Embodying the Revolution: The Hebrew Experience and the Globalization of Modern Sports in Interwar Palestine

By: Ofer Idels

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Synopsis: This original and thought-provoking study offers a fresh perspective on Zionism by exploring Hebrew culture’s ambivalent attitude toward modern sports. Drawing on extensive archival sources and contemporary literary theories, it focuses on Zionism’s surprising anxiety toward sports during the interwar heyday of “muscular Judaism,” revealing an unusual society in which athletes failed to attain national pride and distinction. Addressing themes such as the body, language, space, immigration, internationalism, amateurism, gender, and militarization, Embodying the Revolution presents an innovative reading of Jewish life in Mandate Palestine, linking the marginalization of sports to the meaning and experience of the Zionist Revolution. Idels' compelling interpretation of the appeal of sports, selfhood, and the compromises inherent in radical aspirations—narrated from the periphery of the interwar global rise of sports—challenges contemporary assumptions that dismiss ideology as an elitist myth.

Book Quality:: Publisher Quality
ISBN-13:: 9781978844452
Related ISBNs:: 9781978844469
Publisher:: Rutgers University Press
Date of Addition:: 10/14/25
Copyrighted By:: Ofer Idels
Adult content:: No
Language:: English
Has Image Descriptions:: No
Categories:: History, Nonfiction, Sports, Religion and Spirituality, Social Studies, Politics and Government, Sociology
Submitted By:: Bookshare Staff
Usage Restrictions:: This is a copyrighted book.