Book:
The History of Physical Culture in Ireland. Available to buy here.
Reviews:
“The History of Physical Culture in Ireland is not only a learned and readable book about a part of sport and exercixe that has ended up in the backwaters of the more spectacular and mediatized competitive sports, it is also an example of a well-conducted research effort. … All in all, a book well worth spending time with.” (Hans Bolling, idrottsforum.org, May 4, 2021).
“It is a work of immense scholarly achievement, replete with original insights pertaining to complex questions of gender, race, class, childhood and commerce…” (Sean Donnelly, Irish Historical Studies, 2022).
“For the immediate Irish audience, Heffernan’s work is groundbreaking and an essential work complementing the country’s wider and more extensively explored history of sporting culture. In addition, the examination of how Irish people related to and identified with the body through physical culture makes an important contribution to the broader field of gender studies.” (Donal Howley, Journal of Sport History, 2022).
Awards:
Shortlisted for Lord Aberdare Prize, British Society of Sport History, 2022.
Book:
The History of Physical Culture. Available to buy here.
Reviews:
“After reading the book it’s evident that it not only offers an accessible entry point to the history of physical culture, but also a tangible way of uncovering one of the multitude of ways power relations are present within our everyday lives…” (Greta Bladh, idrottsforum.org, June 8, 2023)
“I’d encourage anyone to place it on their reading bucket list and pick up a copy to gain a richer appreciation for our bodies, our workouts, and the incredible journey that brought us to where we are today.” (Shawn Stone, Carved Outta Stone, June 30, 2023).
Awards:
Winner, Publisher’s Prize, Common Ground Networks, 2023.
Book:
Indian Club Swinging and the Birth of Global Fitness. Available to buy here.
Blurb:
Emerging in colonial India, the fitness fad that was Indian Club Swinging became a global exercise practice in the early 19th century. Used by physicians, soldiers, gymnasts, children and athletes alike, clubs were used to solve numerous social concerns and ills, and often prescribed to treat everything from depression to spinal abnormalities. This book provides a definitive account of the rise and spread of club swinging as it spread from India to Europe and America, asking why and how it became so popular.
Discussing the global, commercial fitness culture of the 19th century, Indian Club Swinging and the Birth of Global Fitness explores how the popularity of this exercise reflected much deeper global and domestic concerns about body image, military preparation and education. Addressing broader questions about nationalism, gender, race and popular commerce across the British Empire, it highlights the origins of our modern transnational fitness culture and shows how it intersected with global and colonial understandings of health, medicine and education.