Pedestrianism: When Watching People Walk Was America's Favorite Spectator Sport

I’m going to be honest. I didn’t get this book (for free through Goodreads First Reads) because I had an extreme interest in pedestrianism – I’m not really a sports person. I got this book because I wanted to know how athletes could walk for six straight days with no breaks (spoiler: they don’t). Despite that terrible reason for starting a book, Pedestrianism blew me away.

Unlike many nonfiction books you read, Pedestrianism is easy to read but doesn’t talk down to you. Matthew Algeo brings the athletes alive, and you would not believe how interesting pedestrianism is. Moreover, the book covers so much more than *just* pedestrianism, taking you through the world at the time (that time being 1870s-early 1900s). You learn not show more just about pedestrianism, but about the creation of other sports: boxing, cycling, and baseball. Algeo also takes you through the British/American pedestrianism rivalry, and the big names in pedestrianism. Dan O’Leary, Edward Weston, Frank Hart (my personal favorite), and Charles Rowell (You will know these names once you’ve read the book and believe you me, you will have a favorite).

I have to commend this book for making sports interesting, and recommend to everyone, regardless of their level of sport interest (which again, I have none). Watching bedraggled men and women walk in circles for six days might not sound interesting, but reading about it sure is! (Which should be the subtitle of the book) show less