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Loading... Owning the Olympics: Narratives of the New Chinaby Monroe PriceLibraryThing recommendationsMember recommendationsLoading...
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will love Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. This book offered a very thorough exploration of the politics and sociological impact of the Olympics on modern China. Many subjects were explored in detail from many viewpoints, and as such this book seems it could provide a scholar with an excellent resource for learning more about this subject. Unfortunately, this book was a bit of a difficult read for the less academically minded, and read more like a scholarly journal than the collection of narratives prommised by the cover. (  ) jen.hock | Oct 2, 2009 |  This was an interesting collection of writings that just never really 'clicked' with me. It felt more like a textbook than a book meant for mass consumption. A bit more of an effort on the part of the individual writers to connect with their audience would have been appreciated, it felt like each entry had been written for an entirely different purpose than for this book. That being said, each entry was well written, and there were some that I would have enjoyed reading more of. If you're interested in the Beijing Olympic Games, and the politics/history of the Games and the city choices and how they are won/lost and marketed, you'll like this book. camelama | Oct 2, 2009 | Owning the Olympics provides valuable insights into the non-athletic activities that have made the modern Games a tempting platform for conveying the broadest sort of messages -- of national pride, international brand-name power, and political influence. Academics from the U.S., China, France, the U.K., and Spain step into the real-world controversies over politics, marketing, media coverage, architecture, finances, and the ultimate meaning of the iconic images that the Olympics bring into our living rooms. If you've always wondered what happens behind the scenes to bring the Games to a particular city or broadcasting network, these book pulls back the veil with a fascinating amount of detail and background, although the academic tone may put off some readers. Serious students of contemporary culture will find it a sturdy armchair companion for the 2008 Summer Games. (  ) dunyazade | Oct 2, 2009 | Owning the Olympics is a dense, academic set of essays that discuss the 2008 Olympics in terms of China's rising global influence. Although it takes some effort to get through, the book does offer some insight into how the Olympics work and an overview of how the games could have longterm impacts for the host nation. As other reviewers indicated, this book has less relevance now that the 2008 Olympics have ended. Still, it will be interesting to see if the information/conjecture about China and its use of the Olympics will hold up over time. (  ) chellinsky | Jul 31, 2009 | Generally, it was an interesting book. However, some of the essays dragged on a bit and were a bit dry. And while some of the essays were interesting to read in light of what actually happened leading up to, at, and now after the Chinese Olympics, I would hardly say that this book should be read now after the fact. A book that was interesting at the time it was published but now completely irrelevant. ( ) Kordo | Jul 26, 2009 |  no reviews | add a review
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"A major contribution to the study of global events in times of global media. Owning the Olympics tests the possibilities and limits of the concept of 'media events' by analyzing the mega-event of the information age: the Beijing Olympics. . . . A good read from cover to cover."
—Guobin Yang, Associate Professor, Asian/Middle Eastern Cultures & Sociology, Barnard College, Columbia University
From the moment they were announced, the Beijing Games were a major media event and the focus of intense scrutiny and speculation. In contrast to earlier such events, however, the Beijing Games are also unfolding in a newly volatile global media environment that is no longer monopolized by broadcast media. The dramatic expansion of media outlets and the growth of mobile communications technology have changed the nature of media events, making it significantly more difficult to regulate them or control their meaning. This volatility is reflected in the multiple, well-publicized controversies characterizing the run-up to Beijing 2008. According to many Western commentators, the People's Republic of China seized the Olympics as an opportunity to reinvent itself as the "New China"---a global leader in economics, technology, and environmental issues, with an improving human-rights record. But China's maneuverings have also been hotly contested by diverse global voices, including prominent human-rights advocates, all seeking to displace the official story of the Games.
Bringing together a distinguished group of scholars from Chinese studies, human rights, media studies, law, and other fields, Owning the Olympics reveals how multiple entities---including the Chinese Communist Party itself---seek to influence and control the narratives through which the Beijing Games will be understood.
DIGITALCULTUREBOOKS is a collaborative imprint of the University of Michigan Press and the University of Michigan Library. Visit the website at www.digitalculture.org.
(retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:58:15 -0400)
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