Sports in American History: From Colonization to Globalization Hardcover - 2008

Gerald R. Gems, PhD, is an international scholar and the author and editor of 8 books and more than 125 publications. He currently is a professor in health and physical education at North Central College in Naperville, Illinois. Gems serves on the Executive Council and Scientific Committee of the International Society for History of Physical Education and Sport and is a past president of the North American Society for Sport History. He has been the book review editor of the Journal of Sport History since 1996.

Dr. Gems was awarded the Fulbright Senior Specialist Award for 2007 to 2012 and was an Illinois Roads Scholar in history from 1999 to 2003. He earned his PhD in sport history at the University of Maryland.

Linda J. Borish, PhD, an associate professor of history at Western Michigan University, has focused her research on American women's sport and health history. Her research has been published in both national and international publications. She was selected in 2001-2002 as the International Ambassador for the North American Society for Sport History and also served on its Executive Council and Publications Board. She is executive producer and historian of the documentary film Jewish Women in American Sport: Settlement Houses to the Olympics and has received numerous research grants related to American women and sport history in rural and urban contexts. Borish was the book review coeditor on the Journal of Sport History from 1996 to 2000.

Dr. Borish earned her PhD in American studies from the University of Maryland. In addition to her role at Western Michigan, Borish is a research associate at the Hadassah-Brandeis Institute, Brandeis University.

Gertrud Pfister, PhD, is a professor at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark. She was president of the International Sport Sociology Society from 2001 to 2007. Pfister was also president of the International Society for the History of Sport and Physical Education from 1993 to 2000 and won the association's award for lifelong achievements in the area of sport history in 2005.

Dr. Pfister earned an honorary doctorate from Semmelweis University in Budapest. She is a fellow of the American Academy for Kinesiology and Physical Education and the European College for Sport Science.