The Olympics: A Critical Reader represents a unique, critical guide to the definitive sporting mega-event and the wider phenomenon it represents – Olympism. Combining classic texts and thoughtful editorial discussion with challenging new pieces, including previously unseen material, the book systematically addresses the key questions in modern Olympism, including:
what does studying Olympism entail?
how do historical accounts create and challenge Olympic myths?
how do different theoretical perspectives inform our understanding of Olympism?
which socio-political processes influence personal, collective and imagined Olympic identities?
how do we experience and make sense of Olympism?
who owns Olympism and why does it matter?
how do cities compete for and celebrate the Olympics?
How are the Olympic values promoted?
why is it important to protect the ethical principles and properties of Olympism?
what are the grounds for contesting Olympism?
how can Olympism be taught?
how can the principles and practices of Olympism be sustained in the future?
Each thematic part has been designed to include a range of views, including background treatment of an issue as well as critical scholarship, to ensure that students develop a well-rounded understanding of the Olympic phenomenon. The Olympics: A Critical Reader is essential reading for students of the Olympics and Olympism, the sociology of sport, sport management and cultural studies.
Contents
Introduction Part One: Studying Olympism 1. Studying Olympism, Vassil Girginov Part Two: Documenting Olympism 2. Post-olympism? Questioning Olympic historiography, Douglas Booth 3. From Olympia 776 BC to Athens 2004: The Origins and Authenticity of the Modern Olympic Games, David Young 4. Olympic Games and Historical Imagination, Mark Dyreson Part Three: Theorising Olympism 5. A Never-ending story: The Philosophical controversy over Olympism, Lamartin da Costa 6. Olympic Games and the f Spectacle in Modern Societies, John MacAloon 7. The Olympics and ‘Global Citizenship’, Maurice Roche Part Four: Negotiating Olympic identities 8. Hellenism and Olympism: Pierre de Coubertin and the Greek Challenges to the Early Olympic Movement, Dikaia Chatziefstathiou and Ian Henry 9. Staging the Nation: Gendered and Ethnicized Discourses of National Identity in Olympic Opening Ceremonies, Jackie Hogan Part Five: Imagining Olympism 10. Meet the "framers": the Olympic producers, Andrew Billings 11. Olympic Museum, Daryl Adair 12. Paralympic "lived history": reflections of a participant-observer, David Howe Part Six: Owning Olympism 13. A brief overview of the Olympic system, Jean-Loup Chappelet and Brenda Kübler-Mabbott 14. Who Owns the Olympics? Political Economy and Critical Moments in the Modern Games, Michael Real 15. On Seizing the Olympic Platform, Monroe Price Part Seven: Staging the Olympics 16. Financing of the Games: interests, winners and losers, Holger Preus 17. Olymp...
