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Figure Skating: A HIstory
Figure skating, unique in its sublimely beautiful combination of technical precision, musicality, and interpretive elements, has undergone many dramatic developments since the only other history of the sport was published in 1959. This exciting and information-packed new history describes skating's many technical and artistic advances, its important personages, its intrigues and scandals, and its historical high points. Abundant full-color and black-and-white photographs illustrate the text. James R. Mines divides his history into three periods separated by the World Wars. First, he follows functional and recreational ice skating through its evolution into national schools, culminating in the establishment of the International Skating Union and the ascendancy of an international style of skating. Second, he explains the changes that occurred as the sport expanded into the form we recognize and enjoy today. And finally, he shows how skating became increasingly athletic, imaginative, and intense following World War II, as the main focus turned to the skaters themselves.
472 pages, Paperback
First published January 19, 2006
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
March 29, 2008
OK, finally, there is a book that examines this great sport that isn't aimed at 12 year old girls, because that I ain't! No, it's not about Sacha's favorite color, or Surya's horse named "Peaches", it's about the deep and rich sport that continues to mysteriously inspire me (and seemingly noone else in my social network, argh!). The first skates were thought to have been made about 3000 years ago, from the leg bones of animals, in England and Scandinavia. They were largely used to aid in hunting. Sounds pretty different from what we know today... sequins, and 13-year old jumping beans.
It leaves no stone unturned... spotlighting amateur/pro, ice shows, competitions, great stars of all generations, controversies (yes, tonya harding!), the ebbing and waning of public interest (ie: death of "Ice Capades", the increase of interest in the mid-90s, the current re-working of the judging system, etc.), the death of compulsory figures, and so on.
It introduced me to many skaters who are just outside the public consciousness, beyond the flemings, hammills, and buttons... names like Gabriele Seyfert, Trixie Schuba, Sjoujke Djikstra (yes, largely unpronounceable names). Did you know that there is a good chance that synchronized skating may very well be added as an Olympic sport? Neither did I.
Check it out, it just may change your outlook on this pastime that so perfectly balances artistry and sport.
It leaves no stone unturned... spotlighting amateur/pro, ice shows, competitions, great stars of all generations, controversies (yes, tonya harding!), the ebbing and waning of public interest (ie: death of "Ice Capades", the increase of interest in the mid-90s, the current re-working of the judging system, etc.), the death of compulsory figures, and so on.
It introduced me to many skaters who are just outside the public consciousness, beyond the flemings, hammills, and buttons... names like Gabriele Seyfert, Trixie Schuba, Sjoujke Djikstra (yes, largely unpronounceable names). Did you know that there is a good chance that synchronized skating may very well be added as an Olympic sport? Neither did I.
Check it out, it just may change your outlook on this pastime that so perfectly balances artistry and sport.
April 19, 2023
This is a great look at the history of figure skating from the days humans first invented skates up to around 2002. It's a densely packed book, often not super deep but quite wide. It covers figures extensively, follows the development of all four main disciplines, and touches on many important skaters even if they aren't the most famous in the present. I also appreciated how the book includes coverage of less well-known areas of skating such as synchro, collegiate skating, adult skating, and the rise and fall of pro and pro-am competitions. There are a decent number of pictures and they are generally very nice - some of them aren't readily findable elsewhere. The appendix of world and Olympic champions is presented as a picture gallery, which was fun to look through.
I did find a couple of typos, but I think a couple of typos in 300 large pages is pretty acceptable. As another review noted, 'Axel Paulson jump' is used at every instance instead of 'axel', which is a bit annoying, but at least the jump didn't come up that frequently.
The writing style is generally dry, which I didn't mind, but at times the paragraphs became lists of years or medals or locations, which I ended up skimming. It may have made the book more useful as a reference twenty years ago when there was less info available online, but I think some of that could have been cut. In its place, I would have liked a little more explanation where the book vaguely called a particular skater or pair 'artistic' or 'innovative' without explaining what they had innovated or what their artistry encompassed, which it did for other skaters.
There were also more topics that I would have liked to have seen explored that would be in the scope of the book and that I don't think would have taken up much more room. Discussion of the development of figure skate technology evaporates after around the turn of the century, and most discussion about costumes disappears after women's skirts get shorter; I would have enjoyed more references to how these changed over the years. The discussion of the development of figure skating is almost entirely focused on Europe and North America; Japan suddenly appears with Midori Ito and mentions of earlier Japanese skaters, and there's no context given for how Japanese skating came to a place where Midori Ito could be coached to triple axel fame, or for how Chinese pairs came to challenge for medals. I wonder if this topic would have received more attention if the book were published today when many of the sport's biggest stars are Japanese and Korean.
Another topic that I thought might have been given page space if the book was more recent was the issue of gender performance and homophobia in skating. The book does talk about racism faced by black skaters, the rise of Asian skaters, and sexism that stymied the participation of women in the sport's early years, so I was surprised these topics didn't really come up. There's a passing reference to Scott Hamiltonmascing up skating by wearing costumes without girly ornamentation being 'concerned' about the image of figure skating and choosing to wear unadorned costumes, but that's about it. People who married the opposite sex and had children have their relationships mentioned; there are zero references to any skaters being gay. Ondrej Nepela and John Curry just happen to have death dates listed; no need to mention that the AIDS pandemic killed any figure skating stars, apparently.
One last thing that did not really impress me was the author's lauding of the ISU for trying to keep sports and politics separate to the point where they allowed Apartheid-era South Africa to stay in the ISU after they were kicked out of the IOC and only restricted them from competing when athletes from other nations protested by withdrawing from junior Worlds.
Overall, a great book if you're interested in the older history of the sport. It was really interesting, and I had to keep stopping to see if I could find videos of certain competitions or skaters who I hadn't heard of before.
I did find a couple of typos, but I think a couple of typos in 300 large pages is pretty acceptable. As another review noted, 'Axel Paulson jump' is used at every instance instead of 'axel', which is a bit annoying, but at least the jump didn't come up that frequently.
The writing style is generally dry, which I didn't mind, but at times the paragraphs became lists of years or medals or locations, which I ended up skimming. It may have made the book more useful as a reference twenty years ago when there was less info available online, but I think some of that could have been cut. In its place, I would have liked a little more explanation where the book vaguely called a particular skater or pair 'artistic' or 'innovative' without explaining what they had innovated or what their artistry encompassed, which it did for other skaters.
There were also more topics that I would have liked to have seen explored that would be in the scope of the book and that I don't think would have taken up much more room. Discussion of the development of figure skate technology evaporates after around the turn of the century, and most discussion about costumes disappears after women's skirts get shorter; I would have enjoyed more references to how these changed over the years. The discussion of the development of figure skating is almost entirely focused on Europe and North America; Japan suddenly appears with Midori Ito and mentions of earlier Japanese skaters, and there's no context given for how Japanese skating came to a place where Midori Ito could be coached to triple axel fame, or for how Chinese pairs came to challenge for medals. I wonder if this topic would have received more attention if the book were published today when many of the sport's biggest stars are Japanese and Korean.
Another topic that I thought might have been given page space if the book was more recent was the issue of gender performance and homophobia in skating. The book does talk about racism faced by black skaters, the rise of Asian skaters, and sexism that stymied the participation of women in the sport's early years, so I was surprised these topics didn't really come up. There's a passing reference to Scott Hamilton
One last thing that did not really impress me was the author's lauding of the ISU for trying to keep sports and politics separate to the point where they allowed Apartheid-era South Africa to stay in the ISU after they were kicked out of the IOC and only restricted them from competing when athletes from other nations protested by withdrawing from junior Worlds.
Overall, a great book if you're interested in the older history of the sport. It was really interesting, and I had to keep stopping to see if I could find videos of certain competitions or skaters who I hadn't heard of before.
March 8, 2023
Truly excellent!
May 11, 2023
An excellent, comprehensive study of figure skating, its many stars and the evolution of the sport.
Read
January 2, 2026bratz-maribel
May 29, 2019
Come dice il titolo stesso, Figure Skating. A History di James R. Hines è una storia del pattinaggio artistico. Quello che mi ha stupita, per prima cosa, è stato scoprire quanto sia lunga la storia del pattinaggio visto che le prime menzioni di quest’attività si possono trovare nella mitologia e che Ull, per qualche tempo a capo degli dei al posto di Odino, in un’occasione avrebbe usato i pattini. Non era pattinaggio artistico così come lo intendiamo noi ma semplicemente un modo per spostarsi su una superficie ghiacciata, ma i pattini hanno davvero una lunga storia.
(...)
E poi ci sono altre questioni non propriamente sportive ma fondamentali per lo sport, come la superficie su cui pattinare. Per secoli si è trattato di specchi d’acqua ghiacciati, quindi solo le persone di determinati Paesi potevano farlo. Se guardiamo le foto per tantissimo tempo si vedono sullo sfondo montagne o foreste, perché il pattinaggio si svolgeva all’aperto.
(...)
Quello su cui Hines è stato un po’ troppo rapido e semplicistico sono stati gli scandali di giudizio, ma un motivo alla base di questo probabilmente c’è. Questo libro è stato pubblicato anche grazie all’ISU, l’International Skating Union, e dubito che la sua direzione avrebbe accettato i commenti duri della Bianchetti Garbato, o anche quelli di Steve Milton nel suo Figure Skating’s Greatest Stars.
(...)
Il limite principale di questo libro, non solo per quanto riguarda i professionisti ma anche nei capitoli dedicati alle competizioni mondiali e olimpiche, è che è troppo sintetico. La parte principale del volume è questa, dedicata alle competizioni e agli atleti che hanno fatto la storia di questo sport. Hines però vuole citare tutti i medagliati, con la conseguenza che a volte si limita a un elenco di nomi e date, e non fa minimamente capire perché quel singolo atleta è stato importante. Certo, il pattinaggio si gioca sulle emozioni, sui movimenti combinati alla musica e su quanto viene costruito istante dopo istante. Tutte cose che sono difficili da mettere su carta.
(...)
Il testo completo: http://sportlandiamartina.wordpress.c...…
(...)
E poi ci sono altre questioni non propriamente sportive ma fondamentali per lo sport, come la superficie su cui pattinare. Per secoli si è trattato di specchi d’acqua ghiacciati, quindi solo le persone di determinati Paesi potevano farlo. Se guardiamo le foto per tantissimo tempo si vedono sullo sfondo montagne o foreste, perché il pattinaggio si svolgeva all’aperto.
(...)
Quello su cui Hines è stato un po’ troppo rapido e semplicistico sono stati gli scandali di giudizio, ma un motivo alla base di questo probabilmente c’è. Questo libro è stato pubblicato anche grazie all’ISU, l’International Skating Union, e dubito che la sua direzione avrebbe accettato i commenti duri della Bianchetti Garbato, o anche quelli di Steve Milton nel suo Figure Skating’s Greatest Stars.
(...)
Il limite principale di questo libro, non solo per quanto riguarda i professionisti ma anche nei capitoli dedicati alle competizioni mondiali e olimpiche, è che è troppo sintetico. La parte principale del volume è questa, dedicata alle competizioni e agli atleti che hanno fatto la storia di questo sport. Hines però vuole citare tutti i medagliati, con la conseguenza che a volte si limita a un elenco di nomi e date, e non fa minimamente capire perché quel singolo atleta è stato importante. Certo, il pattinaggio si gioca sulle emozioni, sui movimenti combinati alla musica e su quanto viene costruito istante dopo istante. Tutte cose che sono difficili da mettere su carta.
(...)
Il testo completo: http://sportlandiamartina.wordpress.c...…
February 5, 2010
Exhaustedly researched with tons of factual information, it's a great reference book with thorough info. Few errors exist through the book, and with any reference book, already outdated with the absence of IJS information.
Bonus to the author for including information about synchro, adult skating, figures and special figures. The information from the early years was informative.
To nitpick, I wasn't impressed that photos from the modern age were in black and white, and the continuous use of the phrase "double Axel Paulson" or "triple Axel Paulson" was irritating since the use was inconsistent since the author didn't do the same with the salchow and lutz. And the copy tended to drag at times.
Bonus to the author for including information about synchro, adult skating, figures and special figures. The information from the early years was informative.
To nitpick, I wasn't impressed that photos from the modern age were in black and white, and the continuous use of the phrase "double Axel Paulson" or "triple Axel Paulson" was irritating since the use was inconsistent since the author didn't do the same with the salchow and lutz. And the copy tended to drag at times.
March 17, 2011
A very good and interesting book!
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews