Sports and Freedom: The Rise of Big-Time College Athletics

Perhaps more than any other two colleges, Harvard and Yale gave form to American intercollegiate athletics—a form that was inspired by the Oxford-Cambridge rivalry overseas, and that was imitated by colleges and universities throughout the United States. Focusing on the influence of these prestigious eastern institutions, this fascinating study traces the origins and development of intercollegiate athletics in America from the mid-nineteenth century to the early twentieth century. Smith beg...