'Serious Sport' : Routledge : 9780714684512 : 0714684511 : 19 Feb 2004 : Trial-blazer and mentor, Professor J.A. Mangan is a distinguished scholar in the fields of sports history whose work has inspired a generation of historians and social scientists across the globe. His seminal book on athleticism and imperialism commanded attention and applause from a broad range of historians and social scientists across the globe. His seminal work on athleticism and imperialism commanded attention and applause from a broad range of historians. It opened new horizons of inquiry providing the field with a richly perceptive study of hegemony and patronage, of cultural assimilation and adaptation, and of the ways that power elites used sport for socialization, acculturation and social control. His later works continued to pose critical, sometimes controversial questions, providing new and provocative insights into the complex social issues involved in the development and diffusion of sporting activit