Historical Dictionary of Skiing by E. John B. Allen (review)

Note: The editorial team is seeking potential book reviewers. Anyone interested please register their areas of expertise with Jerry Gems at grgems@noctrl.edu.

E. John B. Allen’s Historical Dictionary of Skiing is part of Scarecrow Press’s Historical Dictionaries of Sport series. This exhaustive volume offers descriptions of the main people, events, politics, social issues, institutions and policies that make skiing unique. It also includes a bibliography, a historical chronology, an introduction to the history of skiing and a list of appendices.

In the words of Allen, one of the most experienced researchers of international skiing history, skiing is “a tool for delight and sport” (p. xi). His enthusiasm for skiing shows throughout the book. Through his extensive work Allen has gained vast knowledge of skiing terms and concepts, gear and technical expressions, skiing personalities, organizations and rules, skiing history and historiography. He makes a praiseworthy effort to draw on all his knowledge in this book. Allen views skiing from a North American perspective; my review is written from a Scandinavian viewpoint.

It is not a book you will read from cover to cover. It has the character of a kind of encyclopedia, a resource that students, historians, and enthusiasts can browse for specific ski related terms and concepts. It is precisely in this way I have used it. In my view the book has its limitations in this respect and would have benefited from a clearer outline of its purposes and selection criteria. The main part of the book, the dictionary, is comprehensive, with its 470 entries but appears to have been put together more or less unsystematically. Ski terms of all forms and categories are a wide field to cover in a single book. It is an almost impossible task to satisfy every reader and her/his understanding of what athletes, disciplines or concepts are worthy of an entry. Nevertheless I miss a clearer appraisal of whom the “main” people, the “main” events, equipment, issues and concepts, in skiing are.

From a Scandinavian perspective, there are important concepts, phenomenon and peoples that are absent. For example Allen includes a lot of known skiers of various disciplines, but by doing so he excludes others; why is Finnish ski jumper Toni Nieminen listed, while other famous skiers such as Norwegian cross country legend Trude Dybendahl, or Finland’s great skier Juha Mieto are not? Furthermore the last cross country world champion on wooden skis, Ivar Formo, goes without mention.

Allen includes many polar explorers, but Swedish Nils Otto Nordenskiöld has not been entered despite being an important explorer and skiing enthusiast. His contribution to skiing as a sport includes the Nordenskjöld Race over 220 kilometers (which is not mentioned) arranged in Swedish Lapland in 1884. Nordenskjöld arranged the race to prove that his two Sámi companions on his North Pole expedition in 1883, Tuorda and Rassa, had been able to ski 460 kilometers in just fifty-eight hours, an achievement many doubted. This race might be seen as a precursor for later ski marathons, such as the World Loppet series. The Sámi—the indigenous peoples of Northern Scandinavia—are also absent despite being particularly known for their skiing skills, technique (using two poles at an early stage), and endurance.

Another important term in Scandinavian ski history that is not included is the word “friluftsliv”—loosely translated as “outdoor life,” which is not included either. Friluftsliv is closely connected to skiing, polar expeditions, and the development of different forms of skiing and equipment. Friluftsliv has had a deep impact on Scandinavian society and national identities in Norway, Sweden, and Finland.

The lack of selection criteria also shows in the bibliography. One example is the entries listed under “Exploration and mountaineering” (p. 341) which by no means fully represent the field of research. Amongst many other Scandinavian publications the...