Why has the subject of Jewish athletes become a Jewish joke? Although Jews played a major role as competitive athletes at the start of the twentieth century, they do not occupy a significant place in Jewish memory. "I cannot recall any other subject in Jewish culture," writes scholar George Eisen, "that could elicit such conflicting emotions, oscillating between a yawningly mild interest, bordering on apathy and an ardent apologia. In an almost collusive way, the scholarly community has vacillated between grudging recognition and a desultory dismissal of the idea of Jewish prominence in sports. " Drawing on cutting-edge scholarship as well as interviews with Central European athletes, Epstein sketches the life of her father (1904-1975) and his generation of Jewish sportsmen and women.