 | | |
| Rome 1960: The Olympics That Changed the World | 
 enlarge | Author: David Maraniss
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Category: Book
List Price: $26.95
Buy New: $5.97
You Save: $20.98 (78%)
Buy New/Used/Collectible from $5.97
Avg. Customer Rating:  (19 reviews)
Sales Rank: 17387
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 496
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.9
Dimensions (in): 9.4 x 6.3 x 1.6
ISBN: 1416534075
Dewey Decimal Number: 796.48
EAN: 9781416534075
ASIN: 1416534075
Publication Date: July 1, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
From the critically acclaimed and bestselling author David Maraniss, a groundbreaking book that weaves sports, politics, and history into a tour de force about the 1960 Rome Olympics, eighteen days of theater, suspense, victory, and defeat David Maraniss draws compelling portraits of the athletes competing in Rome, including some of the most honored in Olympic history: decathlete Rafer Johnson, sprinter Wilma Rudolph, Ethiopian marathoner Abebe Bikila, and Louisville boxer Cassius Clay, who at eighteen seized the world stage for the first time, four years before he became Muhammad Ali. Along with these unforgettable characters and dramatic contests, there was a deeper meaning to those late-summer days at the dawn of the sixties. Change was apparent everywhere. The world as we know it was coming into view. Rome saw the first doping scandal, the first commercially televised Summer Games, the first athlete paid for wearing a certain brand of shoes. Old-boy notions of Olympic amateurism were crumbling and could never be taken seriously again. In the heat of the cold war, the city teemed with spies and rumors of defections. Every move was judged for its propaganda value. East and West Germans competed as a unified team less than a year before the Berlin Wall.There was dispute over the two Chinas. An independence movement was sweeping sub-Saharan Africa, with fourteen nations in the process of being born. There was increasing pressure to provide equal rights for blacks and women as they emerged from generations of discrimination. Using the meticulous research and sweeping narrative style that have become his trademark, Maraniss reveals the rich palate of character, competition, and meaning that gave Rome 1960 its singular essence.
Amazon.com Review
Amazon Best of the Month, July 2008: Armed with the same engaging narrative found in Clemente and When Pride Still Mattered, Pulitzer Prize-winning author David Maraniss chronicles the triumphs, tragedies, and treacheries of "the Olympics that changed the world" with Rome 1960. The same Games that announced the greatness of icons like Cassius Clay, Wilma Rudolph, and Rafer Johnson, also exposed a growing unrest between East and West, black and white, and male and female. Even the host city of Rome, Maraniss recounts, was "infused with a golden hue...an illuminating that comes with a moment of historical transition, when one era is dying and another is being born." With moving portraits of the Games's remarkable personalities woven among tales of espionage and propaganda, Rome 1960 explores an Olympics unable to fight off the troubles of the modern world. Cold War sniping and issues of social inequalities were spilling into fields and stadiums, and the face of sport was rapidly changing. History buffs and sports fans alike will appreciate Maraniss?s quiet reporting, as he deftly removes himself from a storyline that is still relevant today. --Dave Callanan
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 14 more reviews...
 Overblown premis not supported by facts December 29, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
In reading this book I found myself torn in several different directions. But then again so did David Maraniss. He seems to want to tell the story of why the 1960 Olympics were so important but he can not find out what means he wants to use to do so. On the one hand he wants us to believe this is when the Olympics went from being amateur to more professional, but yet doesn't. He also speaks of these games as the first ones where drugs were used but then speaks of how they were used before and came to their peak in the 1970's and 80's.
Maraniss's wants us to believe that these games were when politics took over the games but then gives examples from 1936,1956,1968,1972 and 1976 when the games faced greater political obstacles. Lastly, he wants to tell the stories of the great athletes who competed at these games. I believe that the last part is the books one and only bright spot and that Maraniss would have done a much better job of focusing on them.
Basically I found this a rather dull and confusing read and unless you have a great interest in this period, is probably not worth your time. There are much better sports books out there and somebody does need to write one about Mexico City in 1968 or Melbourne in 1956!
For the Ages December 23, 2008
Mr. Maraniss takes us back to the Rome Olympics in 1960. With loving detail he recreates that watershed moment when the Cold War first seriously collided with the sporting world. He reintroduces us to the sporting heroes of a bygone era. Greats like Wilma Rudolph, Ralph Bunch, Abebe Bikila and Rafer Johnson are recognized for their place in history. We meet the young Cassius Clay (Muhammad Ali)in all his brash insecurity. This is the moment when drugs first creeps onto the Olympic stage and when amateurism is being questioned. This a fascinating read.
Entertaining and Fun. Plus You Can Learn a Thing Or Two December 9, 2008
Rafer Johnson was the first African American athlete to be the captain of a U.S. Olympic team. He carried the flag at the opening ceremony and won the gold medal for the decathlon. Wilma Rudolph was another African American Olympic contestant who overcame polio, poverty, and being a single mom to obtaining three gold medals and the admiration of the world. What do those two athletes ave in common? They both were participants in the Rome Olympics of 1960. New York Times bestseller and Pulitzer Prize winning author David Maraniss creates a vibrant look into the world of 1960, the political and social unrest the world was facing, and how those 18 summer days revealed tensions between world powers. This Olympics game was also the first to be publicized commercially, the first to have the problems of a doping scandal, and even athletes being paid to wear certain shoes.
This is an excellent narrative that anyone could get a kick out of reading.
Maraniss on top of his game November 1, 2008
David Maraniss has written so many wonderful books that it isn't surprising to find "Rome 1960" to be such a great read. But it's still reassuring. Maraniss digs deep for his reporting, and writes with a clear eye and a genuine point of view. Good from beginning to end.
The Olympics that Changed the Olympics September 20, 2008
Because the 1956 Olympics were in Melborne Australia few people got to see it or even hear it live. The 1960 Olympics was the first to be televised live in Europe and by tape in the States. The amount of TV was miniscule by today's standards but it helps to pay for a large amount of the costs. It was the first olympics that the Russians brought a full team to, and the last one that Europeans had any success at. It was the first fully integrated American team (Decathlete Rafer Johnson carried the flag) with a strong womans' contingent (runners and swimmers).
As important as anything else that happened was that there were fourteen new sub-Saharan states that participated for the first time and that won medallions. Abbe Bikela won a gold medal for Ethiopia and a Senegalese (running for France) also won. This Olympics was the first in which anyone but the European Nations (including the US and Australia/ New Zealand) had any world class athletes.
It was also the first Olympics where an athlete died from the use of drugs. A Danish cyclist overheated during his road race competition and was found to have been taking amphetamines. Other athletes had used testosterone/steroids but no one knew much about the long term effects of these drugs. Drug testing would be widespread in 1964 at Tokyo and testing began in 1968.
Maraniss does a great job making the case that while integration marches hadn't started yet, those blacks who were on the Olympic team were the precursors of what was to come when all sports and America was integrated. He does an especially good job on some of the individual biographies such as Johnson, the woman runners (led by Wilma Rudolph) and the decathletes. Muhammed Ali (as Cassius Clay) was there as a 19 year old (just as brash as he was later) light-heavyweight gold medal winner. Jim McKay was the in studio host for NBC which led to him being seen by Roone Arledge (and the rest is the Wide World of Sports).
Wonderfully written and a great read. Highly Recommended.
Zeb Kantrowitz
|
|
|
Powered by Associate-O-Matic
| | |