Famous for a Time
Forgotten Giants of Canadian Sport
Celebrating Canadian athletes and sporting history.
explores a number of important, if not well remembered, Canadian athletes and the sports they played to help explain the nation’s complicated history, sporting and otherwise. It is an exploration that reveals the socio-cultural trends that have shaped Canada since Confederation.
Through the prism of some exceptional athletes, the prevailing attitudes of many Canadians about class, race, masculinity, femininity, and national identity are laid bare. Here, from the sidelines, we learn how these attitudes have changed — or not, as the case may be — over time.
From team sports such as lacrosse, baseball, and cricket to Canada’s cycling craze, track and field, and boxing, each chapter offers insight into an important aspect of the nation’s narrative. The winners and losers of Canada’s games simply mirror the larger questions that have faced Canadian society across three centuries.
Jason Wilson is a bestselling Canadian historian and a two-time Juno Award nominated musician. An adjunct professor of history at the University of Guelph, Dr. Wilson has six books to his name and resides in Stouffville, Ontario.
Richard M. Reid is a professor emeritus at the University of Guelph. He is the author of several books including the C.P. Stacy Award–winning African Canadians in Union Blue. He resides in Guelph, Ontario.
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