Book Description
Athletics and politics collide in a critical event for Nazi Germany and the contemporary world.

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 Nazi regime's mobilization of power. Nazi Games offers a superb blend of history and sport. The narrative includes a stirring account of the international effort to boycott the games, derailed finally by the American Olympic Committee and the determination of its head, Avery Brundage, to participate. Nazi Games also recounts the dazzling athletic feats of these Olympics, including Jesse Owens's four gold-medal performances and the marathon victory of Korean runner Kitei Son, the Rising Sun of imperial Japan on his bib. 25 b/w photographs. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

An Encompassing Look at the 1936 Olympic Games
This fine book is a comprehensive look at the 1936 Olympic Games.The book includes not only a well-done, and even myth-exploding, recounting of the standard stories of these Games, i.e., the summer Olympics in Berlin, but also contains an interesting review of the history of the modern Olympics leading up to the '36 Games, as well as an examination of the back-door politics over threatened boycotts of these Games, a look at the 1936 Winter Olympics (also held in Germany), and a dissection of Leni Riefenstahl's influential film, "Olympiad."

In addition, intertwined within all these facets of the 1936 Games is an absorbing account of the politics involved on all sides.In this regard, many people (German, American, and British) come out looking badly.Aside from the usual suspects (i.e., the Nazi cast of characters including Hitler and Goebbels, who come across as obviously flawed but also prescient in the use of media to their advantage), it is Avery Brundage, the head of the American Olympic Committee (who subsequently became the head of the International Olympic Committee) who comes across as perhaps the worst.Mr. Brundage, thanks to scrupulously maintained archives of his acts, is exposed as a bull-headed, anti-Semite.

In one respect, however, it is the Germans who come across the best, not by the character of their actions, but by the quality of their manipulations, turning a worldwide sporting event into an advertisement for the new Germany; an advertisement that left the world with a positive perception of Nazi Germany.

In sum, this is a well-rounded look at the 1936 Olympics that explores not just the triumphs and tragedies of the events themselves but also the bigger picture of the politics and propaganda surrounding the Games.

Would a widespread boycott of the 1936 Berlin Olympics really have made a difference?
That is the million dollar question that governments, historians and academics have been wrestling with for the past 70 years. On the surface it would certainly appear that a successful boycott of the 1936 Summer Olympics by the major democracies of the world might have dealt Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party a serious setback.But would a boycott alone have been enough to deal the Third Reich a fatal blow?And why were nations like England, France and the United States so reluctant to withdraw from these games??The answers to these questions and numerous others are not quite as simple as they might seem.In "Nazi Games: The Olympics of 1936" author David Clay Large presents a comprehensive look at the social and political upheaval leading up to the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin as well as offering a pretty revealing look at the games themselves and at the athletes who chose to participate in them.
The fact of the matter was that the goals and ideals of the Olympic movement were antihical to just about everything that the Nazi party stood for.But Adolf Hitler and his henchman saw in these Olympic games a propoganda opportunity of momentous proportions.With the obvious benefit of 20/20 hindsight it is really difficult to understand why various world leaders and members of the International Olympic Committee chose to play along with these thugs and seemed unwilling to do due diligence and dig a little deeper and demand answers to so many of the troubling questions that government officials, journalists and average citizens were asking in the weeks and months leading up to the games.Did the Nazis actually get to some of these prominent people or did the vast majority of Olympic officials truly agree with the AOC official Avery Brundage when he opined time and again that "the Olympics should supercede politics?"David Clay Large explores these important questions in great detail throughout "Nazi Games".
Now as I indicated earlier Large also presents his readers with a fairly detailed summary of the 1936 summer games themselves. You will meet many of the athletes who excelled in areas such as track and field, rowing, boxing and of course gymnastics.And you will find out which nations dominated these sports and why.American readers will be especially interested in the athletic prowess displayed by the legendary black athlete Jesse Owens who almost single-handedly dominated the track and field events in these games. Likewise, Glenn Morris, a 24 year old car salesman from Denver, scored an impressive victory in the decathlon and snatched a gold medal for the U.S.There were many other impressive performances by athletes from all over the globe in these games.In fact, many observers declared that the 1936 Berlin games were indeed the best games yet since the Olympics were revived in 1896.Yet it is quite clear that there was a pall of hatred and racism hanging over these games that was clearly about to explode.Seems like far too many people were in a state of denial.It really makes you wonder if we are not seeing this same phenomenon repeating itself as the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing, China draw near.Stay tuned.
In "Nazi Games: The Olympic Games of 1936" author Daniel Clay Large does a workmanlike job of weaving together two disparate story lines.Readers get an inside look at the horrors of Nazi politics while at the same time learning all about the Olympic movement and the international sports scene. I thought that Large pulled this off quite well most of the time but every once in a while I found "Nazi Games" to be just a bit long-winded.Nonetheless, "Nazi Games" certainly is a fine addition to the historical record and a book worthy of your time and attention.Recommended.

Fantastic, insightful overview of the 1936 Olympic Games
I suppose that I should issue a pre-review caveat: I am hardly an expert on the history of World War II in general, and am even less of an expert when it comes to the history of sports (Olympic or otherwise). Consequently, some of the notes mentioned in the other reviews--and, especially, some of the errors pointed out--flew right by me.

That said, I greatly enjoyed "Nazi Games" for what it did provide: a fantastically written account of one of the strangest sporting events of the twentieth century. Large eschews the standard, overly dry historical tone in favor of something befitting the energetic subject matter at hand, while simultaneously taking into account the looming dread and foreboding captured by the epoch in question. By detailing the historical events (both directly related to the Olympics and otherwise) that led up to the 1936, Large is able to contextualize the 1936 games with an preestablished cast of characters, and thus move his reader with considerable ease through a tale that involves a fair bit of action, but also a good amount of bureaucratic wrangling, diplomatic maneuvering, and domestic/international upheaval.

As someone entering a new period of enthusiasm for WWII-era history, I found Large's subject matter and execution to be very refreshing. While my lack of expertise in the subject at hand makes me wary of recommending the work based on factual accuracy alone, I can heartily recommend it as a well-written and well-researched look into the Olympic "calm"--although it was, of course, nothing of the sort--before the storm of WWII.

Excellentview on the 1936 Olympics
Within a short time four books have been published on the 1936 Olympics Games. No wonder, because these were the most fascinating Games of the 20th Century. Historian David Clay Large's account of the Games gives no real new insight in what happened in the years 1933-1936 with all the problems and political events regarding the Games in Berlin, but the book is so well written! David Clay Large is at his best when dealing with the complex history before the Games took place. In my opinion he could have done more with the Games themselves. Apart from the track and field the writing here is rather short and dutiful. But the chapters on the movie 'Olympia' and the Epilogue 'The Games must go on' are again superb.
There are some little mistakes that could easily have been avoided. On page 58 Large writes: 'R.M.N. Tisdall, one of Britain's first black Olympians, won the four-hundred meter race' (in 1932). Three mistakes in one sentence. Tisdall was not a black but a white athlete, he was not from Great-Britain but from Ireland and hij did not won the 400 meters but the 400 metres hurdles. Mr Large states on page 265 that gymnastics for women were for the first time included in the 1936 Olympic program. This is not correct. The first time was in 1928 in Amsterdam. The half-jewish German fencer Helene Mayer did not die in 1961 but in 1953 (page 267). Eulace Peacock did not win the silver medal in the 100 m in 1932, he did not even took part. There are some more, but it is not that important. "Nazi Games" is a very good book. I enjoyed reading it.

1936 Olympics: Triumph of the Propagandist
Berlin's Olympics of 1936: The mother of all monuments to the unholy mix of sports and politics.For three weeks in the summer of that year (and earlier at the Winter Games, also held in Germany), the Nazis camouflaged (or nearly so) the ugly reality in favor of a happy face of Teutonic pride and prowess.

In a tour-de-force of probing research and supple exposition, history professor David Clay Large (himself an accomplished distance runner) first sets the Olympics of 1936 in the context of Baron de Coubertin's revival of their Greek forerunner, and then delves into the unsavory brew of athletics and nationalism, which Berlin has come to epitomize.

The picture isn't edifying, for many foresaw the implications.Though today the duplicity of Leni Riefenstahl's film "Olympia" is widely recognized (whatever its merits as innovative documentary), few know of the efforts of the American Jewish Congress, the NAACP, as well as labor, socialist, and communist organizations to thwart the Berlin games, or at least instigate a boycott by athletes.Large also sheds new light on the tale of "Hitler snubbing Jesse Owens."Not only are most accounts fundamentally mythic, Owens directed harsh words for withheld congratulations to FDR, not Hitler.

Emblematic of Nazi propaganda aims was the campaign leading up to the Winter Games to rid the Garmisch-Partenkirschen area of anti-Semitic signs.The world, of course, soon learned all-too-well of the Nazis' commitment to Jewish extermination.(This was no drive to reform the population, such as seen in the recent move by the Chinese to curtail public spitting in advance of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.)

The role of Olympic Goliath, American Avery Brundage, receives a thorough bruising.Brundage's papers collected at the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, prove a revealing trove.Not only did the leader of the U.S. Olympic Committee vehemently oppose the boycott proposals, he gave open support for racial explanations of African-American victories trumped up by the German hosts.(Not to mention Brundage's subsequent reward in the form of the construction contract for the German Embassy in Washington, D.C.!)

Finally, in a well-considered epilogue Large explores the fallout from Berlin's 1936 Games.The U.S.'s "ill-advised" participation helped leverage Jimmy Carter's boycott of the 1980 Moscow Olympics (in response to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan), leading to the USSR's refusal to attend the Los Angeles Games four years later.In 1972, Avery Brudage, by then head of the International Olympic Committee, still suffering from the myopia exhibited in Berlin, ordered the Games in Munich to proceed a mere day after the killing of eleven Israeli athletes by armed Palestinians.Are there parallels between the Third Reich's propaganda triumphs of 1936 and the possibilities for China to mask its human rights abuses in the up-coming Beijing Olympics?"Nazi Games" frames the question nicely.
... Read more

Book Description
This book is a succinct history of both the ancient Olympics and their modern resurgence. ... Read more

Book Description
Why is hosting the Olympic Games so important to China? What is the significance of a quintessential symbol of Western civilization taking place in the heart of the Far East? Will the Olympics change China, or will China change the Olympics? Susan Brownel ... Read more

Book Description

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.

Customer Reviews (1)

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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Customer Reviews (7)

The fun doesn't get translated
French version is great, one of my favorite comics. English version is plain boring. They translated the words, not the fun.

A very good album - almost prophetic of the doping scandals
In this fine Asterix album, after learning that there is a Roman soldier in one of the garrisons surrounding the village preparing for the (ancient) Olympic Games, the Gaulish tribe decide they should participate too, much to the consternation of the Romans. So all the males in the village go to Olympia en masse, thinking that the magic potion will give them a natural advantage over their competitors. But once the Greeks learn about the magic potion, they won't have anything with athletes using it and threaten to disqualify the Gauls (remember, this book was written in the 1960s, many years before the doping scandals surrounding the Olympic Games). This forces Asterix to enter the games on his own, without the help of the potion, against (seemingly) much stronger opponents (Obelix, having fallen into Panoramix's pot as a child, is disqualified forever of participation in the games). A great book from the Goscinny and Uderzo series.

Asterix gets a little excercise in Greece
A bit of a change from other Asterix stories, this one lacks much usage of the famous "magic potion" when it would have helped, but the little Gaul manages just fine without.Very funny and a good lesson in ancient Greece.

The village goes to Greece.
Rene Goscinny, Asterix at the Olympic Games (Dargaud, 1968)

When Asterix and Obelix happen upon a legionary training for the Olympic games, the village decides that they should enter, as well. Hilarity ensues. Another amusing Asterix adventure; if you like the others, you'll like this one. ***

Greek Asterix
The Romans by Vitalstatistix's village are very excited. Their strongest legionaire, Glueteus Maximus, is going to the Greek Olympics. Vitalstatistix, and the rest of his village want to play too. Only Romans and Greeks are allowed. Luckily, the Gauls are Gallo-Romans now, Julius Caesar said so, so off they go to Greece to compete...

Asterix #12 (1968) was "Asterix and the Olympic Games". Bit dry, I thought. Ending was disappointing. Just felt a bit out of style with how the Gauls go through with things. Getafix especially. Though it's nice to see Greece... ... Read more

Book Description
What was it like to attend the ancient Olympic Games?

With the summer Olympics’ return to Athens, Tony Perrottet delves into the ancient world and lets the Greek Games begin again. The acclaimed author of Pagan Holiday brings attitude, erudition, and humor to the fascinating story of the original Olympic festival, tracking the event day by day to re-create the experience in all its compelling spectacle.

Using firsthand reports and little-known sources—including an actual Handbook for a Sports Coach used by the Greeks—The Naked Olympics creates a vivid picture of an extravaganza performed before as many as forty thousand people, featuring contests as timeless as the javelin throw and as exotic as the chariot race.

Peeling away the layers of myth, Perrottet lays bare the ancient sporting experience—including the round-the-clock bacchanal inside the tents of the Olympic Village, the all-male nude workouts under the statue of Eros, and history’s first corruption scandals involving athletes. Featuring sometimes scandalous cameos by sports enthusiasts Plato, Socrates, and Herodotus, The Naked Olympics offers essential insight into today’s Games and an unforgettable guide to the world’s first and most influential athletic festival.

"Just in time for the modern Olympic games to return to Greece this summer for the first time in more than a century, Tony Perrottet offers up a diverting primer on the Olympics of the ancient kind….Well researched; his sources are as solid as sources come.It's also well writen….Perhaps no book of the season will show us so briefly and entertainingly just how complete is our inheritance from the Greeks, vulgarity and all."
--The Washington Post ... Read more

Customer Reviews (25)

The truth about the Olympics
I've never been a sports fan, so I thought I might find this book rather a bore.But in fact there isn't a dull moment in this very entertaining account of what the Olympic Games were like in ancient Greece.

It is fascinating to learn that the games themselves were only a part of the events that took place, with religious celebrations predominating. Enormous numbers of animals were sacrificed to the gods in the course of the games. The events were a lot more colourful than the modern Olympics, with violence and bloodshed not uncommon.Men competed in the events naked, which you may or may not find an agreeable thought.Married women were not allowed to attend the Games, though women had their own seperate festival where foot races were run.Single women were allowed to attend, and there were prostitutes in plenty.

This is the sort of book I love, packed with fascinating facts that make me exclaim "Gosh, I never knew that!" at frequent intervals.Well worth reading.

Pretty much a drawn-out high school school book report
When I picked up this book (thankfully from the library), I thought that, like any decent non-fiction book, a book about the Ancient Olympics would probably be written by someone who knew what he was talking about.Nope.This guy is not a classical scholar.His "primary sources" are all translations.Further, he began studying the Ancient Olympics explicitly for the purpose of writing this book, which means he does not have a broad background of knowledge.

The book is essentially a very long list of regurgitated facts about the games.While the facts themselves are interesting, the writer is not.He didn't have enough to say to fill up an entire book, so he repeats many of the facts throughout the text.His style of presentation is completely unispired and a little disorganized.Further, there are obvious errors.The most glaring exmaple is the discussion of the javelin throw.Perrottet wrote, "Ancient authors claimed that throws of over 90 meters/270 feet were possible, about half the length of the Stadium and far beyond the modern record of 60 meters." (110)Remember that old game from "Highlights" magazine, "What's Wrong With This Picture?".Let's play.First - no source given on the measurement.Second - elsewhere in the text the author claims the Greeks didn't much care about measurements, throws were generally not measured, and ancient measurements should not be given much worth.Third -90 meters is not 270 feet!.90 meters is about 295 feet.The 270 figure is not even close.If he said "over 90 meters/300 feet" I would buy that as about right, but the 270 feet figure is simply inexcusable.Fourth - the modern javelin record is not 60 meters .That's two egregious factual errors in the same sentence.The modern javelin world record is 98.48 meters.This isn't just a boo-boo typo.It means the author's entire claim - that the ancient javelin went further - is completely bogus.Why should I believe any of the other things this guy wrote down?

Whipping away the shroud of time
"The Naked Olympics: The True Story of the Ancient Games" by Tony Perrottet is a wonderful book describing the ancient Greek games. It's aptly titled, too, in two different ways. First, in the ancient Olympics, the contestants performed nude, without clothing that would prevent spectators from admiring their glorious physiques. But more importantly, Perrottet lifts the respectable veneer that is so often draped over classical times. Many writers have difficulties describing the past. Either they write with such awe that the ancients seem to have been gods, instead of mortals, or the writers write in such a way that we seem to be viewing through a dust-covered lens that makes everything seem old and faded.

Perrottet, though, brings the past alive in a way that makes the reader see and hear and even taste, feel and smell - especially smell! - what it was like to participate in these ancient games. Through a variety of different ancient sources, including contemporary texts, vase paintings, statues and a visit to the ruins of Olympia, he is able to give us a well-rounded experience. He guides us through the importance of the games in honoring the gods, how athletes trained, including specific, faddish diets that they followed, the evolution of the different events, the role that women played (unfortunately very little), the discomfort felt by the crowds, and even how physicians treated injuries. "The Naked Olympics" is great fun, and even though the Olympics are not being held in Athens this year, it's worth reading this book to appreciate them wherever they take place (the winter Olympics are taking place in Turin, Italy in 2006).

A Good Read
The more books I read about ancient history, the more I come to realize that the best ones are NOT written by historians!Archaeologist Tony Perrottet does a great job describing life in Ancient Greece and the evolution of sport in western society.

I picked this up right after the '04 games in Athens, still in the grip of Olympics fever.But don't wait until '08 to read this wonderful book.

Appropriate release time
Now that the summer Olympics are upon us, this book, which tells the reader about the original Greek Olympoics in Olympia, is particularly welcome. It goes through a typical Olympics, showing the religious aspects of the games, and also the various events that were held.It doesn't stint on the darker side of the games, but the approach to the book is rather light-hearted, and even with that a lot of new information is imparted to the reader. It's well worth reading, and I highly recommend it. ... Read more

Book Description

Book Description

Already the world has seen the political, economic, and cultural significance of hosting the 2008 Olympics in Beijing—in policies instituted and altered, positions softened, projects undertaken. But will the Olympics make a lasting difference? This book approaches questions about the nature and future of China through the lens of sports—particularly as sports finds its utmost international expression in the Olympics.

Drawing on newly available archival sources to analyze a hundred-year perspective on sports in China, Olympic Dreams explores why the country became obsessed with Western sports at the turn of the twentieth century, and how it relates to China’s search for a national and international identity. Through case studies of ping-pong diplomacy and the Chinese handling of various sporting events, the book offers unexpected details and unusual insight into the patterns and processes of China’s foreign policymaking—insights that will help readers understand China’s interactions with the rest of the world.

Among the questions Xu Guoqi brings to the fore are: Why did Mao Zedong choose competitive ping-pong to manipulate world politics? How did the two-China issue nearly kill the 1976 Montreal Olympic Games? And why do the 2008 Olympics present Beijing with unprecedented dangers and opportunities? In exploring these questions, Xu brilliantly articulates a fresh and surprising perspective on China as an international sport superpower as well as a new “sick man of East Asia.” In Olympic Dreams, he presents an eloquent argument that in the deeply unsettled China of today, sport, as a focus of popular interest, has the capacity to bring about major social changes.

Book Description
Watched every two years by more than 2.5 billion people, the Olympics are much more than the world's largest regularly scheduled sporting event; they're an international political and economic colossus. The meaning of the Olympic motto Citius, Altius, Fortius now applies as much to the fast media saturation, high financial stakes, and strong political interests of today's Games as it does to the athletes' performances in the sports competition itself.

Power, Politics, and the Olympic Games chronicles the influential individuals, groups, and events that have shaped the Olympics since the modern Games began in 1896. This insightful and highly readable work offers a critical, historical perspective of the political and social controversies that have surrounded the world's greatest sports spectacle. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Politics of the Olympics
I read this book for my term paper for 8th grade on the Politics of the Olympics.We could choose any topic from history, so that's what I chose, because I'm a swimmer.It was really helpful and interesting.It's sad there's so much fighting that has nothing to do with the sports, but that's the way the world is.I wish I could take Prof. Senn's college course.

Politics and Sports Intertwined in the Olympic Games
Alfred Senn is Professor Emeritus at the University of Wisconsin-Madison History Dept., and that is where he first developed his course entitled "The Political History of the Modern Olympics."This book is theresult of two decades of research and interviews of athletes, sportsfederation administrators, and Olympic officials beginning during the USboycott of the Moscow Games in 1980.This book is a comprehensivepresentation of much of the information from his lectures, and forms thebasic text of the course for undergraduate students.Readers withinacademia will benefit from its quality scholarship and solid documentation. The general public will enjoy its easy readability and gain a broaderknowledge of the "behind the scenes" maneuvering and politickingof the leaders of international sport. What this book can offer that othersoften cannot is the view from the other side of the "IronCurtain."Senn is a Soviet scholar by training and his book includesa large amount of material gathered exclusively from Soviet files andinterviews, a resource closed to many other authors.In the final pages ofthe book he devotes considerable attention to the breakup of the SovietUnion and the athletic consequences of that disintegration for the EasternEuropean sports "machines." I strongly recommend this text toanyone wishing to expand his or her knowledge of the workings of theInternational Olympic Committee and the political conflicts that havearisen over the years within the Games themselves or the Olympic structure. ... Read more

Book Description

No sporting event has a wider scope than an Olympic telecast. With this international reach comes great power and potential impact on many societiesa power that many critics claim is being misused. This is the first academic text to explore TV sports media's output from this 'behind the scenes' perspective including the first scholarly interviews with the influential US broadcasters and producers and sports media professionals.

This unique text examines how NBC does (or doesn't) construct its coverage with identity issues in mind. Interviews with key media personnel and analysis of the telecast processes before, during and after the Olympics provide the basis for introducing media and cultural studies theory and discussion of sports media in modern society more generally.

Book Description

Customer Reviews (2)

Readable, Practical and Definitive
This book was purchased as a gift for an aspiring Beijing 2008 Olympic decathlete, and I was extremely pleased with its concise content, historical data, illustrations, and overall presentation.
A great reference book and a perfect "coffee-table" book. Thankyou.

Worthwhile, though challenging reading
A decent retrospective of over a century of Olympic history. It is not a smooth read, though, and you will need to take frequent breaks to rest your eyes due to the small type. I also noticed several errors in the statistical information in the back of the book, which the author claims was done by a third-party. It was still a worthwhile purchase and does enhance my Olympic library. ... Read more

Book Description

IN 1936, Adolf Hitler welcomed the world to Berlin to attend the Olympic Games. It promised to be not only a magnificent sporting event but also a grand showcase for the rebuilt Germany. No effort was spared to present the Third Reich as the newest global power. But beneath the glittering surface, the Games of the Eleventh Olympiad of the Modern Era came to act as a crucible for the dark political forces that were gathering, foreshadowing the bloody conflict to come.

Customer Reviews (2)

A Chronicle of Hypocrisy
This book is an interesting, and long overdue, chronicle of not just the 1936 Olympic Games themselves (held in Hitler's Germany) but also of the many machinations that went on behind the scenes to ensure that the Games would be held despite the Nazis' treatment of the Jews and others considered to be undesirable.

Thus, despite the fact that the Nazis had passed the Nuremberg Laws in 1935 (forbidding, e.g., marriage or sexual relations between Jews and Germans), the International Olympic Committee worked with the Nazis to ensure that the games went on and colloborated in pretending that there was no actual discrimination.

In this regard, placed in a particularly bad light are American sports officials who more often than not were guilty of racism, prejudice, and anti-Semitism against their own citizens.(E.g., much to do was made in the American press about the (apparently false) story that Hitler snubbed Jesse Owens by refusing to shake his hand, yet Jesse Owens came home to a country whose citizens as a whole treated him worse than the Germans he dealt with during the Olympics.)

In the end, however, despite all the much-deserved hoopla about Jesse Owens, the real winners of the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games were the Nazis as they impressed the world with their efficiency (a record number of countries, over 4 dozen, participated in the Games) and the Games were a propaganda bonanza for them.For example, the Nazis instituted the practice of carrying the Olympic torch from Olympia to the site of the games, an event which they heavily publicised.In addition, their organization of the Games was impeccable (including premier housing for the athletes), their Olympic Stadium (holding over 100,000 spectators) was a monumental showpiece, and the Games even turned a profit.In this respect, perhaps the most telling moment of the Games was the opening ceremonies when the speaker's podium was decorated not just with the familiar Olympic symbol of five interlocking Olympic rings but a giant German eagle clutching the Olympic rings in its talons.

Interspersed within the story of the politics surrounding these Olympics is a treasure trove of information about the background of many of the athletes (including their personal prejudices) and the events at these Games.

Overall, the book is a very well written and interesting account of the 1936 Olympic Games that exposes much of the hyprocrisy that allowed them to go on after the Nazis came to power and also reveals much about many of the athletes who participated in the Games.

Documents Don't Lie, People Do
The 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin was a watershed moment for sports and politics, with its ramifications rippling through history some 70 years later.

Author Guy Walters does impeccible research of documents and individuals to bring a complete picture of how the Nazi Party virtually took over the International Olympic movement as it set the stage for war. Though the Games were awarded to Germany before the Nazi Party took full control of the government and Hitler was initially not in favor of holding the event, the benefits from a propoganda machine operating from every home to each Olympic venue became too great to pass up.

Though athletic officials and politicians knew about the growing oppression in Germany, Walters uses documents and quotes culled from meetings to show the utter appeasement that occurred. For example, American sports official Avery Brundage had written that Hitler was "a god," and then did everything in his power to successfully discredit and destroy the movement in the U.S. to boycott the competition.

Brundage did not see anything wrong with the Nazi ideal, but he did deal harshly with a top female swimmer on the U.S. team. She was kicked off the squad due to her partying on the ocean liner that was taking the team to Europe.

There were athletes who wanted to use the world stage to destroy the myths surrounding the Nazi movement. A German wrestler - who was a member of the Communist Party - hoped to parlay a winning performance by refusing to give the Nazi salute on the medal stand and use a live-radio interview as a means to tell the world about the real Germany.

There were other athletes who used the Olympics for different goals. A South African boxer was so taken with the Nazi Party that he was later recruited as a spy and became part of a plot to assassinate the president of his nation.

Add in the dress-rehearsal for the summer competition, the 1936 Winter Games in Bavaria, the reoccupation of the Rhineland and legendary athletes like Jesse Owens and Ralph Metcalfe, the Berlin Games was a backdrop to the excellence of competition and the viciousness of totalitarianism.

And in the end, Walters rips apart the screen that so many toadies of the Nazi Party had hid behind for too many years. ... Read more

Book Description
The Olympic tradition began in ancient Greece as early as 776 BC. The first modern games were held in Athens more than two millennia later in 1896. In the summer of 2004 the Games are returning to the country of their birth. This updated edition previews the upcoming historic Games, and covers the beautiful venues, inspiring athletes, and the spectacle surrounding the world's greatest sporting event. Features include an index of important facts as well as detailed statistical information about every medal winner since the first modern games. Covering 44 Olympiads over a century, stunning action photos taken by top sports journalists capture the true spirit of the games. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Definitive Guide with Full-Color Action Photographs
"In the year 2004, the Olympics will return to their spiritual birthplace, Greece. The Greek capital, Athens, will host a Games featuring more than 10,200 athletes from 200 countries."

If you are a fan of the Summer and Winter Olympic Games then you might want to own this as a highly collectable documentation of every one of the Olympic Games since 1896. Full previews of Athens, 2004, Beijing, 2008 and Torino, 2006 are included.

Each section covers about 4 pages and a quarter of the book is dedicated to statistics. You can look on a chart for each year to find the Event and who won the Gold, Silver or Bronze medals. The extensive index contains the names of competitors and personalities mentioned in the text.

Extra Features: See the new medals and who designed them with Greek elements and explore the construction efforts and newly built arenas. You can look up every athlete, event and result since 1896. Pretty impressive!

~The Rebecca Review
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Book Description
Ready to Use: Venture Capital Term Sheets is the definitive resource for understanding, drafting and negotiating deals. The CD-ROM features a variety of sample term sheets used by leading venture capitalists, in a Word document that can be customized for your use. Written by leading corporate lawyers and fine tuned by leading venture capitalists, the contracts represent the industry standard for these types of agreements.Within this document are several term sheets examples, including one with line by line descriptions of the correct wording for "entrepreneur favorable," "investor favorable" and "neutral," originally written by a lawyer specializing in term sheets, with commentary by the author (a venture capitalist at Boston Capital Ventures) on descriptions of each clause, what can/should be negotiated, and the important points to pay attention to. Also within these documents are line by line wording on: rights, preferrences & privileges of series A pref! erred; new securities offered; total ammount raised, # of shares & purchase price of shares; post-financing capitalizations; dividend provisions; liquidation preferences; redemption; conversion & automatic conversion; dilution clauses; voting rights; protective provisions; board composition; special board approval items; information rights; registration rights; right of first refusal; conditions precedent; purchase agreement; employee matters; closing date, legal counsel, expenses & finders; non-disclosure agreement; documents likely to be requested during due diligence; convertible promissory notes; terms of the offering; terms of private placement of series A preferred stock; charter; investor rights agreement; co-sale and voting agreement; private placement of equity security; terms for first round venture capital financing. Within these documents lies a wealth of critical information that every entrepreneur, CEO, VC and lawyer should have at their fingertips. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (21)

What a surprise
When I started reading this book, I thought that I had made a big mistake in buying it.After reading about half of it, I decided that I was learning much about the man in reading about how he accomplished things and why he was successful.There are probably better books to tell about Mitt Romney, but this one will do if you have the time to wade through much detail (simply scan part of it)and like to read about methods of achieving success.

Boring... just real boring
The basic concept of this story was interesting. The Olympics are exciting... unfortunately, 150 pages dedicated to a line-by-line analysis of an Olympic budget is not exciting. Nor is the constant name-dropping of international CEOs and executives. Nor is the re-affirmation every 40 pages that Mitt sacrificed a lot by leaving his multi-billion dollar private equity firm to work for the Olympics and the accompanying statement that he was blessed enough in his life to be able to afford to make that sacrifice.

I gave this book two more stars than I wanted to because a) Amazon won't let me give a book zero stars and b) I like the Olympics.

This book does accomplish one thing: It's a 400-page long example of just how detached from the average voter Mitt really is.

An Insight into How Romney Works!
If you want to know how Mitt Romney approaches business this is a valuable book to read.

Mitt Romney was doing really well in the business world until his dear wife Ann told him that God had been good to them and now it was time to give back. Romney did just that and turned around the Olympics. After that challeng he sorted out Massachusettes and now he has got his eye on the White House.

If you're American and qualified to vote you've got to read this book to find out who Mitt Romney is. A lot of people crticize him because of his faith. This guy has a great relationship with his wife, a great family, has been very successful in business and politics too. The President of the USA should be a man for everyone to look up at. Don't most people dream of being happily married to a beautiful woman, have great kids, become a Millionaire and then President of the USA? Maybe Mitt Romney is the man for the White House...read this book and it will help you decide!

Budget Inversion
Amazing what Mitt Romney can do with numbers.If in doubt, do without.He pulled the 2002 winter games off on a no frills budget and turned a scandal into a triumph.

It seems he gets so much grief just because he is a Mormon, but I'm amazed at what he can do and mostly impressed by his get up and go, can do attitude.His wife says he loves emergencies and crisis situations of any kind.He turns the financing of the games from a huge millions of dollars deficit into a millions of dollars profit.Throughout the whole crisis leading up to the games, he made it the mission of the whole team to be honest and forthright with each other and the public.It's blatantly apparent that he always makes an honest million and demands integrity of his team whoever they be.This book was truly inspirational in many ways.If you don't want to read the book or even hate Mitt Romney, at least read the "Prologue" and the first chapter.I love the story of the American flag from the World Trade Center bombing being brought into the Olympic stadium during opening ceremonies.It's really awesome!

There have been other budget inversions in our nation's history.The most remarkable one happened on the eve of this country's founding and was repaired by Alexander Hamilton, our nation's first Treasury Secretary.That tale is best told by Forrest McDonald in his biography of Hamilton.

These are great stories and must reads for government financiers!

Mitt Romney
I would never vote for Mitt Romney, and I hope he does not win. He is so full of himself and will lie just to get votes. ... Read more

Book Description
Completely updated, this ultimate Olympic reference book contains all the nitty-gritty detail,including all records, statistics and medal standings as well as results of the top eight finishers in every Olympic event from the 1896 Games in Athens to the 200 edition in Sydney. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Devastating factual mistake sinks this book to the bottom
This book has an unbelievable and remarkable factual mistake which simply should not be allowed to happen. The Swedish World Champion in Wrestling, Mikael Ljungberg, a national hero who is also an Olympic champion is accused of having been doped and disqualified in the past and barred from championships for 2 years!! This blatant LIE is admitted by the sloppy author who is nevertheless facing legal action from the Swedish wrestling community andMr. Ljungberg himself. Throw it in trash please!

THE Olympic book to have.
After a long search for an Olympic record/history book, I am very glad that I found this one. As another reviewer pointed out, one of the jewels of this book is that it list first through eighth place for all events. And it covers ALL events, including the discontinued ones (tug-of-war, croquet, the swimming obstacle race, etc...). There is also a short background history on a vast majority of the entries which is excellent. I have been extremely happy with this book and I'm relying heavily on it now during the Athens Games. I will definitely buy his next Complete Book of the Winter Olympics.

Grab this book if you can
This book gives you all the top 8 finishes in Olympic History. Most sources give you the top 3 or some give you the winners only. In Track and Field, they tell you that Bob Hayes won the 100 meters in 10.05 in 1964 in all others they tell you 10.0. Most people don't know that Tokyo used auto-timers for their Track events and you know that Henry Carr won 200m in 20.36, Mike Larrabee 400m in 45.15. ... Read more

Book Description
`The Olympic Games are the most prestigious sports event that a city can organise. They are the dream and fulfilment of young athletes. They also represent an extraordinary sporting, social, cultural and environmental legacy for the host city, the region and the country. The IOC is dedicated and committed to ensuring that its legacy is the best possible one. Professor Holger Preuss highlights the beneficial impact of the Olympic Games, financially and socially. Nowadays, hosting the Olympic Games can act as a catalyst for urban redevelopment, enabling changes, which might normally take several decades, to be completed over a seven-year cycle. This work, which highlights macroeconomic and business analysis related to over 30 years of Olympic Games's history, will certainly be useful to share the knowledge and the various experiences in this field and prove a valuable tool for students and researchers who are interested in the Olympic Movement. It is through similar publications that the complexity of the Olympic Games and their economic impact can be further understood by the generations to come. I trust that each of you will enjoy reading this book and appreciate the work of its author.'
- From the preface by Jacques Rogge, President of the International Olympic Committee

The Olympic Games is a unique event centering global interest on its host city. The financing of the Games has changed dramatically since Munich (1972) and economic interests and effects are increasingly paramount. It is therefore an anomaly that accurate economic analysis and comparison is not readily available. This is the most detailed study on the economic implications of recent and future Olympic Games over four decades.

Holger Preuss analyses the most important issues surrounding the hosting of the Olympics, and its wider economic effects, including:

• financial gigantism of the Olympic Games
• commercialisation and its control
• problems associated with achieving the Olympic requirements and standards
• the economic legacy of Olympic Games
• the feasibility of developing countries staging future Olympic Games
• detailed post Olympic analysis of financial figures
• conclusions on the economic related achievements of respective Organising Committees.

Academics and researchers of sports economics, international economics, international business and competition will all find this fascinating book of great value. The rigorous and authoritative analysis ensures valuable information will be available for future bid cities, and in a wider context, any city planning to bid for a major sporting event. It will also appeal to those interested in the broader context of the Olympic Games and concerned by their commercialisation and gigantism. ... Read more

Book Description