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Most Americans have gone from working fifty-five or more hours per week to working fewer than forty, although many Americans at the top rungs of the economic ladder continue to work long hours. Not only do more Americans have more time to devote to other activities, they are able to enjoy higher-quality leisure. New forms of leisure have given Americans more choices, better quality, and greater convenience. For instance, in addition to producing music themselves, they can now listen to the most talented musicians when and where they want. Television began as black and white on small screens; within fifty years, Americans had a cast of dozens of channels to choose from. They could also purchase favorite shows and movies to watch at their convenience. Even Americans with low incomes enjoyed television and other new forms of leisure.   This growth of leisure resulted from a combination of growing productivity, better health, and technology. American workers became more productive and chose to spend their improved productivity and higher wages by consuming more, taking more time off, and enjoying better working conditions. By century's end, relatively few Americans were engaged in arduous, dangerous, and stultifying occupations. The reign of tyranny on the shop floor, in retail shops, and in offices was mitigated; many Americans could even enjoy leisure activities during work hours.  Failure to consider the gains in leisure time and leisure consumption understates the gains in American living standards. With Century of the Leisured Masses, Surdam has comprehensively documented and examined the developments in this important marker of well-being throughout the past century.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50345969549585,"sku":"CIN0190211571G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51097199378705,"sku":"NIN9780190211578","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52403623264529,"sku":"NLS9780190211578","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0190211571.jpg?v=1750737798"},{"product_id":"rise-of-the-national-basketball-association-book-david-george-surdam-9780252078668","title":"The Rise of the National Basketball Association","description":"Today's National Basketball Association commands millions of spectators worldwide, and its many franchises are worth hundreds of millions of dollars. But the league wasn't always so successful or glamorous: in the 1940s and 1950s, the NBA and its predecessor, the Basketball Association of America, were scrambling to attract fans. Teams frequently played in dingy gymnasiums, players traveled as best they could, and their paychecks could bounce higher than a basketball. How did the NBA evolve from an obscure organization facing financial losses to a successful fledgling sports enterprise by 1960?  Drawing on information from numerous archives, newspaper and periodical articles, and Congressional hearings, The Rise of the National Basketball Association chronicles the league's growing pains from 1946 to 1961. David George Surdam describes how a handful of ambitious ice hockey arena owners created the league as a way to increase the use of their facilities, growing the organization by fits and starts. Rigorously analyzing financial data and league records, Surdam points to the innovations that helped the NBA thrive: regular experiments with rules changes to make the game more attractive to fans, and the emergence of televised sports coverage as a way of capturing a larger audience. Notably, the NBA integrated in 1950, opening the game to players who would dominate the game by the end of the 1950sdecade: Bill Russell, Elgin Baylor, Wilt Chamberlain, and Oscar Robertson. Long a game that players loved to play, basketball became a professional sport well supported by community leaders, business vendors, and an ever-growing number of fans.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50347309564177,"sku":"CIN0252078667G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0252078667.jpg?v=1767356555"},{"product_id":"wins-losses-and-empty-seats-book-david-george-surdam-9780803234826","title":"Wins, Losses, and Empty Seats","description":"Organized baseball has survived its share of difficult times, and never was the state of the game more imperiled than during the Great Depression. Or was it? Remarkably, during the economic upheavals of the Depression none of the sixteen Major League Baseball teams folded or moved. In this economist’s look at the sport as a business between 1929 and 1941, David George Surdam argues that although it was a very tough decade for baseball, the downturn didn’t happen immediately. The 1930 season, after the stock market crash, had record attendance. But by 1931 attendance began to fall rapidly, plummeting 40 percent by 1933. To adjust, teams reduced expenses by cutting coaches and hiring player-managers. While even the best players, such as Babe Ruth, were forced to take pay cuts, most players continued to earn the same pay in terms of purchasing power. Baseball remained a great way to make a living. Revenue sharing helped the teams in small markets but not necessarily at the expense of big-city teams. Off the field, owners devised innovative solutions to keep the game afloat, including the development of the Minor League farm system, night baseball, and the first radio broadcasts to diversify teams’ income sources. Using research from primary documents, Surdam analyzes how the economic structure and operations side of Major League Baseball during the Depression took a beating but managed to endure, albeit changed by the societal forces of its time.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":51007360762129,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51007364235537,"sku":"NIN9780803234826","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0803234821.jpg?v=1765619961"},{"product_id":"run-to-glory-and-profits-book-david-george-surdam-9780803246966","title":"Run to Glory and Profits","description":"tells the economic story of how in one decade the NFL transformed from having a modest following in the Northeast to surpassing baseball as this country's most popular sport.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":51007389401361,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51007392612625,"sku":"NIN9780803246966","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/080324696X.jpg?v=1774950884"},{"product_id":"business-ethics-from-antiquity-to-the-19th-century-book-david-george-surdam-9783030371678","title":"Business Ethics from Antiquity to the 19th Century","description":"This book combines elements of economic and business history to study business ethics from antiquity to the nineteenth century. This book begins with so-called primitive people, showing how humans began to exchange goods and commodities from trade as a way to keep peace and prosper. The ancients considered the value and ethics of business, and many of their reflections influenced medieval Catholic thinkers and business participants. Protestants elevated working and profit-making to the respectable and virtuous, and some groups, such as Quakers, came to exemplify good business ethics.  This book draws on the work of economists and historians to highlight the importance of changing technologies, religious beliefs, and cultural attitudes, showing that what is considered ethical differs across time and place.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":52454595625233,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52454595985681,"sku":"NLS9783030371678","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9783030371678.jpg?v=1759371640"},{"product_id":"business-ethics-from-the-19th-century-to-today-book-david-george-surdam-9783030371715","title":"Business Ethics from the 19th Century to Today","description":"This book combines elements of economic and business history to study business ethics from the nineteenth century to today. It concentrates on American and British business history, delving into issues such as slavery, industrialization, firm behavior and monopolies, and Ponzi schemes. This book draws on the work of economists and historians to highlight the importance of changing technologies, religious beliefs, and cultural attitudes, showing that what is considered ethical differs across time and place.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":52454614008081,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52454614302993,"sku":"NLS9783030371715","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9783030371715.jpg?v=1759371700"},{"product_id":"century-of-the-leisured-masses-book-david-george-surdam-9780190211561","title":"Century of the Leisured Masses","description":"American living standards improved considerably between 1900 and 2000. 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For instance, in addition to producing music themselves, they can now listen to the most talented musicians when and where they want. Television began as black and white on small screens; within fifty years, Americans had a cast of dozens of channels to choose from. They could also purchase favorite shows and movies to watch at their convenience. Even Americans with low incomes enjoyed television and other new forms of leisure.   This growth of leisure resulted from a combination of growing productivity, better health, and technology. American workers became more productive and chose to spend their improved productivity and higher wages by consuming more, taking more time off, and enjoying better working conditions. By century's end, relatively few Americans were engaged in arduous, dangerous, and stultifying occupations. The reign of tyranny on the shop floor, in retail shops, and in offices was mitigated; many Americans could even enjoy leisure activities during work hours.  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Using research from primary documents, Surdam analyzes how the economic structure and operations side of Major League Baseball during the Depression took a beating but managed to endure, albeit changed by the societal forces of its time. David George Surdam is an associate professor of economics at the University of Northern Iowa. He is the author of Run to Glory and Profits (Nebraska, 2013) and The Postwar Yankees: Baseball's Golden Age Revisited (Nebraska, 2008).","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":53186045837585,"sku":"NIN9780803271791","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9780803271791.jpg?v=1772374906"}],"url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/en-gb\/collections\/author-books-by-david-george-surdam.oembed","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}