Global Olympics, Volume 3: Historical and Sociological Studies of the Modern Games (Research in the Sociology of Sport) (Research in the Sociology of Sport)

The Olympic Games have become a subject of major importance to students, academics, sports bodies, politicians, urban planners, and the public at large. The Olympic Rings are among the most recognised symbols in the world, and there are few other cultural phenomena that attract such a significant following in the popular media or such widespread support among the nations of the world. Global Olympics: Historical and Sociological Studies of the Modern Games draws together some of the world's leading scholars on critical issues emerging from ancient Olympic contests and over one hundred years of modern Olympic history. A wide range of expertise permits the authors to address these issues from varied perspectives, while encompassing an in-depth assessment of the current literature and debates on the Olympics. This book will serve as an interdisciplinary resource for undergraduate and graduate students alike, as well as for the growing cohort of researchers interested in understanding and explaining the historical and sociological significance of the Games. The Olympic Games have become a subject of major importance to students, academics, sports bodies, politicians, urban planners, and the public at large. The Olympic Rings are among the most recognised symbols in the world, and there are few other cultural phenomena that attract such a significant following in the popular media or such widespread support among the nations of the world. Global Olympics: Historical and Sociological Studies of the Modern Games draws together some of the world's leading scholars on critical issues emerging from ancient Olympic contests and over one hundred years of modern Olympic history. A wide range of expertise permits the authors to address these issues from varied perspectives, while encompassing an in-depth assessment of the current literature and debates on the Olympics. This book will serve as an interdisciplinary resource for undergraduate and graduate students alike, as well as for the growing cohort of researchers interested in understanding and explaining the historical and sociological significance of the Games Coubertin's Olympic games : the greatest show on earth / Kevin B. Wamsley and Kevin Young From Olympia 776 BC to Athens 2004 : the origin and authenticity of the modern Olympic games / David Young The Olympic games experience : origins and early challenges / Douglas A. Brown The Nazi Olympics of 1936 / Arnd Krüger The Cold War games / Cesar R. Torres and Mark Dyreson Amateurism, high-performance sport, and the Olympics / Hart Cantelon Olympic men and women : the politics of gender in the modern games / Kevin B. Wamsley and Gertrud Pfister International politics and Olympic governance / Bruce Houlihan 'Another world is possible' : recapturing alternative Olympic histories, imagining different games / Bruce Kidd The five rings and the small screen : television, sponsorship, and new media in the Olympic movement / Garry Whannel The commercialisation of the Olympics : cities, corporations, and the Olympic commodity / Alan Tomlinson Lobbying orgies : Olympic city bids in the post-Los Angeles era / Douglas Booth Symbols without substance : aboriginal peoples and the illusions of Olympic ceremonies / Janice Forsyth and Kevin B. Wamsley Olympic drug testing : an interpretive history / John Hoberman Political violence, terrorism, and security at the Olympic games / Michael Atkinson and Kevin Young. The editors provide historical discussions and sociological case studies to provoke further critical reflection on what has been called 'the greatest show on earth' and go some way in explaining how the Olympic Games and its guardians, the IOC, have inscribed their way into the public consciousness in so many countries of the world