The place of football in the colonial and post-colonial past is explored and both British and Portuguese influences on the development of the game are considered. Contemporary issues such as the impact of the professional league in India and the role of UK Asians in the organization of the Indian game are considered. Future scenarios are explored and models for progression and problems facing the sport in south Asia are outlined.

This book offers a new history of drug use in sport. It argues that the idea of taking drugs to enhance performance has not always been the crisis or ‘evil’ we now think it is. Instead, the late nineteenth century was a time of some experimentation and innovation largely unhindered by talk of cheating or health risks. By the interwar period, experiments had been modernised in the new laboratories of exercise physiologists. Still there was very little sense that this was contrary to the eth...

Why is doping a perennial problem for sport? Is this solely a contemporary phenomenon? And should doping always be regarded as cheating, or do today’s anti-doping measures go too far?Drawing on case studies from the early twentieth century to the present day, Doping: A Sporting History explores why the current anti-doping system looks as it does, charting its origins to the founding of the modern Olympic Games. From interwar notions of sporting purity to the post-war stimul...

The surprising truth about what it takes to be healthy In The Cure for Everything! health-law expert Timothy Caulfield exposes the special interests that twist good science about health and fitness in order to sell us services and products that mostly don’t work. Want great abs? You won’t get them by using the latest Ab-Flex-Spinner-Thingy. Are you trying to lose ten pounds? Diet books are a waste of trees. Do you rely on health-care practitioners—either mainstream or alternative—to provid...

An overview of the nation’s politics, economics, culture, society, and sports by an author whose work “has been an illuminating introduction to India” (Joseph Heller, author of Catch-22).In recent years, the country of India has evolved from a poverty-stricken sleeping giant into a world leader in science and technology that now boasts a middle class of over 300 million people—almost as large as the entire population of the United States.Here, Shas...

In this book, a geneticist who studies identical twins "treats the view that genes are destiny with skepticism" ( The New York Times).How much are the things you choose to do every day determined by your genes and how much is your own free will? Drawing on his own cutting-edge research of identical twins, leading geneticist Tim Spector shows us how the same upbringing, the same environment, and even the same exact genes can lead to very different outcomes....

Drugs in sport are big news and the use of performance-enhancing drugs in sport is common. Here, Chris Cooper, a top biochemist at the University of Essex, looks at the science behind drugs in sport. Using the performance of top athletes, Cooper begins by outlining the limits of human performance. Showing the basic problems of human biochemistry, physiology, and anatomy, he looks at what stops us running faster, throwing longer, or jumping higher. Using these evidence-basedarguments he sho...

Regarded as the Father of the Nation in India and globally as the most successful exponent of nonviolent civil disobedience, Mahatma Gandhi is known as a symbol of wisdom and compassion. Former High Court Justice Michael Kirby, himself a tireless advocate for non-discrimination and human rights, here shows the applicability of Gandhi's views on some of the world's most pressing current issues: women's rights, climate change, animal rights and sex and sexuality.Adapted from Kirby's ...

What can Roger Federer teach us about the secret of longevity?What do the All Blacks have in common with improvised jazz musicians?What can cognitive neuroscientists tell us about what happens to the brains of sportspeople when they perform?And why did Johan Cruyff believe that beauty was more important than winning?Matthew Syed, the 'Sports Journalist of the Year 2016', answers these questions and more in a fascinating, wide-ranging and provoc...

In a world where the quest for eternal youth seems unattainable, David Stipp offers a captivating exploration into the scientific battle against aging.Even before the first person set off to find the Fountain of Youth, we were searching for a way to live longer. But promises of life extension have long reeked of snake oil, and despite our wishful thinking—not to mention the number of vitamins we pop—few of us believe we’ll live to see one hundred, much less set a l...

I call myself a Nehruvian Indian [and] I like to think that the term "Nehruvian Indian" captures more than my own c.v.', says Ramachandra Guha in his Introduction to this sparkling collection of essays. His book is a meditation on how a large area of contemporary India's cultural and intellectual life has in fact been fashioned by exceptional individuals who have, in diverse ways, imbibed the spirit of liberalism, secularism, personal integrity and social commitment—values which Guha assoc...

This book examines Gandhi as the creator of a radical style of politics. It argues that whereas politicians garner support by demonising those they oppose, Gandhi resisted such a politics. He asserted that there are always grounds for a fruitful dialogue between opponents. How did Gandhi create this new form of politics? Hardiman shows its basis within Gandhis larger vision of an alternative society based on respect, non-violence, and ecological harmony. His politics in turn constituted on...