The First London Olympics: 1908

The enthralling history of one of the most controversial and infamous Olympic Games ever staged, replete with doping scandal and international uproar. In the summer that saw the first successful Zeppelin flight, a 140-acre site of scrubland in West London was transformed into the White City, which housed a state-of-the-art stadium built for the first London Olympics. The Olympics were organized by volunteers in just 18 months and at a fraction of the cost of modern Olympics, yet sport was overshadowed by doping scandals—with accusations that the Canadian favorite for the marathon had been dosed with strychnine—and caused international uproar. The fierce competitiveness of a U.S. team dominated by Irish Americans led to a series of scandals, culminating in the historic marathon when Italian confectioner Dorando Pietri's heroic efforts at the limits of exhaustion so entranced onlookers that officials helped him across the finish line. This social and sports history offers a thought-provoking contrast to the 2012 Olympic Games.