A Guide to the History of Physical Education

Schools, gymnasiums and competing teaching systems provide the framework for Fred Eugene Leonard's history of physical education. Drawing on years of research and visits to European institutions, he traces changing approaches to bodily training. The contents move from Greek and Roman practices through medieval education and Renaissance thought to the development of modern gymnastics. Accounts of individual educators sit alongside the schools, societies and methods associated with their work.

The section on Denmark examines the close ties between rifle clubs and folk high schools. Daily gymnastics appears within a wider culture of rural education, shared living, public support and national feeling. Leonard describes how Swedish methods gained ground alongside earlier practices. For readers studying education or the history of exercise, these institutional details show how training spread through communities. The editor's preface also challenges easy claims of novelty by pointing to the achievements and discarded schemes of earlier teachers.