Sport in the USSR

Download or read book Sport in the USSR written by Mike O'Mahony and published by Reaktion Books. This book was released on 2006-06-15 with total page 228 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Sport played a vital role within the social and cultural life of the Soviet Union. The Soviet State sponsored countless programmes to promote sporting activities, and even constructed a new term, fizkultura, to describe sports culture. In Sport in the USSR, Mike O'Mahony asserts that the popular image of fizkultura was as dependent on presentation as it was on actual practice. Images of vigorous Soviet sportsmen and women were evoked in literature, film and popular songs, and adorned stamps and domestic objects, as well as badges and medals. Some major artists even forged their entire careers from representations of sport." "Sport in the USSR explores physical and visual culture from the early years of the Soviet Union to its collapse. It is a fascinating addition to the current debates in the fields of sociology, visual culture and Soviet history."--BOOK JACKET.