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14th out of 111 books
—
58 voters
Nazi Games: The Olympics of 1936
The torch relay—that staple of Olympic pageantry—first opened the summer games in 1936 in Berlin. Proposed by the Nazi Propaganda Ministry, the relay was to carry the symbolism of a new Germany across its route through southeastern and central Europe. Soon after the Wehrmacht would march in jackboots over the same terrain.
The Olympic festival was a crucial part of the Naz...more
The Olympic festival was a crucial part of the Naz...more
Hardcover, 416 pages
Published
April 17th 2007
by W. W. Norton & Company
(first published April 16th 2007)
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Interested in Olympic sports and Nazi history? This is a must read.
The Nazi games are quite a story. Hitler's ideology didn't apply to reality since Jesse Owens, an American black man, outperformed all his best athletes of the Aryan race.
Hitler also had much of the anti-Jew, anti-gypsy and anti-homosexuality propaganda removed from view during the games so athletes and visitors wouldn't see what was really going on in Germany in 1936.
The Reich even provided young, virgin women to "service" th...more
The Nazi games are quite a story. Hitler's ideology didn't apply to reality since Jesse Owens, an American black man, outperformed all his best athletes of the Aryan race.
Hitler also had much of the anti-Jew, anti-gypsy and anti-homosexuality propaganda removed from view during the games so athletes and visitors wouldn't see what was really going on in Germany in 1936.
The Reich even provided young, virgin women to "service" th...more
While the title is accurate, I was about half-way through when I realized that the author would enlighten us about both the Winter and Summer Games, both hosted by Germany. The beginning chapters give a good overview of the International Olympic Committee's formation and work from 1896, and the Games prior to 1936. The overall Winter and Summer Sports pagentry, coupled with the state-of-the-art radio, TV and film coverage of the games, illuminates an aspect of German history that, for me, was la...more
A very well written book filled with about as much information about the 36 Olympics and the events leading up to it as anyone could have a right to expect. There's lots of various facts about the games, did you know that Jesse Owens was one of 19 Black American atheltes to participate in the games? Or that Owens felt more resentment against Roosevelt for failing to welcome him home after the games than against Hitler for refusing to shake his hand? However, if there is a villain in this piece,...more
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Most everyone knows the basics of the story: Hitler's agenda of proving the Aryan race superior through sport, Jesse Owens' landmark victory. "Nazi Games", unfortunately, majors on this common knowledge without really deepening our understanding of the games importance beyond pointing out the obvious.The style is perfunctory and utilitarian, and the historical and social analysis, again, is one that most people are already familiar with. A strictly introductory work, and an unengaging one at tha...more
I really wanted to like this book. It sounded so interesting, so I kept reading one boring chapter after another. The details were all there, but wow, pretty dry delivery and way too many of them. I made it halfway and then quit.
An interesting, critical look at the 1936 Olympics that were played out in Berlin, a country gearing up for war. Large plays out all the little dramas and stories, as well as well known ones, like the "snub" of Jesse Owens. He also points out the obsession with the Third Reich being the next "Greece," and so the Olympic Committee in Germany invented all these little myths and rituals that mostly carry over to today's games (most notably is the torch relay carrying the "Olympic Flame).
Very well...more
Very well...more
on page 64
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