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    The Big Scrum: How Teddy Roosevelt Saved Football
    Unavailable
    The Big Scrum: How Teddy Roosevelt Saved Football
    Unavailable
    The Big Scrum: How Teddy Roosevelt Saved Football
    Ebook341 pages5 hours

    The Big Scrum: How Teddy Roosevelt Saved Football

    By John J. Miller

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    John J. Miller delivers the intriguing, never-before-told story of how Theodore Roosevelt saved American Football—a game that would become the nation’s most popular sport. Miller’s sweeping, novelistic retelling captures the violent, nearly lawless days of late 19th century football and the public outcry that would have ended the great game but for a crucial Presidential intervention. Teddy Roosevelt’s championing of football led to the creation of the NCAA, the innovation of the forward pass, a vital collaboration between Walter Camp, Charles W. Eliot, John Heisman and others, and, ultimately, the creation of a new American pastime. Perfect for readers of Douglas Brinkley’s Wilderness Warrior, Michael Lewis’s The Blind Side, and Conn and Hal Iggulden’s The Dangerous Book for Boys, Miller’s The Big Scrum reclaims from the shadows of obscurity a remarkable story of one defining moment in our nation’s history.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateApr 12, 2011
    ISBN9780062078995
    Unavailable
    The Big Scrum: How Teddy Roosevelt Saved Football
    Author

    John J. Miller

    John J. Miller is a journalist who writes for the National Review, The Wall Street Journal, and other publications. He is the author of several books of nonfiction, including The Unmaking of Americans: How Multiculturalism Has Undermined America’s Assimilation Ethic; Our Oldest Enemy: A History of America’s Disastrous Relationship with France; and A Gift of Freedom: How the John M. Olin Foundation Changed America. The First Assassin is his debut novel. A native of Detroit, he lives with his family in Prince William County, Virginia.

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    Reviews for The Big Scrum

    4/5

    14 ratings2 reviews

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    • 4/5
      For once I actually bothered to acquire this book on purpose rather than receiving it for free. Because of that, I'm doubly motivated to be honest about it.On the positive side, the book does cover a rather little-known period of history. We don't often give much thought to the early-early history of football and in traditional history classes the wars get all the coverage. The life of collegiate athletes during the early 1900s is vastly under appreciated. Our author also does a great job of pulling forth some interesting tidbits from the period and stitching them together. In a vast deviation from my usual habit, I'm keeping this book on the shelf to read again in a year or so. It's just that informative.On the negative side, the whole Roosevelt connection is a bit of a sham. Yes, he agreed with the idea of keeping football around but his role was tiny when compared with others of the time. His portrait is on this book just to sell copies of it. Admittedly, that's what got me to buy it but I did feel rather duped at the end. Further, the author does have some wonderfully history encapsulated in this book but it can get rather tedious. Events are not described in chronological order, are often repeated and sometimes just plain muddled. Organizationally this could use some work.In summary, a lot of really nice factoids here for the patient. A bit of a misrepresentation as titles go, but still well worth the read.
    • 4/5
      Review originally published on my blog: AWordsWorth.blogspot.comBeing the football nut I am, there was no way I could pass this one up. I haven't read much football history, and had no idea Teddy Roosevelt had anything to do with football - let alone saving it. Boy, did I learn a lot! John Miller did a wonderful job of blending fact and narrative - even though I was reading a lot of history and biography, it read like a story. Or possibly a collection of stories, since Roosevelt is not the only person spotlighted.The Big Scrum is a look at the beginning of football in America: the very beginnings of "'pick-up games" and the evolution into a bloody battle-esque game that raised eyebrows even as it attracted a growing fan-base. To understand football, you have to understand everything surrounding it's "birth" and evolution, and Miller introduces the ideologies and mindsets that helped football prosper. Movements such as "Muscular Christianity" and the growing realization that a healthy, active nation will become a powerful nation. I loved getting a glimpse of the way "athletics" infiltrated society - even appearing in popular literature. I also loved watching the development of a distinctly American game - football - out of the English traditions of soccer and rugby.In addition to the cultural and intellectual history presented, Miller also looks at the lives of key players in the development of American athletics, as well as football itself. While the primary focus is on Roosevelt: his life, his impact on society and nation, as well as his personal involvement with physical exertion and contests, particularly his love of football, other figures who are mentioned are examined more closely, to offer insight into their various positions on the issue. It adds a roundness, a completeness to the argument that my inner-historian appreciates. (My inner-historian also geeked out at Miller's use of a variety of sources, including a lot of primary sources that really added depth and merit to the study). And of course, I loved the story too, the way football grew, was attacked and almost did not survive, and then through masterful negotiations and much passion, it rose from the mud as that glorious past time I live for every fall.A wonderful nonfiction offering that reads as a pleasure book, with a ton of historical information presented in a manner that intrigues and excites rather than overwhelms. (Why didn't anybody tell me you could do history like this?) It's football history, yes, but a reader with an interest in Teddy Roosevelt or America in the Gilded and Progressive eras will also appreciate The Big Scrum.