Rome 1960: The Olympics That Changed the World

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

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.

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Customer Reviews

Rating: - Why Rome?

I picked this up after being very impressed with another Maranis book about the 60s, They Marched Into Sunlight: War and Peace Vietnam and America October 1967. While this had its moments, it is nowhere near as fully realized a book as his Vietnam book.

Maranis attributes to his subject Olympics some consequences that don't really play out fully on the confined stage of the 18 days in Rome. He makes the point that many trends that have become commonplace in the Olympics, ... Read More
Rating: - The Games as a Lens for Viewing Political, Societal, and Cultural Changes
Maraniss can tell a compelling narrative, as he demonstrated in his terrific treatment of the Vietnam era, "They Marched into Sunlight."He uses his talents well to tell the story of the now-forgotten 1960 Olympics in Rome.He is able to capture the two great American stars of those Olympics, decathlete Rafer Johnson and sprinter Wilma Rudolph, in all their complexity; both come off as likable and graceful heroes.Clay was a hero as well in boxing, though Maraniss correctly points out that his ... Read More
Rating: - Rome 1960
The writer did a excellent job telling about the background of the atheletes who partipated in the games. The story
of Rufus Johnson and Wilma Randolph were excellent examples. I grew up in the 1960's, some of
the things he wrote about I remember. ihave enjoyed all his books.
Rating: - Overrated
These Games didn't change the world. Lots of nice stories, but nothing happened here that had world-wide impact. Smith and Carlos must be laughing at this title. It was very nice to learn more about Wilma Rudolph and Rafer Johnson, but Ali wasn't given much attention, and Abebe Bikila was glossed overf as well. Much too much focus on Dave Sime. I usually like Maraniss as an author, but this book was overall a disappointment.
Rating: - overlooked history - maybe tries a little too hard
"Rome 1960" is my fourth book by the author, and while a fine work, it comes in just a touch below the other three. Mr. Maraniss hits the topics that have survived in Olympic history, such as Wilma Rudolph, Cassius Clay and Rafer Johnson, while bringing in many others, from the compelling to the obscure. The book reminds us how quickly even the world's greatest athletes can slip back into obscurity, assuming of course that they weren't obscure to begin with.

In fact, one of the key themes ... Read More