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For two weeks in August 1936, Nazi Germany achieved an astonishing propaganda coup when it staged the Olympic Games in Berlin. Hiding their anti-semitism and plans for territorial expansion, the Nazis exploited the Olympic ideal, dazzling visiting spectators and journalists alike with an image of a peaceful, tolerant Germany. In Hitler's Olympics, Anton Rippon tells the story of those remarkable Games, the first to overtly use the Olympic festival for political purposes. His account, which is illustrated with almost 200 rare photographs of the event, looks at how the rise of the Nazis affected German sportsmen and women in the early 1930s. And it reveals how the rest of the world allowed the Berlin Olympics to go ahead despite the knowledge that Nazi Germany was a police state. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (2)

The five rings of competition

It took some years for the Olympic rings to make an appearance on a poster.Hugo Laubi designed one for the 1928 Winter Olympics at Saint Moritz where the rings appeared for the first time on a white flag.They had been around since 1912 when Pierre de Coubertin thought of the design.The interlocking circles have to be one of the world's great logos, simple, elegant and recognized everywhere.

Since 1928 the rings appear on most Olympic posters, either as part of the design or discretely as part of the capitol and country text, usually at the bottom of the sheet.I doubt it could get any smaller than for the Sydney 2000 games, small enough to miss completely.Oddly, I thought, there are no posters in the book with the logo as the totally dominant theme of a poster.The nearest use like this is the Montreal 1976 one designed by Ernst Roch and Rolf Harder.The poster looks wonderful with the rings having a slightly pulsating look on a white background.

Margaret Timmers knows her stuff because she has written a very knowledgeable and comprehensive survey of the games and each poster.The 150 in the book take the story right up to date with the London 2012 logo as the last one.I don't think it's until the sixties that the poster designs start to be vibrant and exciting.Yusaku Kamekura's stunning sprint start photo for Tokyo 1964 games maybe inspired other designers to come up with great designs in the following decades.I always wonder if the bureaucracy of the IOC stifles creativity, they have to please and not offend anyone.

I thought this was an interesting and thorough book that'll interest designers and others who work in an international graphics arena.

***LOOK INSIDE THE BOOK by clicking 'customer images' under the cover.

A Century of Olympic Posters
I collect various Olympic items including Olympic Posters.This is a good introduction of Olympic Posters. ... Read more

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As religious rituals, rites of passage, and celebrations of the body, athletics were deeply woven into the fabric of ancient Greek life. Modeled after physical exercises and competitions that existed in earlier Near Eastern cultures, hundreds of athletic contests were held throughout the ancient Greek world. In the eighth century B.C., the games held at Olympia began to surpass all others in their fame and glory and gave rise to a sporting tradition that engages and enthralls the world to this day. Published to coincide with the return of the Olympics to Greece in 2004, this thoroughly researched book studies sport in ancient Greece over a span of a millennium and a half-from the earliest mentions of athletics in Homer's Iliad and other literary sources, through the Classical age, and into the Hellenistic, Roman, and late antique periods. With more than five hundred illustrations, the book tours the monumental stadiums, bathhouses, temples, and other structures built to host the athletic events and to house the wealth of art created to pay tribute to the athletes, gods, and heroes of the games. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Superbly presented history of the origins of the Greek games
Impressively enhanced with 609 color and 40 b/w illustrations, along with 10 maps and 3 foldouts, Games And Sanctuaries In Ancient Greece: Olympia, Delphi, Isthmia, Nemea, Athens by Panos Valavanis (Associate Professor of Archaeology, University of Athens) is an informed and informative 448 page, "coffee table book" compendium showcasing the history of the Hellenic games, the athletes, the sanctuaries, the cities, and the legacy of the ancient Greeks who some 2,500 years ago created the enduring traditions of the Olympic games that continues down to this very day. Games And Sanctuaries In Ancient Greece is a superbly presented history of the origins of the Greek games and traces the development of athletic competitions in Greece from their first mention in the fables of the Illiad and other literary sources down through the late antique period of Hellenic history. A work of inspired scholarship, Games And Sanctuaries In Ancient Greece is very highly recommended reading for anyone with an interest in the Olympic Games, and would make an enduring popular and suitable selection for an academic or community library "Memorial Fund" acquisition.
... Read more

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As Athens prepares for 2004, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, proudly presents the original Olympics in all their sweaty, heroic glory. Like today, sports were a vital part of daily life in ancient Greece. Games for the Gods unearths the original traditions of athletics, highlighting both the fascinating similarities and the jarring differences between the ancient ways and our own. We might not be used to such Classical customs as associating athletic festivals with certain gods, seeing our athletes compete in the nude, or having them indulge in dirty fighting as accepted practice (then again...), but the excitement of competition, admiration for athletic skill, and adoration of champions--as well as several of the sports--are just as familiar to fans today as they were to the ancients. The Greek games here come to life in a series of texts that explore the Olympics then and now, the origins of the games and various athletic events, and the ways in which the contests were prepared for and the victors honored. With stunning illustrations of over 140 sculptures, vases, and coins, as well as photographs of modern athletes, Games for the Gods is a unique celebration of the Olympic spirit through the ages.

Essays by John J. Herrmann Jr. and Christine Kondoleon.

Foreword by Bill Littlefield.

Clothbound, 10 x 9 in. / 224 pgs / 207 color and 10 b&w. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (18)

A Clash of isms and a Cry of Foul
I cannot compete with Jeremy Schaaps research or scholarship. My objection to this work is more visceral and based on my own research of the period and by statements from Marty Glickman and from newspaper sources. Mano o mano, I've written a novel, and it's only time away that I will stand in some cubicle arguing my belated point. But if truth be known, the period sources must say that a great injustice herein lies to the Brown Thunderbolt. Marty Glickman was a lifelong friend of Jesse Owens. He credited him for trying to defy the coaches and Brundage for not letting Sam Stoller and him compete in the four man marathon run. Owens was exhausted by then, had already lost about ten pounds and wanted to go home. He was told to shut up and do what he was told. To suggest that HE was really jockeying behind the scenes to run for his fourth gold medal does not fly. He was no double agent, befriending Glickman and Stoller. It was not this gentle giant who was the instrument that helped lead to the total marginalization of Jews that was implicit in these Games. To suggest otherwise is a great disservice and blunts the impact of how powerful were the forces behind the rise of the Third Reich--specifically, the American corporations and financiers who profited unmercifully from Hitler's fledgling government and whom Avery Brundage served with all his might. I spent twenty-seven years writing my story and though Schaap is sometimes poetic, even brilliant in getting the pulse of the place, I think he does no service to Jesse or the commeraderie of the intermingled races that were evident in the Eleventh Olympiad that may have set the almost unbreakable bonds created twenty years later when Blacks and Jews marched through Montgomery together. What is not explored in this novel is the innocence, and ultimate betrayal of the American dream. While American athletes were competing, Americans also lay dying in Spain. Fifteen thousand white Americans were getting ready for a lynching of a Negro in Kentucky, and President Roosevelt was sailing aboard his yacht in Maine. I hope my novel,as historical fiction and often told as parody(Arian Bandage is the arch-villain) addresses some of these issues and brings that sorry period to a more fitful rest.

Robert Rubenstein
Author, Ghost Runners
on AmazonGhost Runners

Interesting Look
Interesting look at an historic time in history - the Olympics of 1936 (Hitler's Olympics) and the man of the hour, Jesse Owens. The author brings the reader into the politics of the time - the good, bad and the ugly. He sets up Jesse's background and how he arrived on the world stage as well as what happened to him after all the hoopla died down. There's a little something for everybody - history, politics, intrigue and the Olympic games in an uncomfortable social/political setting.

Informative
I listened to the audio version of this title. It was well read and held my attention. Made me appreciate for all our societal failings in the area of race relations just how far we've come since Jesse Owen's time. A timeless story of triumph over adversity.

great service
I bought this for my niece's husband, who has taken up marathons.Arrived quickly and in great shape.

I wouldn't recommend this book
As a student at The Ohio State University, for two years I lived next door to a building named after Jesse Owens. He is considered a hero, and rightfully so. I have always been interested in getting to know more about his life, and thought this book would be a good start. I was wrong.

There are a lot of inconsistencies about Mr. Schaap's book. The most frustrating one to me is that he paints the title as if Jesse Owens was involved in the politics of the Third Reich. Owens admittedly didn't care about politics at this time in his life. He was doing it because he couldn't live a great life without winning Olympic Gold. Owens, later in life, made mention that Hitler was nicer to him about winning a Gold Medal then FDR (because Roosevelt never congratulated him and Hitler at least waved to him).

Second, the story isn't very fluid. As we all know, Hitler hated blacks, Jews, the disabled, and anyone else that didn't fit his bigoted mold. But at the same time, this book covers Hitler's anti-semitism more then his hatred of blacks and Christians. Covering Hitler's hatred of those (since Owens was both Black and Christian) would have been more on topic. This gave me the feeling that I was reading two books at once. One about Owens, the other about Hitler's hatred of the Jews.

Finally, there are some topics that don't seem to contribute anything to the story. Schaap mentions a documentary about the Olympics many times in the book, but doesn't really connect the dots. Sure, it had Owens in it (to Hitler's annoyance) but there were more important things to talk about then a director and her getting the right camera angles during parts of the games.

Overall the book has a few parts that are fun to read, but it's nothing more then that. I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone. ... Read more

Product Description
"Here is the story of the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin during which the German Nazi Party attempted to turn the Games into a propaganda vehicle for its own political agenda.This fascinating book, based on an exhibit mounted by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, tells the story of those infamous Olympics.Profiled are the organizers, the politicians, and most important, the athletes: those who boycotted the games, those who were banned from participating, and those who competed.All these riveting tales are vividly recounted by Susan Bachrach, author of Tell Them We Remember.Using intriguing sidebars and evocative photographs, she brings this iconic event to life in a book that not only will be read avidly this summer as the 2000 Olympic Games take place, but also for years to come." ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Nazi Olymics
The book I read on the Holocaust was called The Nazi Olympics: Berlin 1936 by Susan D. Bachrach. This book is about the Olympics held by the Nazis.In this book, it tells about the steps Nazis took to hold the Olympics.It also tells you where exactly the Olympics were held. This book is not a book that actually tells a story, it is a factual book that tells facts and gives you images to describe the facts.Adolf Hitler was head of Germany's Government.In 1931, Berlin was chosen as the site of the 1936 Summer Games.After World War I, Hitler and the Nazi promised a "new Germany" that would give to those many Germans who were fearful to the future.Soon Germany was turned into a police state for "Aryans only".As the year of 1936 came closer and closer with the Olympics, people questioned whether the Olympics should be held in a country whose ideology ran counter to the ideals that inspired to the Games.Many participants questioned the same thing.

Absolutely wonderful!
This large and attractive book tells the story of the 1936 Summer Olympics held in Berlin. Many Americans have heard of them, though their knowledge is limited to the fact that Jesse Owens, an African-American, won four gold medals, humiliating Adolf Hitler. This book tells the story of those Olympics from the choice of venue in 1931, through the rise of Hitler and National Socialism, the Nazi racial policies, the movement to boycott the games, the Olympics themselves, and finally on to the aftermath of the games and the Holocaust. Following the texts are some wonderful appendices on the chronology of the games, statistics on the 1896-1936 Olympics, and a list of nations participating in the 1936 Olympics. But don't stop there! After the index is collection of in-color reproductions of posters and artwork connected with the 1936 Olympics.

This book is absolutely wonderful! It covers everything you ever wanted to know about the 1936 Olympics, and even quite a few things you never would have thought to ask. Although this book is placed under Ages 9-12 category, it is very informative, and a must-read for anyone who wants to understand those games. I highly recommend this book! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Sports in the Political Arena
While the bulk of history on the 1980 Summer Games is the United States boycott due to the Soviet Union's 1979 invasion of Afghanistan, author Baruch A. Hazan explores an important - but oftentimes rarely mentioned angle - the merging of politics into athletics to deliver a loud and controlled message on the world stage.

Moscow 1980, Hazan writes, was an excellent example of sport and politicsbeing connected and that such major international competitions is politics being played out in athletic arenas.

Perhaps the watershed moment of politics and athletics was in the pole vault, when Poland's Wladyslaw Kozakiewicz gave what became known as "Kozakiewicz's gesture" to Soviet fans who were vociferously booing his efforts, which yielded a gold medal and world record.

Hazan adds a well-researched voice to the history of the Olympic Games that are played in a decathlon of politics and ideologies.


... Read more

Product Description
Get ready for the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Australia with the official guide to the games! Stuffed full of interesting facts and figures, Olympic Summer Games 2000 includes information on all of the Olympic sports, two special fold-outs of Olympic highlights and the Olympic venues in Sydney, results tables for the 2000 games to fill out and keep, and much more. This must-have companion is packed with color photographs of everyone's favorite athletes and events. A comprehensive guidebook for the whole family, Olympic Summer Games 2000 has everything you want to know about the games, just in time for the 27th Olympiad. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Great Guide to the Summer Olympics
This book is great to read while watching the Olympics.It has great information about each and every sport you will see.It tells about the history of each Olympiad and when and where each was held.It tells who holds the record on all of the swimming events and also tells who won the gold medal in each event at the 1996 Olympics.My favorite thing about the book is that there is a space for you to record the gold medal winner for each event in 2000.Even though it is titled for the year 2000, it is also great to have for the next Olympics because you can still read about each sport and the history of the Olympics and that information will not be outdated.I do hope that they publish another book just like this for the 2004 Olympics.I would definately buy it! I love this book!

A Winner for the Beginner
Although the material here is dated, "Olympic Summer Games 2000" gives a good review of all the events, including 7 pages on aquatics, 10 pages on track and field (including Olympic records), and 1-2 pages each on such diverse sports as Badminton, Judo, Wrestling, and Volleyball.The small book is beautifully produced with color illustrations of track venues, foldouts on "100 Years of Olympic Highlights," winners from 1996 (and places to write in the year 2000 winners), and a brief history of the Olympics.The descriptions are very brief but appropriate for readers around 7-11 yrs or so.The book has over 60 pages, with informative captioned pictures, and a schedule of all the games at Sydney.Let's hope that a similar book is published for the next Olympiad.

Can children use this?
The small format of this book enables it to be carried in a pocket and encourages students to make notes in the book. The focus of the book is on introducing each event in a 1-2 page format so general Olympic informationis kept to a minimal amount. The book excels at small lists such as thehost cities, the calendar of events, 100 Years of Olympic Highlights, andthe event logs on each page. Beside each event is the 1996 winner and team,the olympic record if appropriate, and blank lines for the 2000 winner.This book would be useful for individuals and as a springboard for moreintense Olympic titles.

GET READY FOR THE GAMES!
This is a great record keeping book, for children and adults.It has colorful pictures, shows the internationnal symbols for each event, and even tells who won the gold medal in 1996. The streamlined size makes iteasy to take anywhere. I am going to need to get more for the rest of mynephews and nieces! ... Read more

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In this richly illustrated catalogue of the current ANS exhibit, "Full Circle: The Olympic Heritage in Coins and Medals," the author examines the role that numismatic material relating to both the ancient and modern Games has played in social and political contexts. In addition to the introductory essay, the catalogue provides a brief overview of the history of the Games and discusses over 130 objects, including ancient Greek coins, vases and sporting equipment, as well as modern medals, coins, and Olympic ephemera. ... Read more

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The International Olympic Committee began its fight against performance-enhancing drugs nearly four decades ago. Testing has become increasingly more sophisticated, but the problem is far from being eliminated. Doping in Elite Sport: The Politics of Drugs in the Olympic Movement addresses the challenges and complexities of the issue.

The text, edited by Wayne Wilson, PhD, and Edward Derse, is based on papers presented at the 1998 conference, Doping in Elite Sport, and includes:
-a basic scientific explanation of how performance-enhancing substances improve performance and how banned substances are detected;

-a critical examination of the failure to control doping in the Olympic movement;

-a historical timeline of drug use in sport;

-evaluations of the philosophical and ethical issues of drug testing;

-the international politics of combatting drug use in sport; and

-insight as to how three very different countries have handled the issue of performance-enhancing drugs in sport.
Part I, “The Science of Doping,” provides the reader with a basic scientific explanation of how banned substances can improve performance, the process of drug testing, and the detection of athletes' drug use. This section also offers a recommended protocol for drug testing and critiques the differences between the ideal and actual testing practices

Part II, “The History, Ethics, and Social Context of Doping,” reviews the complex social and cultural issues surrounding doping. A thorough chronology of performance-enhancing drug use in sport precedes discussions of the ethical and cultural dimensions of the issue. Included is a comparative analysis of how Canada, Russia, and China - three very different countries - have responded to doping scandals involving their athletes.

Part III, “The Politics of Doping,” critically examines the effectiveness of the IOC and the international sport federations in administering campaigns against doping. Lack of political will, financial interests, and uncooperative bureaucracies all have hindered effective enforcement.

The first anthology on performance-enhancing drugs in sport, Doping in Elite Sport: The Politics of Drugs in the Olympic Movement is a critical examination of the failure to control the use of banned performance-enhancing drugs in the international sports arena. It provides an extensive overview of the real issues in the battle against doping in international sport.

Customer Reviews (1)

Is There Purity in Sport?
This book is a book that provides a lot of information and hard facts for how the doping situation in the Olympics needs to be solved. It points out all of the corruption not only in athletes and countries but in the IOC, the organization responsible for drug testing. In editing the book, Wayne Wilson and Edward Dares attempt to collect articles, written by various authors, to show their disapproval of doping in sport and in their condemnation of the IOC for their apathy toward the epidemic. According to Ramin Minovi "Most of the writers deplore the failure of governing bodies to address the question, allowing drug use to proliferate, paying lip service to its dangers but taking no action."The majority of the works in the book does reprimand the IOC for not doing their job and for the corruption that exists or existed in it.The other chapters give the history of doping, give an example of the drugs used to escape detection and the methods of testing. By no means is there any chapter that supports the IOC in their dealings with drugs and enforcement of their drug policy.
The book it self was a very informative book but therefore was not very captivating. The book gave tons of facts but if the reader was not very interested in the topic to begin with then the book would not hold your attention. To compensate for the monotony of the book the book is short and has many sections to it. As a result of each chapter being a different article, written by different authors. This made the book "both readable and worth reading" to Ramin Minovi. He and I disagree on the difficulty of the reading. He said that the book was a "big read" and I feel that the articles were simplistic but some knowledge of steroids may be required. However one of chapters describes what some of these drugs do. Some of the articles of the book are almost repetitive and therefore could be left out. I feel as though these chapters should be skimmed through and then the reader should weed out the articles he/she has no interest in. The book also provides images which make the book a little more interesting. According to Minovi, they are the chapters about "Australian attitudes toward performance-enhancing drugs", and on Canada, German and China's regulations and dealings with toward athletes who abuse drugs.The book may also disinterest some from reading it because it is sort of a long book to be just informative but many of the pages are work cited pages. The book overall is decent but I would not recommend it to a person with no interest in the topic.

References

Ramin Minovi. 2001. http://www.abcc.freeserve.co.uk/drugs_elite1.html ... Read more

Product Description

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.

Product Description
A candid look at how the Olympic rings got so tarnished—from a top IOC insider
Bribery, illicit drugs, tainted judges, dirty politics . . . the Olympics have come a long way from ancient Greece. Far from the vaunted symbol of athletic excellence, the Olympic games have become awash in scandal (from doping and judging scandals, questionable selection practices for future sites) that have given it a tawdry luster only cynics and news junkies would relish. Now, Dick Pound, a former Olympic medalist and twenty-five year member of the IOC gives an insider's account of the politics within the IOC as well as an unsensationalistic look at what went on behind the headlines. As controversial as the games themselves have become, Inside the Olympics is a fascinating, no-holds-barred look at just how the Olympics and their legacy have foundered.

Richard W. Pound (Montreal, Canada) has been a member of the International Olympic Committee for twenty-five years. He was a member of the IOC Executive Board from 1983 to 1991 and from 1992 to 2000. In 1962, he won a gold, bronze, and two silver medals at the Commonwealth Games in Australia. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Inside View
Dick Pound does not mince words. He informs the readers as he sees the problems within the Olympic Movement in his own words, and tries his utmost to improve these. A book worth reading for anyone interested in the Olympic Movement.

Fascinating Read
This was a really interesting read.I've always been an Olympics fan, but you never get these kind of stories in other books.Pound really reveals the inner workings of the games, from the big news now, doping, to the judging scandals (Comaneci didn't deserve a 10???), to the contentious process of selecting the host city.He obviously has had a view that no one else could have, as an athlete, as the VP of the IOC, and as the head of the World anti-doping agency, and he really brings you into his world.But it's really not all scandals. One of the things that really comes through is his love of the games.As much as he talks about the scandals, he seems to do so out of a desire to bring honor back to the games. Really fascinating stuff. ... Read more

Product Description
Jesse Owens. Muhammad Ali. Michael Jordan. Tiger Woods. All are iconic black athletes, as are Tommie Smith and John Carlos, the two African American track and field medalists who raised black-gloved fists on the victory dais at the Mexico City Olympics and brought all of the roiling American racial politics of the late 1960s to a worldwide television audience. But few of those viewers fully realized what had led to this demonstration-events that included the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., uprisings in American cities, student protests around the world, the rise of the Black Power movement, and decolonization and apartheid in Africa.

In this far-reaching account, Amy Bass offers nothing less than a history of the black athlete. Beginning with the racial eugenics discussions of the early twentieth century and their continuing reverberations in popular perceptions of black physical abilities, Bass explores ongoing African American attempts to challenge these stereotypes. In particular, she examines the Olympic Project for Human Rights, an organization that worked to mobilize black athletes in the 1960s and whose work culminated with the Mexico City protest.

Although Tommie Smith and John Carlos were reviled by Olympic officials for their demonstration, Bass traces how their protest has come to be the defining image of the 1968 Games, with lingering effects in the sports world and on American popular culture generally. She then focuses on images of black athletes in the post-civil rights era, a period characterized by a shift from the social commentary of Muhammad Ali to the entrepreneurial approach of Michael Jordan.

Ultimately Bass not only excavates the fraught history of black athleticism but also offers an incisive look at media coverage of athletic events-and the way sport is intimately bound up in popular constructions of the nation.

Amy Bass is assistant professor of history at Plattsburgh State University and worked as a member of the NBC research team for the Atlanta Olympics in 1996, the Sydney Olympics in 2000, and the Salt Lake Olympic Winter Games in 2002. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Delivers.
This book has the goods - it is very serious, not a typical sports book, but it teaches at every level.Civil Rights.Science.Women.Black Power.It is tough to think of what it leaves out.Starts slow, but really picks up and by the time it is done, it's like you've been watching PBS for two hours and didn't feel it.Learn.

Much more than what you see on the cover
This book really helped to open my eyes about the events surrounding the 1968 Olympics. More than that, it also talks about many other significant issues such as women's roles during that time, the way certain people saw various events before, during, and after the times. Be prepared to be patient when you read this. Dr. Bass takes her time and goes way back with her research leading up to the games in the late 60's. There were some areas I was not too interested in, such as some scientists' claims that black superiority in the athletic arena is due to biological and genetic advantages. Yet there were other times in the book like when Tommie Smith explained the MEANING, the TRUE MEANING, behind he and Carlos' actions that really made me take it in and appreciate the courage they had to take a stand at that time on that particular stage. From the black socks to the scarf Smith wore on his neck to both of them not wearing shoes on the victory stand while the national anthem played. More than just discussing the Olympics, she digs deep into the perception of the black athlete, from the 1930's when Jesse Owens was the man to the 60's, and to the 90's with Michael Jordan. Like I said earlier though, be prepared to be patient when you are reading this. There were some parts that I had to bear with to get to what I wanted to read, but all in all, it's a read that can definitely challenge your views not only about the black athlete, but sports and life in general.

An important work on the culture of race and racism
A work that provides insight into how race is understood and projected in U.S. society -- and the world -- and where its ties to nation, class, gender, etc. come into play most dramatically.This exploration of the black power movement at the Mexico City olympics is a critical examination of a multitude of topics:television, sports, civil rights, humanity, globality -- the list is varied and important.Complex, complicated, interesting, imperative.A learning experience for all who turn its pages.

It changed the way I watch TV!
I learned so much from this book.I thought that it might be too hard to read, but it was worth it:I will never watch sports -- especially the Olympics -- the same way again.There's too much to list contained here:the Olympics, the media, race, sexuality, women -- it goes on and on.I think everyone should read it. ... Read more

Product Description
During the 1996 Centennial Olympic Games in Atlanta, much of the world watched and celebrated as athletes broke world records and took home medals, fulfilling their Olympic dreams. The athletes' scores were available instantaneously and are now easily accessible, but what about the performance records of the first modern Olympic athletes? The Modern Olympic Games began in 1896 in Athens, Greece, but an official record of these Olympic games does not exist. This work is the first in a series of comprehensive reference works giving the results of the Olympic Games, beginning in 1896. Based primarily on 1896 sources, the sites, dates, events, competitors, and nations as well as the event results are compiled herein for track and field, cycling, fencing, gymnastics, shooting, swimming, tennis (lawn), weightlifting, wrestling and other sports and events. Although mainly a statistical analysis, this work does include a short synopsis of the Sorbonne Congress and reprints of famous articles about the Olympics. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Amazing and spectacular
For the lovers of the olympic history this is a true and unique source of information. It is really amazing to find dates and other stories about
the first Olympic Games of the Modern Era who never before I have seen anywhere.
If you like the history of the olympic games you CAN NOT miss it.

The most complete summary of the 1896 Olympics
This work has everything you might want to know about the 1896 Olympic Games: results, back ground stories, statistics, competitor information. The best part is that all controversies on the results - quite a few - are carefully documented so one can see WHY the authors have listed the results as they did. Also, several contemporary articles on the Games give a good picture of these Olympic Games. Because these texts are original, you can once again read and judge yourself. ... Read more

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An award-winning photographer presents a collection of fifty stories, illustrated with archival photographs, from the seventy-year history of the Winter Olympics, highlighting the individual dramas of triumph and defeat. 20,000 first printing. $50,000 ad/promo. IP. "Amazon.com Review
The Olympics wouldn't be the same without drug testing,commercialism, and Bud Greenspan. A marvelous documentarian,Greenspan's mission is to find art in athleticism; he's made theofficial Olympic film for as long as anyone can remember. Frozen in Time, as thetitle of this fine chronicle of Olympians and Olympian effort implies, hismedium is more of a snapshot. Built on short, illustrated profiles,the book's intent is to exalt the accomplishments of athletes both world renowned andobscure. What it lacks in depth, it more than makes up for in itsinherent drama and sheer enjoyability. ... Read more

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Describes the "other" Olympics: the Special Olympics for the mentally retarded and the Paralympics for the physically handicapped. ... Read more

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Dropping the Torch: Jimmy Carter, the Olympic Boycott, and the Cold War offers a diplomatic history of the 1980 Olympic boycott. Broad in its focus, it looks at events in Washington, D.C., as well as the opposition to the boycott and how this attempted embargo affected the athletic contests in Moscow. Jimmy Carter based his foreign policy on assumptions that had fundamental flaws and reflected a superficial familiarity with the Olympic movement. These basic mistakes led to a campaign that failed to meet its basic mission objectives but did manage to insult the Soviets just enough to destroy détente and restart the Cold War. The book also includes a military history of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, which provoked the boycott, and an examination of the boycott's impact four years later at the Los Angeles Olympics, where the Soviet Union retaliated with its own boycott. ... Read more

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Countless volumes have been written about Greek civilisation, its achievements, and its significance for the modern world. Anyone wishing to read a systematic, well-documented account of the history and meaning of sport in ancient Greece, however, would have difficulty in finding the relevant books. Ekdotike Athenon felt it incumbent upon itself to present a complete picture of the history of sport and of the Olympic Games, as part of its series of publications. To this end, the aid has been sought of all the specialists who would be able to offer the reader an authoritative account both of the history of the Games, and also of the historical and archaeological data that illuminate this history and make it possible to interpret it. It would be difficult, however, for even the most competent historian to bring to life the world of sport and athletic games without the aid of illustrations. A uniquely rich series of plates and drawings has therefore been included, which will enable the reader to follow the text with ease, and to form a complete and living picture of athletics in Ancient Greece.It is our belief that this volume will be of value and interest to lovers of sport, of the ancient world and of art, and to specialists alike. ... Read more