The 2008 Beijing Olympics take place in August. John Goodbody, for many years chief sports writer for The Times, has covered every Olympics since 1964. In this entertaining and informative account, A History of the Olympics, he tells the main stories of each of the modern Olympics. Here are some of the heroes and heroines who have made sporting history, as well as the main disasters and scandals that attend the world's greatest sporting event.
What does China think? is an invigorating book about the debates raging within China. We all know about the fast pace of change in this country. This book brings us the ideas being fought over in the country itself, from democracy to the idea of a 'peaceful rise'. It challenges all of our assumptions about China. We know everything and nothing about China. We know that China is changing so fast that the maps in Shanghai need to be rewritten every two weeks. We know that China has brought 300 million people from agricultural backwardness into modernity in just 30 years (something that took 200 years in Europe). China's voracious appetite for resources is gobbling up 40% of the world's cement., 40% of its coal, 30% of its steel, and 12% of its energy. It has become so integrated into the global economy that its prospects have immediate effects on our everyday lives: simultaneously doubling the cost of the London Olympics while halving the cost of our computers; keeping the US economy afloat but sinking the Italian footwear industry. We have an image of China as a dictatorship; a nationalist empire that threatens its neighbours and global peace. But how many people know about the debates raging within China?
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