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The Tour de France: A Cultural History, by Christopher S. Thompson
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In this highly original history of the world’s most famous bicycle race, Christopher S. Thompson, mining previously neglected sources and writing with infectious enthusiasm for his subject, tells the compelling story of the Tour de France from its creation in 1903 to the present. Weaving the words of racers, politicians, Tour organizers, and a host of other commentators together with a wide-ranging analysis of the culture surrounding the event—including posters, songs, novels, films, and media coverage—Thompson links the history of the Tour to key moments and themes in French history. He argues persuasively that this hugely popular sporting event has been instrumental in French attempts to grapple with the great challenges they have confronted during their tumultuous twentieth century—from World Wars, political divisions, and class conflict to economic modernization, women’s emancipation, and threats to public health. Examining the enduring popularity of Tour racers, Thompson explores how their public images have changed over the past century. He concludes with a discussion of the longstanding practice of doping and considers the complex case of the seven-time champion Lance Armstrong.
- Sales Rank: #2214143 in Books
- Published on: 2006-07-17
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 1.24" h x 6.36" w x 9.08" l, 1.10 pounds
- Binding: Hardcover
- 398 pages
Review
"Shows that sport has been for us moderns the ultimate tabula rasa into which we pour our hopes, fears, prejudices and self-interest." - Robert A. Nye, author of Crime, Madness, & Politics in Modern France and Masculinity and Male Codes of Honor in Modern France "A major new interpretation of France's most famous sporting event. For the first time the Tour de France has been fully and carefully placed within the wider context of French history." - Richard Holt, author of Sport and Society in Modern France and Sport and the British"
From the Inside Flap
"Shows that sport has been for us moderns the ultimate tabula rasa into which we pour our hopes, fears, prejudices and self-interest."—Robert A. Nye, author of Crime, Madness, & Politics in Modern France and Masculinity and Male Codes of Honor in Modern France
"A true gem of a book. A terrific scholar and an engaging writer."—Dean MacCannell, author of The Tourist and Empty Meeting Grounds
"A major new interpretation of France's most famous sporting event. For the first time the Tour de France has been fully and carefully placed within the wider context of French history."—Richard Holt, author of Sport and Society in Modern France and Sport and the British
"Chris Thompson has written an engaging, nicely-paced account of France's world-famous cycle race: his writing is lively and full of detail and excitement. But he has done much more than simply narrate the story of the Tour. His book sets the race—its history, its participants and its meaning—firmly in its shifting national and cultural contexts. The sections dealing with professional cycling as a form of labor and with the Tour's place in France's troubled twentieth century are absolutely first-rate: insightful and original. This is the best history of the Tour that we have and are likely to have for many years, a work of scholarship that deserves to find a broad general readership."—Tony Judt, author of Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945
About the Author
Christopher S. Thompson is Associate Professor of History at Ball State University.
Most helpful customer reviews
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful.
The Tour de France: A Cultural History.
By Bill McGann
In writing The Tour de France: A Cultural History, Christopher Thompson has done that very rare thing: he has increased our net knowledge of the Tour de France. This is extraordinary given that the Tour has been the subject of writers for over 100 years. Mountains of books have been written about the Tour.
This isn't a book devoted to who dropped whom on what climb. Thompson is fishing in deeper waters. Why is the Tour the way it is? How has it affected French culture and how did French culture affect the Tour? The answers to these questions are important to any cycling fan who wants to know why he has to get up early in the morning to watch a race that is taking place 9 time zones away.
Lance Armstrong voiced his anger that the Tour de France took place in France. Yet, the Tour could only have grown and matured in France. Britain, as a result of the industrial revolution, clustered its population in cities. This made it perfect for stadium sports but ill-suited for cycle road racing. France remained a rural country well into the twentieth century making it perfect for the traveling show that is the Tour. Also, the Tour encouraged and celebrated foreign winners while the Giro connived at denying foreign riders a fair shot at victory. Moreover, the Tour was founded by a strangely gifted man, Henri Desgrange, who guided the Tour from its infancy to sturdy maturity with an iron-fisted despotism. Thompson analyzes the changes to French society that made mass-spectator sport possible at the end of the nineteenth century and how Desgrange exploited them.
The Tour de France, being a cultural history, discusses at length the riders and their economic and social position in society and how it has changed over the years. There is also a very enlightening discussion of doping, a component of racing that cannot be ignored.
This is a wonderful book that will leave the reader with a deeper understanding of the Tour and France. Read this book. It is well written and exhaustively researched. Thompson's passion for bicycle racing and French history makes each page a pleasure.
There is a bonus. The cover photo of 1947 Tour winner Jean Robic being doused with water by a couple running alongside him has to be one of the greatest cycling pictures of all time. Their obvious joy juxtaposed alongside the struggling rider encapsulates the attraction of the Tour far more than any 1000 words could possibly hope to do.
-Bill McGann, Author of The Story of the Tour de France: How a Newspaper Promotion Became the Greatest Sporting Event in the World.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful.
Must-Read for True Tour de France Fans!
By Amazon Customer
I enjoy French culture and I'm a huge fan of the Tour de France so this book was a perfect read for me. It opened my eyes to the concept that major sporting events are an ingrained part of national culture and politics. For instance, who would have known that there's a connection between the Dreyfus affair and the Tour de France? Or that the French communists thought of the racers as their poster children?
The level of detail in the author's research was outstanding. And although the book seems to have been written primarily for an academic audience, it's not a difficult read at all.
I truly appreciated the section on "The Hero Dehumanized: The Bicycle Racer as Machine" as well as the latter portions on modern-day doping and use of technology. Because of the length of the races, the repetitive nature of riding a bike and the use of mechanized equipment, pro and amateur racers, in my opinion, sometimes take on the "persona" of a machine. That is such a shame because I'd much rather watch a fallible human have one stellar performance than a robot win over and over again. That's why my number one favorite moment in the modern Tour is Christophe Agnolutto's stage win in 2000.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful.
Why? Because nothing that lasts for over 100 years occurs in a vacuum
By Ronald E. Buchanan
and if you want to understand something as enduring as the Tour de France, you need to understand something about what it meant to the people who paid for, participated in and supported it.
A very good book (and a quite remarkable work of history for an author who seems to have spent a bit too much time in the halls of an English department.)
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