# Splash!: 10,000 Years of Swimming - Hardcover

by **Howard Means** (Author)

**Choose a stroke and get paddling through the human history of swimming**From man's first recorded dip into what's now the driest spot on earth to the splashing, sparkling pool party in your backyard, humans have been getting wet for 10,000 years. And for most of modern history, swimming has caused a ripple that touches us all--the heroes and the ordinary folk; the real and the mythic.  
_Splash_ dives into Egypt, winds through ancient Greece and Rome, flows mostly underground through the Dark and Middle Ages (at least in Europe), and then reemerges in the wake of the Renaissance before taking its final lap at today's Olympic games. Along the way, it kicks away the idea that swimming is just about moving through water, about speed or great feats of aquatic endurance, and shows you how much more it can be. Its history offers a multi-tiered tour through religion, fashion, architecture, sanitation and public health, colonialism, segregation and integration, sexism, sexiness, guts, glory, and much, much more.  
Unique and compelling, _Splash_ sweeps across the whole of humankind's swimming history--and just like jumping into a pool on a hot summer's day, it has fun along the way.

### Author Biography

**Howard Means** is the author or co-author of ten books, most recently _67 Shots: Kent State and the End of American Innocence_ (Da Capo, 2016). Hailed by the _Christian Science Monitor_ as "one of the most heartbreaking books in memory," _67 Shots_ is being developed as a feature length film by Everyman Pictures (Jay Roach) and Little Stranger Picture (Tina Fey & Jeff Richmond). Means' previous book, _Johnny Appleseed: The Man, the Myth, the American Story_ (Simon & Schuster, 2011), was featured on NPR and in the weekend _Wall Street Journal_, and also optioned for TV and/or film.  
Prior to turning full-time to book-length works, Means was senior editor at _Washingtonian_ magazine, an op-ed columnist for King Features Syndicate, a daily journalist, and in the distant past, a schoolteacher. He began swimming competitively when he was five years old, continued through college, then coached for seven years. Swimming continues to define his life: Pools, rivers, lakes, quarries, oceans are his natural medium. Writing _Splash!_ has been a labor of love.

**Number of Pages:** 336

**Dimensions:** 1.3 x 9 x 6.3 IN

**Illustrated:** Yes

**Publication Date:** June 02, 2020

## Details

- **Price:** 38.0 USD
- **Vendor:** Books by splitShops
- **Type:** Books
- **Tags:** Books by splitShops, Shopify Collective

## Variants

| Variant | Price | Available |
|---------|-------|-----------|
| Default Title | 38.00 USD | In stock |

## Images

- Splash!: 10,000 Years of Swimming - Hardcover
- Splash!: 10,000 Years of Swimming - Hardcover

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