The culture and sport of skiing: from antiquity to World War II

List of Illustrations

Preface

Introduction

Chapter 1. Archeology and Myth

Bog Finds and Rock Art

Tales from the Sagas

Linguistics

Chapter 2. Skis for a Purpose

The Wooden-Board People of Asia

The Outlandish North, c. 500-1650

Defense and Competition, 1650-1826

Enlightened Europe Marvels at Skiing

Skiing in Isolation: Bloke

Chapter 3. The Norwegian Thrust

Old Skis in a Modernizing World

The Norwegian Case

Norwegian Skiing Spreads South

Sport for Health

Creating Nationalism: The Land of Eternal Snow

Chapter 4. Fridtjof Nansen

Across Greenland in 1888

Farthest North

Europe Catches Nansen Fever

Norwegians Abroad

Chapter 5. Creating the Skisport

Exhibitions

Manufacturing, Improving, and Distributing Equipment

Winter Stations: Comfort First

Chamonix-Mont Blanc

Wooing a Clientele, 1900-1914

The Mechanics of Tourism

Skisport Made Easy

Chapter 6. The English Play

The Elite and Their Clubs

Mountaineering and Ski Mountaineering

Inventing Downhill and Slalom

Chapter 7. The French Worry

The Health of the Nation

French Alpine Club in Charge

The Military's Show

Chapter 8. The Germans and Austrians Organize

The Military Takes Up Skiing

Instruction, Civil and Military

Earliest Alpine Ski Technicians: Zdarsky and Bilgeri

Club Skiing

Children on Skis

Spreading the Word

Growth of Skiing

Skiing in Eastern Europe

Chapter 9. The Ladies Ski

Wealth, Health, and Mores

On Corsets and Trousers

Entertainment or Competition?

Chapter 10. The Great War

Preparing for War

The Reality of Combat

Chapter 11. Uneasy Peace-Les Annees Folles

Concerns of the French

Swiss Efficiency

The New Woman on Skis

Chapter 12. The Winter Olympic Games of Chamonix, St. Moritz, Lake Placid

Holmenkollen and Nordiska Spelen

Controlling the Skisport

Confronting Problems: Amateurs, Alpine Skiing, and Norwegians

Lake Placid 1932

Chapter 13. Europeans Abroad in the East

China: No Converts Here

Japan Follows Europe's Lead

Rustic Ski Life in New Zealand

Australia: Above Worry Level

Recreating Murren in India

Chapter 14. Europeans Abroad in the Americas

U.S.A.

Gold Rush Skiers

Midwestern Immigrants: Beating the Record

New England College Men Catch On

Alpine Ski Fever

"Bend ze Kneez"

Mechanization for a New Clientele

The Lure of the West

Canada

Eastern Skiing Mechanizes

South America

Chapter 15. Skiing Under Siege

Mussolini Infiltrates Sports

Anti-Semitism in Austria and Germany

The "Crusade for the Ski" in France

Up-Ski Revolution

Nazi Politics and Nazi Olympics

Chapter 16. The Schneider Phenomenon

Inventing the Arlberg Technique

Schneider and Fanck: The Wonders of Skiing

Skimeister to the World

Political Disruptions on the Race Course

Anschluss

The American Connection

Chapter 17. The Russo-Finnish War

Before the War

Soviet Invasion

Epilogue

Notes

Bibliographic Note on Selected Archives

Index