Not for beginners is this cultural history, which favors academic theory at the expense of recounting events. Thus there is no mention of the 1999 World Cup semifinal versus New Zealand, nor does the author address the question of why the XV de France is so unpredictable. He’s at his best exploring ‘le rugby du villages’, showing for example how a postwar construction boom in Lourdes helped produce the country’s dominant team from 1948-60. The book also does well in summarizing the transition to professionalism, but does not really delve into the persistence of violence, which is described as an amateur tradition that continues to function as an extension of provincial territoriality. In keeping with Annalisme and structuralism, Dine skips over worthies like Lourdes’ Jean Prat. Once exception is Jean-Pierre Rives — but ties to Albert Ferrasse are of primary interest. Dine evidently would have preferred that league surpassed union because of the latter’s Vichy ties, and that Ferrasse have been succeeded by someone other than Bernard Lapasset. As with Braudel, it is impossible not to profit from this work. But in taking this subject on his terms, rather than the contemporary context, his conclusions become idiosyncratic and politicized.