From Library Journal
Highlighting cultural and social developments, this volume offers a sweeping history of the game. Fisher (history, Niagara Cty. Community Coll.) traces the emergence of modern lacrosse in both Canada and the United States, pointing out that the sport's early Mohawk roots precluded early mass popularity. However, its appeal during the close of the 19th century, at institutions like Johns Hopkins University, enabled lacrosse to strike a chord with elite young men. Then, in the first half of the ensuing century, the American version of the game spread throughout the Northeast. Through the 1960s, lacrosse's devotees still lauded its amateurism while contending that the players harkened back to "noble savages." By the 1970s, the "old Indian game" became part of popular culture in America and elsewhere, and organizers increasingly argued that lacrosse required greater professionalization and financial support. The proliferation of "middle-class lacrosse" threatened "the elite aura" that had long characterized the sport. Fisher presents his story competently, if methodically. Another history might have dwelled more on tales about the sport's brightest stars, including the legendary Jim Brown. Still, this is a useful volume about a sport that has not received much coverage. Recommended for public libraries. R.C. Cottrell, California State Univ., Chico
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
—Ronald A. Smith, Pennsylvania State University, author of Play-by-Play: Radio, Television, and Big-Time College Sport
"This is the most complete history of the sport of lacrosse to date."
