the “theory” is not laboured too much.
By this criterion the worst part of the book is Part III which contains the essays on Irish Rugby and on Anglo-German football (specifically, England’s 5-1 win in Munich in 2001 and the ludicrous over-reaction of the English press, especially given that Germany went on to be runners-up in the competition). There is nothing in these essays that a reasonably informed reader (given that this is an academic work) would not already know, vital information is missing and the material is theorised very simplistically. The Irish essay ignores religion in favour of the bizarre claim that (p. 121) “(The) division in the island is perhaps most apparent in terms of language (those from the Republic having available a Gaelic language, whilst the majority Protestant North speak English)”. To see Anglo-Irish relations as “colonial” (as if they were essentially in the same category as Anglo-Zimbabwean relations) does not seem to me to be helpful and if you are going to talk about Irish Rugby you ought seriously to consider its ambivalent “West Brit” status which had Eamon De Valera as a closet fan who was unable to be seen at a match.
In similar vein, I find it very odd that anyone would seek to explain the over-reaction of the English press to the defeat of Germany in terms of an “inferiority complex”. The English imperial project seems to be going rather well in terms of language, culture and finance and it is the English who seem most at ease with, and the greatest beneficiaries of, globalisation rather than the Germans. Witness the totality and the ease with which London has seen off the rival claims of Frankfurt (much touted in the late 1980s) as a global financial centre. If you want a simplistic explanation of English attitudes to Germany, how about the observation that Germany is the largest country in the European Union which is the greatest threat to English independence since, well, Germany.
By contrast, I think Part IV is the strongest part of the book where Maguire a seul analyses the politics surrounding the Beijing Olympics and offers an ethical “humanist” critique of the cult of sporting performance and of man-as-machine. Here the theory is less of an encumberance and the temptations of simplified overviews are resisted.
This is not strictly an edited book, but has a structure of a dominant author with a range of co-authors. Even so, it is of very variable quality. Some of the parts will undoubtedly be useful and interesting to researchers and students; the whole is less praiseworthy.
