*Olympic Studies: Social Aspects (books)

"Author Maraniss weaves sports, politics, and history into a tour de force about the 1960 Olympics. Old-boy notions of Olympic amateurism were crumbling. Rome saw the first doping scandal, the first commercially televised Summer Games, the first athlete paid for wearing a certain brand, and there was increasing pressure to provide equal rights for blacks and women." From publisher description.

"Sports activist and writer Mark Perryman presents a sharply critical take on the way the Olympic Games have been organized––and an imaginative blueprint for how they can be improved. In these pages he sets out a detailed plan for how the Games can be made more inclusive and exciting to watch. His proposals include: Extending the games from a single host city to an entire country, or even group of countries; using existing stadia with greater spectator capacity than many of the purpose built facilities; expanding competitions held outside of stadia altogether; increasing the number of events where international participation is widespread; and shifting the onus of the games from corporate sponsorship to the involvement of community and volunteer groups.

" From publisher description