One of the more significant sociocultural changes within the last two centuries has been the rise of global networks of individuals who identify less with work than with play and who seek to alter the social spaces of rural landscapes to facilitate recreation. There have been many works on the ecological, imperial, and industrial implications of climbing, skiing, and surfing, but few studies frame outdoor play in the context of modernity or explore its cultural implications. Denning rectifies this situation with a sophisticated and readable history of European skiing. Grounded in English-, French-, and Germanic-language sources, as well as geographical, sociological, and literary theory, Skiing into Modernity traces the transmission of ski technology to Central Europe and its adaptation to steep slopes, as well as the rise of a recreation industry.
One aim of the book is to link the zealous rivalries among enthusiasts to landscape ideology. The distinctions between...