Shortlisted for the 2015 William Hill Australian Sports Book of the Year Award
This is a tale of innocents abroad. Thirty-three athletes left Australia in May 1936 to compete in the Hitler Olympics in Berlin. Believing sporting competition was the best antidote to tyranny, they put their qualms on hold. Anything to be part of the greatest show on earth.
Dangerous Games drops us into a front row seat at the 100,000-capacity Olympic stadium to witness some of the finest sporting performances of all time - most famously the African American runner Jesse Owens, who eclipsed the best athletes the Nazis could pit against him in every event he entered. The Australians, with their antiquated training regimes and amateur ethos, valiantly confronted the intensely focused athletes of Germany, the United States and Japan. Behind the scenes was cut-throat wheeling and dealing, defiance of Hitler, and warm friendships among athletes.
What they did and saw in Berlin that hot, rainy summer influenced all that came after until their dying days.
Rezensionen / Stimmen
[A] fascinating book * Weekend Australian * Larry Writer's portrait of Berlin during the 1936 Olympics, seen largely through the eyes of the Australian team, is absorbing. * Sydney Morning Herald * Impeccably researched and superb...dramatic and touching. * Inside Sport * Larry Writer has delivered a gem in Dangerous Games... -- Roland Perry, author of Bill the Bastard Writer has faithfully recreated the 1936 Olympics - the most controversial in history... -- Harry Gordon, author of Australia and the Olympic Games
Sprache
Verlagsort
Illustrationen
Maße
Höhe: 156 mm
Breite: 235 mm
Dicke: 29 mm
Gewicht
ISBN-13
978-1-74331-938-3 (9781743319383)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Klassifikation
Larry Writer is an award-winning author with an interest in sport, history and crime.
Prologue: The wattle and the swastika1 Berlin wins the games2 On your marks3 The class of '364 Darkness descending5 Amateur hour6 Boycott Berlin!7 All at sea8 Into the lair9 Bells, whistles and a grand arena10 Settling in11 Innocents abroad12 Olympic countdown13 The Opening Ceremony14 Days of grace and fury15 The dying flame16 Behind the mask17 Sifting the wreckage18 Finish linesEpilogueAcknowledgementsBibliography
