From the critically acclaimed and bestselling author David Maraniss, a groundbreaking book that weaves sports, politics, and history into a tour de...
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Jul 21, 2008
Alden
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When David Maraniss finished his much-praised biography of baseball superstar Roberto Clemente (Clemente: The Passion and Grace of Baseball's Last Hero), he was "determined not to write another sports book anytime soon." He had previously written a highly regarded biography of perhaps the greatest football coach of all time, Vince Lombardi (When Pride Still Mattered), so his feeling was: been there, done that.
Besides, during a 30-year career at the Washington Post, Maraniss More...
Besides, during a 30-year career at the Washington Post, Maraniss More...
Aug 01, 2008
Diane
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As something of a serious Olympics follower, I really enjoyed this book. The author makes a good case in that the '60 Olympics were something of a watershed in civil rights (at least in bringing the inequalities of the races to light more clearly), the cold war, the beginning of steroid use and doping in a systematic way, as well as the beginning of the recognition by athletes that being amateur in the US was very different than elsewhere. I enjoyed learning about various competitors as well t
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Aug 02, 2009
Elizabeth
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I must still have lingering Olympic fever from this summer. The author goes through the Rome Olympics, pretty much day by day, and highlights the significant events and puts them in the context of what was going on in the world at large ... so for the most part, the Cold War. Headlines include decathlete Rafer Johnson, the first African-American athlete to be the flagbearer during the opening ceremonies and Wilma Rudolph getting gold medals; the first big Olympic drug scandal when Danish cycli
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Jan 14, 2011
Driftless
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I think it is fair to say that I am not the only victim of the quadrennial affliction known as “Olympic Fever”. I’m sure that I am not alone in reporting that I watch televised diving, pole vaulting and rowing only once every four years, often neglecting essentials like hygiene and sleep to do so. It is almost a truism to point out that the Olympics has captured the imagination and passion of both athletes and non-athletes alike and has become a unique institution that seemingly cuts across all
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Apr 11, 2010
Bap
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IU thought this would be part of my Italy reading blitz bit it was almost all about the summer Olympics and very little of the venue. The 1960 Olympics featured Rafer Johnson who won the decathalon and who 8 years later would cradle a dying RFK in his arms after wrestling the gun from his assasin. Cassius Clay. Wilma Rudolf and her band of woman sprinters from Tennessee State. It was cold war by proxy and the Russians beat the Americans. It was the start of the steroid era with a Dane cyclis
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Aug 08, 2011
Steve
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Sports and politics in the same book that David Maraniss composed brilliantly. I had just turned four years old when the 1960 Olympics were held. I have a love of the Games and learned in later yers about 1960 Olympians Rafer Johnson, Abeke Bikila, Wilma Rudolph, Cassius Clay (Muhammed Ali) and the US hoops trio of Jerry West, Jerry Lucas and Oscar Robertson.
But there were other wonderful stories about these games -- the first that really matched Cold War powers against each other, showed a d More...
But there were other wonderful stories about these games -- the first that really matched Cold War powers against each other, showed a d More...
Feb 05, 2009
David Maraniss has demonstrated great range throughout his writing career. His latest effort is a timely and, for the most part, a well executed look at the 1960 Rome Olympics. Although the book's subtitle may be a bit of a reach, Maraniss has much to say about the implications of the Rome Games as a microcosm of the political, financial, and humanitarian forces shaping the world at the time. Only the New York Times Book Review opined that the event's obscurity today suggests that nothing was, i
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Nov 30, 2008
Neil
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Maraniss blends history and the drama of sports well in this book, capturing the drama of the era very well. My only mild disappointment is that this book suffers from the same problem that coverage of the olympics on television usually has: not enough attention to sports in which Americans aren't competitive.
Still, there's plenty to marvel at here, and the events that Maraniss does cover don't suffer from a slant toward the athletes of any particular nation. Wilma Rudolph, Rafer Joh More...
Still, there's plenty to marvel at here, and the events that Maraniss does cover don't suffer from a slant toward the athletes of any particular nation. Wilma Rudolph, Rafer Joh More...
Aug 26, 2009
Kiah
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A really well written, very narrative history of the Olympics in 1960 in Rome. Spends a lot of time discussing many of the underlying stories from those Olympic games, such as the ongoing Cold War competition between the US and Russia/USSR, the China/Taiwan issue, how race relations played a part both with the South African team (which didn't have any African American participants on the team) and the US team (tho Cassius Clay, Wilma Rudolph and many other African Americans were winning gold fo
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May 14, 2009
Dan
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I was really into track & field in 1960 and still somewhat in to swimming (having been bounced out of the Santa Clara Swim Club at age 10 for insubordination), so I knew many of the players here and thoroughly enjoyed the descriptions of the events. Maraniss recounts these well, and I was caught up in the drama of cliff-hanging competition even when I already knew the results. He is far less successful with the historical context (pop history of the Cold War, ponderous history of the Olympic M
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Sep 30, 2009
Judy
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The author sees the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome as the games that provided the transition to the modern games with their multitude of problems--doping, political tensions reflected in the scoring, corporate sponsorship, and the debate about what being an amateur athlete really means. At its best, the book profiles the leading athletes from around the world and vividly recreates the tensions of a variety of events. At the other end of the spectrum, the book drags somewhat when discussing the pol
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Feb 27, 2011
Ice
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Dec 08, 2011
Jim
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1960 was the year I graduated from high school, so the impact of the Rome games was tangible and almost unavoidable. I found that reading this book brought me right back to those times. But with a twist. So much of the behind the scenes intrigue was understandably unknown to me at the time. To get a freshened perspective of how much was wrong with the games in those days and what has transpired since then is at once illuminating and disheartening. We all like to think we lived in the "best
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Aug 05, 2010
Tyler
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Synopsis: The Rome Olympics of 1960 were held when the world was in a transitory state. The Cold War was at its height, it was the first time that many of the Olympic competitions allowed women to compete and the United States (and much of the world) was in the midst of a racial revolution. While many of the athletes representing the United States were African Americans who were celebrated when they won, there were many restaurants and other places where they were prohibited due to the color o
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Sep 18, 2009
Subtitled 'The Olympics that changed the World' might overstate their importance some but this is still an engaging read. Highlights are the profiles of Wilma Rudolph, Igor Ter-Ovanesyan, Dave Sime and Rafer Johnson. Maraniss' details the propaganda efforts of US and Soviet governments' at a taut time in the Cold War including the CIA handing pamphlets to US athletes on how to try and turn Soviet athletes into defecting. The chauvinism of this time was still rampant not least among sports writer
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Nov 27, 2011
Alan
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What made this book interesting was how the 1960 Olympics mirrored so much of the current state of the world and foreshadowed what would become of the concept of "amatuer" athletics. In the 1960 Olympics, an African-American athlete (Rafer Johnson) led the team into the Olympic Stadium in Rome, yet couldn't stay at certain hotels or eat in certain restaurants in his own country. Germany competed as one team and Tawain could not compete as the Republic of China. Danish cyclists (and
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Oct 01, 2010
Joshua
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Exhaustive book about every facet relating to the 1960 Rome Olympics--almost too exhaustive with detail after detail on athletes, sporting events, politicians, national history, Olympic history, administrators. I would have loved reading more about the actual athletes and sports rather than the endless (at least it felt endless at times) political machinations connected to behind the scenes Olympic workings. Maraniss gets way too carried away with that element versus some of the actual matches.
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Feb 12, 2012
Mike
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These Games were fascinating due both to their unique sociopolitical landscape and the athletic drama that captivates the world at each Olympiad. Unfortunately the writing does not reach the same level of achievement. The facts are presented, but the editorializing adds little because of its heavy handed tone that lacks nuance and seems to merely gloss the events in broad themes, feeling very repetitive and preachy by the end. If you are already aware of the results in Rome, this telling woul
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May 24, 2011
Melissa
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What I liked was the attention to detail in the book, as the author took it day by day, journalling events to put you in the action. He introduced me to Rafer Johnson, the beginning of the Kenyan/African marathon dominance, and the rest of the Tigerbelles; I have always loved Wilma Rudolph's story, but I enjoyed knowing more.
I was raised during the Cold War, but it's been 20 years since the US vs. USSR so it was startling to read and remember the competition for superiority. It chee More...
I was raised during the Cold War, but it's been 20 years since the US vs. USSR so it was startling to read and remember the competition for superiority. It chee More...
Apr 28, 2011
CD
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1960 in Rome might be called the beginning of the modern drug era in sports. It also might be called birthplace of sports broadcasting and the start of the mega business that sport became worldwide in the later part of the 20th Century.
Author/journalist David Maraniss covers this summer from over 50 years ago like it was last week. The names and connections important to sport, such as Avery Brundage, to those connected to the greater culture as well as sport, such as Muhammed Ali, ab More...
Author/journalist David Maraniss covers this summer from over 50 years ago like it was last week. The names and connections important to sport, such as Avery Brundage, to those connected to the greater culture as well as sport, such as Muhammed Ali, ab More...
Dec 12, 2011
Allison
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We think of the Olympics as a time where the world stops for two weeks and just enjoys the competition. But the Olympics are just that, a competition. And the countries involved use the Olympics to fight their battles in a new forum.
Previous Olympics had been about the host cities showing themselves off to the world. These Olympics were about countries proving themselves to the world.
20 years before the Miracle on Ice, the Soviets and Americans were battling it out on the tr More...
Previous Olympics had been about the host cities showing themselves off to the world. These Olympics were about countries proving themselves to the world.
20 years before the Miracle on Ice, the Soviets and Americans were battling it out on the tr More...
Aug 31, 2008
Candice
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An excellent overview of the Olympics that ushered in a big change. The first televised games, the first drug scandal, athletes beginning to chafe at the restrictions of "amateurism", East-West propaganda and more. Then there were the people who became household names because of the Rome Olympics, such as TV sports announcer Jim McKay.
The author focused on a few athletes and other prominent figures in depth, as well as the Games in general. Wilma Rudolph, Rafer Johnson a More...
The author focused on a few athletes and other prominent figures in depth, as well as the Games in general. Wilma Rudolph, Rafer Johnson a More...
Sep 20, 2008
Emily
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Now with the Beijing Olympics over, it was fun to read about the history that got us to this point. Some things seemed quite familiar. In 1960, the US and USSR used every medal as a cold war victory. Now almost 50 years later we follow the US/ China medal counts closely, and complain that our communist adversary has an advantage in central sports planning when we don’t win. Other things, like the size and scope, amount of money involved, and the level of technology in use, make the 1960 Olympic
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Dec 27, 2010
Amanda
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Who knew the 1960 Olympics had such drama? The US extolling the virtues of black athletes to get a leg up on the Soviets, yet incapable of making real strides in the civil rights movement; the debut of a future Muhammed Ali as a precocious 18 year old boxer and the arrival of Africa as a marathon running supercontinent.let's not forget the death due to doping on the cycling circuit as a precursor to modern times. Though the book dragged a bit at the end, a very enjoyable read.
May 11, 2010
80 page rule invoked. To many quotes (but that's what happens when you read a book by a reporter) to back up the history. Way to many people who are not integral to the plot. The chronology was all over the place. The writing style was adjective, adjective adjective simile adjective metaphor... and boring! My brain was buzzing (and not in a good way) after each sentence. When I'm re-reading paragraphs that weren't written by the classical authors then I know its time to give up.
Jun 10, 2010
Jim
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The book gives a history if the 1960 Olympics in Rome primarily from a US perspective. A fast read that tries to use the 1960 Olympics as a sign of the time (cold war, race relations and women’s rights primarily) along with a preview of things to come (performance enhancing drugs, apparel sponsorship, and the elitist nature of amateur sports).
The narrative is chronological and did a good job at keeping interest. In the end the story left me feeling not completely satisfied as I fe More...
The narrative is chronological and did a good job at keeping interest. In the end the story left me feeling not completely satisfied as I fe More...
Apr 01, 2011
Doug
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I read this as my "training" for the Beijing Olympics and loved it. Maraniss tells great stories and makes a compelling case for this as a very important Olympics historically. These Games came at a crucial time and played a big role in some tremendously significant areas: the Cold War, race relations, television. That Wilma Rudolph,a sprinter from whom I learned the word "indomitable," was a key player was an added bonus.
Sep 09, 2009
HHS
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It tells the story of the 1960 Olympics. It focuses on Wilma Rudolph, Cassius Clay, and Rafer Johnson. These athletes and others are portrayed during the Olympics as the times are changing from a more innocent time, to a time affected by the Cold War and the social changes that the 1960s are bringing, not only to the US, but also the world. Very good read.
Reviewed by:
Stewart Johnson
Social Studies Teacher
Reviewed by:
Stewart Johnson
Social Studies Teacher
Dec 12, 2008
Rich
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An interesting read. The book addresses the athletic accomplishments of many (including the 18 year old boxer who would become Mohammed Ali) with a look back on the athlete’s beginnings and in many cases their end. The cold war was at its peak and US and Communist nations used the Rome Olympics to espouse their ideology. Amateurism was a farce for much of the world yet an ideal that the Olympic leadership adamantly hung onto.
Of special interest was the challenge the US had in tout More...
Of special interest was the challenge the US had in tout More...
Sep 20, 2009
Ryan
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It was touted as an excellent look into the Olympics that changed everything. The book itself is good but it gets bogged down in details and stories that don't necessarily move the key thesis forward. I'm not so much interested in the details of the Olympic Village as I am in the "how" and "why" of how these Olympics were so important. This book could easily shed a couple hundred pages.
