Laurel and Thorn

To examine the social and cultural significance of the athlete hero in American literature, Robert J. Higgs turns to the works of Ring Lardner, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Thomas Wolfe, William Faulkner, Robert Penn Warren, Arthur Miller, and Tennessee Williams.Higgs views the athlete in literature not as an artistic creation but as one who reflects the tastes, attainments, beliefs, and...