Rome 1960: The Olympics That Changed the World - Hardcover

Maraniss, David

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1416534075 ISBN 13: 9781416534075

Publisher: Simon & Schuster, 2008

Synopsis

An account of the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome reveals the competition's unexpected influence on the modern world, in a narrative synopsis that pays tribute to such athletes as Cassius Clay and Wilma Rudolph while evaluating the roles of Cold War propaganda, civil rights, and politics. 250,000 first printing.

About this title

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

About the Author:

David Maraniss, an associate editor at The Washington Post, is the author of critically acclaimed best-selling books on Bill Clinton, Vince Lombardi, Vietnam and the sixties, Roberto Clemente, and the 1960 Rome Olympics. He won the 1993 Pulitzer Prize for his coverage of Clinton, was part of a Post team that won the 2007 Pulitzer for coverage of the Virginia Tech tragedy, and has been a Pulitzer finalist three other times, including in the nonfiction history category for They Marched Into Sunlight: War and Peace, Vietnam and America, October 1967. Maraniss is a fellow of the Society of American Historians and a member of Biographers International Organization. He lives in Washington, D.C. and Madison, Wisconsin, with his wife, Linda. They have two grown children and three granddaughters.

About this edition

• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 1416534075
• ISBN 13: 9781416534075
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 496