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The 1936 Olympic Games played a key role in the development of both Hitler's Third Reich and international sporting competition. This volume gathers original essays by modern scholars from the Games' most prominent participating countries and lays out the issues -- sporting as well as political -- surrounding individual nations' involvement.

The Nazi Olympics opens with an analysis of Germany's preparations for the Games and the attempts by the Nazi regime to allay the international concerns about Hitler's racist ideals and expansionist ambitions.

Essays follow on the United States, Great Britain, and France -- three first-class Olympian nations with misgivings about participation -- as well as German ally Italy and future ally Japan. Other essays examine the issues at stake in Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and the Netherlands, which opposed Hitler's politics, despite embodying his Aryan ideal.

Challenging the view of sport as a trivial pursuit, this collection reveals exactly how high the political stakes were in 1936 and how the Nazi Olympics distilled many of the critical geopolitical issues of the time into a contest that was anything but trivial. ... Read more

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Part of a series that explores the Olympic Games, ancient and modern, enabling children to link the origins of the games to their modern equivalent. Each book features in-depth profiles of a particular role or job at the Games, factboxes and message boards detailing announcements, lists and quotes. The books link together history, geography, sport and citizenship and tie in with the Olympic Games to be held in Greece in 2004. This title looks at the origin of the Games, where they were held, the sporting events, and how these were different from a modern-day idea of a sporting event. ... Read more

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This reference work gives information on all athletes who have set world Olympic or American records in track and field since 1946. Arranged by track and field events, a listing of the record holders is first provided. This is followed by an accounting of each of the record-setting performances, including athlete's name, country and record. For most record holders, a brief profile is given, focusing on the actual record and providing information on the athlete's overall career. ... Read more

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Mexican leaders eagerly anticipated the attention that hosting the world s most visible sporting event would bring, yet they could not have predicted the array of conflicts that would play out before the eyes of the world during the notorious 1968 Mexico City Olympics. Following 20 years of economic growth and political stability known as the Mexican miracle Mexican policy makers escaped their prior image of being economically underdeveloped to successfully craft an image of a nation that was both modern and cosmopolitan but also steeped in culture and tradition. Buoyed by this new image, they set their sights on the Olympic bid, and they not only won but also prepared impressive facilities.


Prior to the opening ceremonies, several controversies emerged, the most glaring of which was a student protest movement that culminated in a public massacre, leaving several hundred students dead. Less dramatic were concerns that athletes would suffer harm in the high elevation and thin air, debates over the nature of amateurism, threats by nations opposing apartheid to boycott if South Africa was allowed to compete, and the introduction of drug and gender testing. Additionally the Olympics provided a forum for the United States and the Soviet Union to carry their Cold War rivalry to the playing field a way to achieve victory without world destruction at stake.


During the Games, one of the most significant controversies occurred when two African American athletes, Tommie Smith and John Carlos, raised their fists in the Black Power salute while on the medal stand. This gesture brought worldwide attention to racism within the United States and remains a lasting image of both the Mexico City Olympics and the Civil Rights movement. Although the Olympics are intended to bring athletes of the world together for harmonious competition, the 1968 Games will long be remembered as fraught with discord. This ambitious and comprehensive study will appeal to those interested in U.S. history, Latin American history, sports history, and Olympic history. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A great "view" from the eyes of one who saw this event
Kevin Witherspoon has captured the essence of this historical event in succinct and captivating terms.His writing is clear, readible, and enjoyble, while being informative.I found the history of the Olympics and how it came to be in Mexico City especially interesting.Most of us who saw this Olympics remember it mostly for the two Americans with their bowed heads and raised black-gloved fists.Witherspoon gives greater perspective to the meaning behind that one snapshot in time.A good read, worth your time and investment, with hoepfully more to come from this aspiring and gifted sports historian. ... Read more

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This Great Symbol is the definitive study of the origins of the modern Olympic Games and of their founder, Pierre de Coubertin, whose ideological stamp the Olympics still bear. Behind this fascinating blend of biography and history lies an impressive framework of cultural, social, and psychological theories skilfully employed to interpret the creation and symbolism of the modern Olympic Games. Hailed as both a classic in sport history and as a paradigmatic study in the anthropology of the past, This Great Symbol helped launch the new collaboration between historians and cultural anthropologists that continues to mark the human sciences worldwide. For this 25^th anniversary edition, Professor MacAloon adds a new preface evaluating subsequent scholarship on Coubertin and the Olympic origins and a highly personal afterword describing the impact of This Great Symbol on his own subsequent career as an Olympic anthropologist and cultural performance theory.

This book was published as a special issue of the International Journal of the History of Sport.

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"The Olympic Games in Transition" presents a stimulating mix of 28 papers by sportswriters, sociologists, historians, and lawyers that chronicles the evolution of the Olympics from ancient Greece to modern times. Editors Jeffrey Segrave and Donald chu masterfully blend original contributions and articles from popular and academic literature to provide fascinating accounts of the first contests in ancient Greece, Pierre de Coubertin's revival of the modern Games, and more. Special attention is given to contemporary issues in the Olympics such as drug use and abuse, commercialism, amateur status, reform - and the future of the Games themselves. ... Read more

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Written by acknowledged experts in the field of sports history and sports statistics, Whitaker's Olympic Almanack is the Olympics Bible.It presents detailed information about every Games since 1896 as well as every sport in the Olympics pantheon--past, present, and future.

More than just simple historical accounts, the alphabetically arranged entries in this resource include anecdotes and stories about the personalities involved in the key events. ... Read more

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The Olympic Games have had two lives—the first lasted for a millennium with celebrations every four years at Olympia to honour the god Zeus. The second has blossomed over the past century, from a simple start in Athens in 1896 to a dazzling return to Greece in 2004. Onward to the Olympics provides both an overview and an array of insights into aspects of the Games’ history. Leading North American archaeologists and historians of sport explore the origins of the Games, compare the ancient and the modern, discuss the organization and financing of such massive athletic festivals, and examine the participation ,or the troubling lack of it, by women.

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Presents a brief history of the ancient and modern Olympic games. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Goofy shows you the sports of the ancient olympics and now.
This book is the best book in the world, and that's the truth!I read it from my school library a bunch of times.I want it more than anything in the world right now.It's so good! ... Read more

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For over one thousand years between 776 B.C. and A.D. 395, princes, statesmen, and famous athletes gathered every four years at Olympia in western Greece to compete for the olive crowns of the ancient Olympic Games. Judith Swaddling traces the mythological and religious origins of the games and describes the events, religious ceremony, and celebrations that were an essential part of the Olympic festival. The book also features a large, detailed model of the site of ancient Olympia, where, alongside religious and civic buildings, there grew an elaborate sports complex with a stadium for 40,000 spectators, indoor and outdoor training facilities, hot and cold baths, a swimming pool, and a race course. For this revised edition, three new chapters have been added, covering the diet and medical treatment of athletes; sponsorship, patronage, and propaganda; and revivals of the games. Superbly illustrated with vases, sculpture, and other works of ancient art, and with new views of the site, the new edition of this indispensable account of Ancient Olympia and the games now includes color reproduction for over half the illustrations, as well as many additional pictures. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

great service great product
i bought this for my greek civilization class. The book was delivered promptly and in perfect condition.Great Seller

Olympia & the Ancient Games
When you buy a book that deals with a certain subject, you look for a few things that make the book worth your time. You want the book to give you the feeling of the time, you want to be entertained, you want to learn things, and have an easy reading experience. This book passes with high marks on all cases. Now, granted this book is not that long, but in some ways that's the beauty of the work.

If you are truly interested in the Ancient Olympic games, then I vow to you that this is the book to buy!!! The book is presented well and does not become dull from the start to the finish.

thank you for your time ... Read more

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An account of the Olympic games as they probably occurred in 400 B.C. when they were at the height of their classic glory. ... Read more

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Publisher: ScribnerPublication date: 1908Subjects: OlympicsHistory / GeneralJuvenile Nonfiction / Sports ... Read more

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Jesse Owens secured his place as one of the most celebrated athletes of the twentieth-century after winning four gold medals at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. This book examines the press coverage of the time, which helped to elevate Owens to such status. Pamela C. Laucella utilizes examples not just from the mainstream press, but also from the black and Communist press, and reveals critical differences in the tone, emphasis, and type of coverage. She offers exceptional insight into the potency of language and discourse in influencing readers’ perceptions of events and individuals and demonstrates how the press coverage of the 1930s continues to shape our understandings of Owens’ legacy.