Understanding the Olympics
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
Understanding the Olympics
Routledge, 2012
- : pbk
- : hbk
Available at 23 libraries
  Aomori
  Iwate
  Miyagi
  Akita
  Yamagata
  Fukushima
  Ibaraki
  Tochigi
  Gunma
  Saitama
  Chiba
  Tokyo
  Kanagawa
  Niigata
  Toyama
  Ishikawa
  Fukui
  Yamanashi
  Nagano
  Gifu
  Shizuoka
  Aichi
  Mie
  Shiga
  Kyoto
  Osaka
  Hyogo
  Nara
  Wakayama
  Tottori
  Shimane
  Okayama
  Hiroshima
  Yamaguchi
  Tokushima
  Kagawa
  Ehime
  Kochi
  Fukuoka
  Saga
  Nagasaki
  Kumamoto
  Oita
  Miyazaki
  Kagoshima
  Okinawa
  Korea
  China
  Thailand
  United Kingdom
  Germany
  Switzerland
  France
  Belgium
  Netherlands
  Sweden
  Norway
  United States of America
Note
Bibliography: p. 213-230
Includes index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
The Olympic Games is unquestionably the greatest sporting event on earth, with television audiences measured in billions of viewers. By what process did the Olympics evolve into this multi-national phenomenon? How can an understanding of the Olympic Games help us to better understand international sport and society? And what will be the true impact and legacy of the London Olympics in 2012?
Understanding the Olympics answers all of these questions, and more, by exploring the full social, cultural, political, historical and economic context to the Olympic Games. It traces the history of the Olympic movement from its origins in ancient Greece, through its revival in the nineteenth century, to the modern mega-event of today. The book introduces the reader to all of the key themes in contemporary Olympic Studies, including:
Olympic politics
nationalism and internationalism
access and equity
festival and spectacle
urban development
political economy
processes of commercialization
the Olympics and the media
Olympic futures.
Written to engage and inform, the book includes illustrations, information boxes, chronologies, glossaries and `Olympic Stories' in every chapter. No other book offers such a comprehensive and thoughtful introduction to the Olympic Games and is therefore essential reading for anybody with an interest in the Olympics or the wider relationship between sport and society.
Table of Contents
Timeline Introduction Part 1: The Olympic Games and London 1. London, the Olympics and the Road to 2012 2. The IOC and the Bidding Process 3. Television and the commercialisation of the Olympic Games Part 2: From Out of the Past 4. Reviving the Games 5. From World's Fairs to Mega-events Part 3: The Spectacle of Modernity - Towards a Postmodern World? 6. The Internationalist Spirit and National Contestation 7. The Politics and the Games 8. Festival, Spectacle, Carnival and Consumption 9. Level Playing Fields 10. The Olympic Games and Urban Development: Imagining and Engineering Cities and Sport Spectacles. Conclusion
by "Nielsen BookData"