20th Century Sports: Images of Greatness - Softcover

What makes Images of Greatness such a stunning volume is the drama and stories that spill from every one of its marvelous pictures. New, old, familiar, obscure, it doesn't matter--great sports photography is great sports photography, and the collection here is simply superb. Pre-1950, the wealth of images--Sugar Ray Robinson, Ted Williams, Ty Cobb, Red Grange, Bobby Jones, Jesse Owens, and hosts of less recognizable faces from other sports--almost glow in their stark, striking, black-and-white presentations.

From mid-century on, Images gets to cull from Sports Illustrated's comprehensive archive, and the pickings, in both color and black-and-white, are exquisite: Russell and Chamberlain battling for position, Beamon's jump, Laver's slam, Ali, Spitz, Affirmed and Alydar down the stretch, Nicklaus, Sampras, Montana, Mazeroski, Retton, Sosa, McGwire, Brandi Chastain. Images is organized by decade, each with a short essay for context, but words seem almost superfluous. The pictures are their own context, and their stories are perfectly self-contained. --Jeff Silverman

This volume aims to be a "family album" of sport over the last 100 years and succeeds in its mission. More than 300 photographs are laid out decade by decade, accompanied by a chronology and narrative to provide historical perspective. Meserole (The Ultimate Book of Sports Lists) provides a mix of familiar and arcane pictures featuring landmark events and figures from a variety of sports from baseball to bocce, football to soccer, boxing to wrestling, and the Olympics to tug of war. Among the stories that arise from these photos are the steady changes in fashions, technological improvements throughout the century, and the rise of women and African Americans to sporting prominence. This nicely chosen, attractively arranged collection of images is recommended for all libraries.
-John M. Maxymuk, Robeson Rutgers Univ. Lib., Camden, NJ
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.