| Book Review | The American Historical Review, 111.2

You have not been recognized as a subscriber to the AHR online. About 283 words from this article are provided below; about 606 words remain.

If you are a individual member of the American Historical Association, you may:: • login here if you have already registered for online access.; • Or if you're already logged in register your subscription.
• Set up your online account for the first time. AHA members can go to the AHA individual membership section to locate their member numbers.
If you are not a member of the American Historical Association, you can:: • Join the AHA and receive many member benefits including print and electronic issues of the American Historical Review.
• Purchase a research pass to gain two hour access to the entire History Cooperative web site. You will have full access to current issues of the American Historical Review (104.3-present). Note: the Research Pass does not provide access to JSTOR's holdings of the American Historical Review.
Instititutions can:: • Subscribe to this journal and receive print and electronic issues.
• Activate your existing subscription so that we recognize your IP number ranges.

| Book Review | The American Historical Review, 111.2 | The History Cooperative

Book Review

Comparative/World

Patrick F. McDevitt. May the Best Man Win: Sport, Masculinity, and Nationalism in Great Britain and the Empire, 1880–1935. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. 2004. Pp. ix, 179. $55.00.
Sport was arguably one of the most important cultural exports of the British Empire. Moreover, it was and remains one of the most potent indicators of masculinity. Patrick F. McDevitt's short but thought-provoking and insightful book seeks to explore the intersection of sport, empire, and masculinity over the course of five distinct case studies covering the Irish Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA), polo in India, boxing at the turn of the twentieth century, the "Bodyline" cricket affair in Australia, and Anglo-West Indian cricket.	1
Historians of the British Empire and of masculinity have tended to shy away from the study of sport—for example, it barely rates a mention in the multivolume Oxford History of the British Empire (2001)—so McDevitt is to be congratulated on tackling themes that have, with few exceptions, not been investigated with the vigor one might have expected. What is more, he weaves the threads of empire and masculinity through the text with a sure-handed authority.	2
Perhaps the most innovative part of the book is the chapter dealing with the relationship between the British colonial elite and Indian princes as expressed through polo. Exploring many of the themes dealt with in David Cannadine's Ornamentalism (2001), which also inexplicably does not mention sport, McDevitt traces the convergent uses to which polo was put both by the princes and the British and details the ways in which it allowed the British to define, and to differentiate between, the "effeminate" and the "manly" sections of Indian society.	. . .

There are about 606 more words in this article. Please log in (or, if you are not yet an authorized user, please go to the User Setup page) to gain full access rights. Or if you're already logged in register your subscription.