During the last decades of the twentieth century, extreme sports—also called "adventure" or "action" sports—increased steadily in popularity. Some extreme sports saw a doubling of participants between 1999 and 2000 alone. Especially popular with teens and young adults, extreme sports offer a simple and exhilarating physical challenge to those who have grown up in a technological society filled with complex contradictions. Often dangerous and sometimes even illegal, they are viewed by many as a rebellious challenge to authority.

Americans have always appreciated the skill and bravery of the daredevil. Sam Patch (1807–1829), who thrilled early nineteenth-century audiences by jumping into large waterfalls, died in the Genesee Falls in New York, in 1829. In the 1960s and 1970s, motorcycle stunt-driver Evel Knievel (1938–; see entry under 1960s—Sports and Games in volume 4) became famous for jumping his bike over rows of buses, trucks, rattlesnakes, and shark tanks. Extreme sports have...