Table of Contents Acknowledgments ix Foreword by Nigel à Brassard 1 Preface 3 PART I : THE TRIBESMEN 1. Folk Games: From the Silk Road to the Manipuri Valleys 5 2. An Ancient Pastime Discovered by Western Eyes 10 PART II : THE ARISTOCRATS 3. The European Journey 18 4. The British Carry the Flag 32 5. Polo in India: Conflicts and Harmonies 56 6. The Beginning of the Internationals 65 7. Polo Myths: Billiard Ball, Walking Sticks, and All That 73 8.

The British Clubs 78 9. Fashionable Chic: Polo on the Continent 93 10. American Polo Comes of Age 99 11. The Anglo-Argentines: Squires or Gauchos? 108 12. Olympic Interlude 117 Between pages 126 and 127 are eight color plates containing 17 photographs PART III : THE AMATEURS 13. The Mighty Americans 127 14. Of Lords and Ladies 136 15. The Game in the Former Dominions 145 16.

The Cup of the Americas 158 17. The Hallowed Grounds: Hurlingham, Meadow Brook and Palermo 176 18. Return from War: The Internationals 182 19. The Rise of Argentina 191 20. England's Recovery: Gentlemen Players and Hired Assassins 199 21. Polo in America in the Late Twentieth Century 206 22. Bits and Pieces, Strokes and Mallets 214 PART IV : THE PROFESSIONALS 23. Patrons and the Dawn of Professionalism 224 24.

Women's Polo 231 25. The Game's Thinkers 243 26. The Evolution of the Rules 255 27. On Umpiring 266 28. The Polo Pony: From Tats to Thoroughbreds 275 29. The State of the Game in the Twenty-First Century 287 Appendix A: The Code of Rules for the Silchar Polo Club, 1863 301 Appendix B: The Field, 20 March 1869, Letter to the Editor 303 Appendix C: The Rules of the Game, as Drafted by Lt. Hartopp on Mess Paper, 1869 305 Chapter Notes 307 Bibliography 327 Index 333.