The story of the "Miracle on Michigan Street"

This third volume in the history of Indiana University starts with the presidency of Herman B Wells, covers the many changes that occured as a result of World War II, and the presidency of Well's successor, Elvis J. Stahr, Jr. In 1968, when Wells was called back as interim president in 1986, Indiana University stood at the crest of a century and a half of advancement--far exceeding the promise of the tiny frontier seminary of the 1820s.

The editors use the unique lens of the history of sports to examine ethnic experiences in North America since 1840. Comprised of 12 original essays and an Introduction, it chronicles sport as a social institution through which various ethnic and racial groups attempted to find the way to social and psychological acceptance and cultural integration. Included are chapters on Native Americans, Irish-Americans, German-Americans, Canadians, African-Americans, Italian-Americans, Hispanics, and several more, showing how their sports participation also provided these communities with some measure of social mobility, self-esteem, and a shared pride.

An international group of authors contributed eleven articles to this edition with an interdisciplinary approach. The authors belong to different scientific fields, such as general history and sport history, sport pedagogy, library sciences, and German and American studies. They all do research on turnen and sport in Germany and the United States.

Dealing with Indianapolis, this comprehensive work contains over 900,000 words, 22 interpretive essays and 1,600 entries on people, organizations, and events. It features a timeline that offers an overview of key events in the city's history, and is accompanied by illustrations and a statistical appendix.