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Liked It “Well written and the event coverage really sucks you in. I'm sold on Maraniss after only one read and looking forward to reading his other books. Best book I've read in at least a year.” see full review » see other reviews » |
Didn’t Like It “Dryer than a bone. For all of the excitement obviously taking place in the streets and stadiums of Rome, you never get a feel for it here. Bogged down with meta-narratives on individual sporting events. A very unsatisfying read.” see full review » see other reviews » |
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“Dryer than a bone. For all of the excitement obviously taking place in the streets and stadiums of Rome, you never get a feel for it here. Bogged down with meta-narratives on individual sporting events. A very unsatisfying read.”
hack_anderson wrote this review Thursday, March 19 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No“Well written and the event coverage really sucks you in. I'm sold on Maraniss after only one read and looking forward to reading his other books. Best book I've read in at least a year.”
bgallery wrote this review Friday, February 27 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Rome in 1960 still had architectural reminders of Mussolini's fascist dictatorship. Maraniss does an excellent job of mixing the tensions of the period - a divided Germany, the U.S. vs the Soviet Union, the conflict in the Congo - with the excitement of the games. Here are many of the great ones: Rafer Johnson, Cassius Clay and Wilma Rudolph, among others. I was especially captivated by the story of Abebe Bikila, the barefoot Ethiopian marathoner who showed such heart and courage. Maraniss gives interesting personal background of some of the athletes, discusses how political the games were, and gives good historical and social background.”
Suzanne F wrote this review Thursday, July 16 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Great read about the Olympics and politics behind a truly historical moment. Very easy to read and truly informative. Written in a way where you can tell you will actually retain the information. Whether you like the Olympics or the Cold War this would be a good book for you.”
Fallon wrote this review Tuesday, December 23 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Another awesome sports book. This one was about the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome. Once again I get some geopolitics around the Cold War - this time with a direct intersection with a play by play history of the 1960 Olympic games. Russia vs. US Cold War stuff, Germany trying to decide if it is one country or two, Taiwan and China arguing over who is actually China, US athletes showing racial unification while the black / white split in America boils over, and a whole bunch of awesome and dramatic sports stories unfolding on a day by day basis, chapter by chapter. ”
bfeld wrote this review Monday, December 22 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“A colorful retrospective into the first modern games where America took a commanding position as the free world leader. The world for the most part, was still in a post World War 2 frame of mind. The games themselves had not caught up with the 60’s. Changing attitudes focused on black and women’s equality were brought to the forefront. We captivated the rest of the free world and outraged many others with black celebrities like Cassius Clay, Wilma Rudolph, and Rafer Johnson along with the original US Dream Team in Basket Ball. If you were to relate it to the popular TV version of the time called, “The Wide Wold of Sports”, Rome 1960 is half of a “Best Of” sports highlight reel and half of an “Up Close & Personal” background segment. Maraniss writes a perfectly fluid book that cruises from one event to the other and circles back around to several key figures. But, nothing truly memorable stuck with me... and I just finished the book three days ago! Either my memory is failing, or Rome 1960 failed, one of the two... or maybe both!”
Garcon wrote this review Wednesday, June 24 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“A really interesting book I read in concert with a trip to Beijing for the Olympics. A fascinating recap of the Olympics "coming of age" in a sense - tiptoeing between the Cold War and the Modern Media version.
John F wrote this review Sunday, September 14 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
Lots of great profiles of people like Cassius Clay and Wilma Rudolph - it captures not only the spirit of the Olympics and the athletes competing but is enmeshed with early 60s history as well.
Maraniss is an easy and interesting read - his Vince Lombardi book was also excellent”
0 of 1 members found this review helpful“David Maraniss provides the reader with an all-access pass to the proceedings. With lucidity, attention to detail, and occasional humor, he presents a time quite different from today—but maybe not as different as we might think.
Hollywood Jesus wrote this review Thursday, September 4 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
Read the full review: http://live.hollywoodjesus.com/?p=2554”
“Well, my first question is can I really claim to have read the book if all I really did was listen to it on CD?
spolay wrote this review Friday, July 18 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
I'll save that dilemma for another time. This was loaned to me by a friend, and the sports drama alone made it a compelling read/listen. Was very timely, with the 2008 Olympics on the horizon. What I enjoyed most, though, were the historical references and tie-ins to the political climate of the day: Cuba's early days, the Cold War (unified German team; US vs. USSR, directly and indirectly), the emerging nations on the African continent, recognition of China vs. Taiwan, India vs. Pakistan.
This was my first audio book. I think I'll return to the format soon. It really made the commute more bearable.”
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