The Olympics have a checkered, sometimes scandalous, political history. Jules Boykoff, a former US Olympic team member, takes readers from the event's nineteenth-century origins, through the Games' flirtation with Fascism, and into the contemporary era of corporate control. Along the way he recounts vibrant alt-Olympic movements, such as the Workers' Games and Women's Games of the 1920s and 1930s as well as athlete-activists and political movements that stood up to challenge the Olympic machine.

Critical and radical perspectives have been central to the emergence of the sociology of sport as a discipline in its own right. This ground-breaking new book is the first to offer a comprehensive theory and method for a critical sociology of sport. It argues that class, political economy, hegemony and other concepts central to the radical tradition are essential for framing, understanding and changing social and political relations within sport and between sport and society. The book draws upon the disciplines of politics, sociology, history and philosophy to provide a critical analysis of power relations throughout the world of sport, while offering important new case studies from such diverse sporting contexts as the Olympics, world football, boxing, cricket, tennis and windsurfing. In the process, it addresses key topics such as: * nations and nationalism * globalisation * race * gender * political economy. Power Games can be used as a complete introduction to the study of sport and society. And will be essential reading for any serious student of sport. At the same time, it is a provocative book that by argument and example challenges those who research and write about sport to make their work relevant to social and political reform.

Games have long played a central role in society – actually a central role in the animal kingdom. Their play provides primary behavioral mechanisms that enable animals to learn and socialize. Indeed, "play" is a core animal activity. The principal focus of this book is on how games foster human playing, learning, and competing, including how we can design games to do this better. The author provides a wealth of real-world examples of how he created games for clients in the domains of education, energy, healthcare, national security, and transportation. He has focused on training and aiding for strategic thinking, product planning, technology development, and business operations. The technologies underlying these games became increasingly sophisticated. This has taken on greater significance as the gaming industry has grown and prospered. Gaming revenues now dwarf film and theater. New games released gain millions of sales within a few days of release. What makes games so appealing? What is the psychology of gaming? Does it vary for card games, board games, simulation games, and online games? What makes a game successful over years? What about sports games? What sociological roles do they play in our society? Why do they claim such energy and devotion? Why are sports stars able to earn enormous contracts? What is the business of these games? Why is it expected to be increasingly lucrative? What strategies might succeed or fail? Who might be the losers and winners? This book addresses all of these questions as well as an overarching question for society – Can online games fundamentally enhance the education of employees and students? The author is convinced they can. This requires, however, that games be designed to achieve these ends. This book is intended to contribute to understanding how to create and evaluate such games. Essentially, games enable employees and managers to play, learn, compete, and achieve in terms of knowledge and skills gained, competencies attained, customers attracted, and economic outcomes. This book explains, illustrates, and motivates investments in these pursuits to these ends.

In Rules and Rituals in Medieval Power Games Gerd Althoff highlights the great impact of unwritten rules (Spielregeln) and rituals in establishing order in prestate societies. He underpins this view with new examples and insights taken from the German perspective and thus offers a model suitable for comparison with other societies.

Canada in the Great Power Game 1914-2014 is a serious contemplation of what it means to engage in major world conflicts, and the price we pay when we do. The First World War was Canada's baptism of fire, or at least the only one that people now remember. (Montrealers in 1776 or Torontonians in 1814 would have taken a different view.) From 1914 to 1918, after a century of peace, Canadians were plunged back into the old world of great power rivalries and great wars. So was everybody else, but Canadians were volunteers. We didn't have to fight, but we chose to, out of loyalty to ideas and institutions that today many of us no longer believe in. And we have been doing the same thing ever since, although we haven't quite given up on the latest set of ideas and institutions yet. In Canada in the Great Power Game, Gwynne Dyer moves back and forth between the seminal event, the First World War, and all the later conflicts that Canada chose to fight in. He draws parallels between these conflicts, with the same idealism among the young soldiers, and the same deeply conflicted emotions among the survivors, surfacing time and again in every war right down to Afghanistan. And in each case, the same arguments pro and con arise—mostly from people who are a long, safe way from the killing grounds—for every one of those "wars of choice." Echoing throughout the book are the voices of the people who lived through the wars: the veterans, the politicians, the historians, the eyewitnesses. And Dyer takes a number of so-called excursions from his historical account, in which he revisits the events and puts them in context, pausing to ask such questions as "What if we hadn't fought Hitler?" and "Is war written in our genes?" This entertaining and provocative book casts an unsparing eye over what happens when Canada and the great powers get in the war business, illuminating much about how we see ourselves on the world stage.

This collection of essays examines the structures of power and the ways in which power is exercised and felt in the fantasy world of Game of Thrones. It considers how the expectations of viewers, particularly within the genre of epic fantasy, are subverted across the full 8 seasons of the series. The assembled team of international scholars, representing a variety of disciplines, addresses such topics as the power of speech and magic; the role of nationality and politics; disability, race and gender; and the ways in which each reinforces or subverts power in Westeros and Essos.

Explore the fascinating world of ancient Rome through the pages of "The Game of Power, volume II" by Ainan Ahmed. In this gripping book, delve into the rich tapestry of Roman history, brought to life through the stories of its influential leaders. From the renowned Julius Caesar to the formidable Augustus, and from the mysterious Nero to the wise Marcus Aurelius, each emperor's journey is filled with twists and turns. Through conquests, alliances, and trials, these leaders shaped the course of an empire. With easy language and interesting stories of empires, "The Game of Power, volume II" takes you on a captivating journey through the heart of Roman civilization. Whether you're reading alone or with friends, this book offers a doorway into the captivating world of ancient Rome. Join Ainan Ahmed as you uncover the mysteries of power and ambition in the Roman Empire. From moments of triumph to instances of betrayal, this book paints a vivid picture of a civilization that continues to intrigue and inspire.

What is power and how is it effective? This volume responds to these questions in terms of regional international relations with a particular focus on the Baltic Sea region, an area still charged with a residue of Cold War conflict and power disparity, in a setting of new cooperative ventures. Each contributor examines the region from a different angle and discusses how its actors coped with the new situation facing them after 1991. The volume looks at how governments have defined their new circumstances, how they have dealt with the opportunity to shift to a new mode of coexistence and collaboration, and how they have tackled the challenge of peacefully converting their region to a security community. The book breaks with tradition by adopting a new, thematic approach based on regional issues and functions rather than a country-by-country discourse. It will be of critical value to readers interested in security studies and European politics.

How do children today learn to understand stories? Why do they respond so enthusiastically to home video games and to a myth like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles? And how are such fads related to multinational media mergers and the "new world order"? In assessing these questions, Marsha Kinder provides a brilliant new perspective on modern media.

This carefully crafted ebook: "PERSONAL POWER (All 12 Volumes)” is formatted for your eReader with a functional and detailed table of contents: Personal Power - Your Master Self Creative Power - Your Constructive Forces Desire Power - Your Energizing Forces Faith Power - Your Inspirational Forces Will Power - Your Dynamic Forces Subconscious Power - Your Secret Forces Spiritual Power - The Infinite Fount Thought Power - Radio-Mentalism Perceptive Power - The Art of Observation Reasoning Power - Practical Logic Character Power - Positive Individuality Regenerative Power or Vital Rejuvenation This book is devoted to the subject of the development, cultivation and manifestation of Personal Power— Personal Power in all its phases, aspects and modes of manifestation and expression. "Personal Power,” as understood and taught in this book, may be defined as: "The ability or strength possessed by the human individual, by which he does, or may, accomplish desired results in an efficient manner, along the lines of physical, mental, and spiritual effort and endeavor.” William Walker Atkinson (1862-1932) was a prolific writer. His works treat themes related to the mental world, occultism, divination, psychic reality, and mankind's nature.