In a series of 12 original narratives, each focusing on a particular sport and the top female athletes who were the pioneering figures in their arena, "Nike Is a Goddess" captures the profound changes women's sports have undergone and pays tribute to the remarkable athletes who have led the way.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com Review
Both a gathering and a celebration, Nike brings together some of the best women writers on sports to chronicle, sport by sport, the struggles and the politics that permeate the arena, and the achievements of the achievers who've broken through to rise above. "The story of women in sports," writes former Stanford basketball star Mariah Burton Nelson in the introduction, "is a personal story, because nothing is more personal than a woman's bone, sinew, sweat and desire, and a political story, because nothing is more powerful than a woman's struggle to be free."
Sport by sport, the history of women in sports unfolds in sweeping, breezy narratives: Shelley Smith on basketball, Grace Lichtenstein on tennis, Malanie Hauser on golf, Amy Nutt on baseball, Karen Karbo on swimming, Kathleen McElroy on track and field--and the list goes on. And, of course, heroes emerge: Babe Didrikson Zaharias, Althea Gibson, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Gertrude Ederle, Billie Jean King, and scores of others who've slipped through memory's net and are finally rescued here.
Clearly assembled to inspire, Nike indeed does. But it also instructs. "This book shows what women can do when they work hard, when they team up, when they hurdle the barriers that are placed in front of them," writes Nelson. "It's about them, but it's also about us. By revealing their past, it points the way toward our future." And in Nike, so much of what's revealed borders on revelation. --Jeff Silverman
From Publishers Weekly
The pithy title promises a more powerful punch than is actually delivered in this collection of longwinded essays by women sportswriters on women's successes and struggles in 13 different sports. With the current wave of interest in female athletes this book is intended to provide comprehensive coverage of the topic: "Compared to the relentless daily barrage of information about male athletes, news about women's accomplishments is still strangely sketchy and distorted," writes Nelson. But most of the essays, in giving detailed historical overviews of the key figures and events in each sport, lack focus and read like chapters of a textbook, only not as well organized. The exceptions are Grace Lichtenstein's examination of great tennis rivalries, and Michelle Kaufman's eloquent analysis of figure skating. Beyond these, the interesting stories?such as Anita DeFrantz, the rower who led would-be Olympians in the fight against Jimmy Carter's 1980 boycott?are lost among endless anecdotes and dry statistics. If it's the facts you're after, skip to the back of the book, where a timeline from 776 B.C. to the present tells more about women in sports.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
long overdue!!,
By A Customer
This review is from: Nike Is a Goddess: The History of Women in Sports (Hardcover)
In "Nike" you will find amazing tales of female athletes past and present, and the obstacles they met and overcame along the way. Finally you can read about some of the great pioneers of women's sports, and those who are superstars today. A great gift for your girlfriend or wife (she'll think you are up-to-date on women's issues), boyfriend or husband(he can learn that women have contributed so much more to sports than the pom-pom on the sideline), son (he'll learn to respect girl athletes, and play with them), or daughter (she'll know she's not alone in her quest for athletic excellence)- they can all get something great out of this long overdue contribution to the history of women in sport.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A remarkable book about remarkable women !,
By A Customer
This review is from: Nike Is a Goddess: The History of Women in Sports (Hardcover)
A MUST for all young women of today -truly inspirational. A comprehensive and significant book.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Insightful. A must for any female athlete.,
By A Customer
This review is from: Nike Is a Goddess: The History of Women in Sports (Hardcover)
An amazing compilation and portrayal of some of the world's ground-breaking athletes.
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Inside This Book
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First Sentence:
Almost anyone can run or jump, but few can make a sport of it, and even fewer command attention because of the speed, height, or distance they achieve in such rudimentary skills. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
female hockey players, competitive rowing, triple axel, giant slalom, racing commission, women players, female players Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
United States, New York, Billie Jean, America's Cup, Los Angeles, Mary Lou, World War, Bloomer Girls, Little League, Soviet Union, Bobbie Rosenfeld, Hall of Fame, East German, Mia Hamm, North Carolina, Babe Didrikson, Hunt Cup, North America, Steffi Graf, Forest Hills, New Jersey, San Francisco, Sports Illustrated, Tennessee State, Women's Open New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Almost anyone can run or jump, but few can make a sport of it, and even fewer command attention because of the speed, height, or distance they achieve in such rudimentary skills. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
female hockey players, competitive rowing, triple axel, giant slalom, racing commission, women players, female players Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
United States, New York, Billie Jean, America's Cup, Los Angeles, Mary Lou, World War, Bloomer Girls, Little League, Soviet Union, Bobbie Rosenfeld, Hall of Fame, East German, Mia Hamm, North Carolina, Babe Didrikson, Hunt Cup, North America, Steffi Graf, Forest Hills, New Jersey, San Francisco, Sports Illustrated, Tennessee State, Women's Open New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 62
books:
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10
books
cite this book:
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- Women in Baseball by Gai Ingham Berlage on page 37, and Back Matter
- Track and Field by Dewayne J. Johnson on page 28, and Back Matter
- Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches (Crossing Press Feminist Series) by Geraldine Audre Lorde in Front Matter, and Back Matter
- Behind the Scenes Pb (Puffin Books) by "Early Times" in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
- Grand Slam: 2 by Robert Smith on page 67, and page 74
See all 62 books this book cites
- We Are Our Mothers' Daughters by Cokie Roberts in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
- Out in Public: Configurations of Women's Bodies in Nineteenth-Century America by Alison Piepmeier in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
- Wilma Rudolph (Sports Heroes & Legends) by Thomas Streissguth in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
- Go Girl! by Jenkins in Back Matter
- Sports Parenting Edge by Rick Wolff in Back Matter
See all 10 books citing this book
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