The Super Bowl is a singular spectacle in American culture. More than just a championship football game, the Super Bowl has become an unparalleled display of nationalism, consumerism, and culture. But despite its impact in the United States, the Super Bowl has never caught on around the world the way many Americans might assume.

Peter Hopsicker and Mark Dyreson look at the magnitude of the Super Bowl as a cultural event in the United States, and the relative lack of interest in the Super Bowl worldwide, in A Half Century of Super Bowls: National and Global Perspectives on America's Grandest Spectacle (Routledge, 2018).

Peter Hopsicker is a professor of kinesiology at Penn State University Altoona. Mark Dyreson is a professor of kinesiology and history at Penn State University and managing editor of the International Journal of the History of Sport. Both are members of Penn State's Center for the Study of Sports in Society.

Nathan Bierma is a writer, instructional designer, and voiceover talent in Grand Rapids, Michigan. His website is www.nbierma.com.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/world-affairs

Episode 1476 Scott Adams: I Tell You How to Fix Our Biggest Problems While Drinking Coffee