Embodying the Revolution by Ofer Idels
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.
OFER IDELS is the Jenny Belzberg Postdoctoral Fellow at Calgary University, Canada. He is the author of Zionism: Emotions, Language and Experience.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781978844452 |
| ISBN 10 | 197884445X |
| Title | Embodying the Revolution |
| Author | Ofer Idels |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Rutgers University Press |
| Year published | 2025-10-14 |
| Number of pages | 168 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |