Rome 1960

The Olympics That Changed the World

Plot

In this book, Maraniss (Clemente), who won the Pulitzer Prize for his Washington Post coverage of President Bill Clinton, provides more than mere coverage of the 1960 summer Olympics. Although his descriptions of the sporting events and the athletes' lives on and off the field (e.g., Muhammad Ali when he was still Cassius Clay) would be sufficient to make this book worthy of adoption for sports collections, the author's wealth of sociohistorical knowledge that he also bestows upon the reader makes the book essential. Whether or not the 1960 Rome Olympics literally changed the world or not is up for debate--Maraniss offers little to justify the subtitle--but what is not debatable is the brilliance of Maraniss's historical accounts of the era, which these olympics did not much change: the Cold War, social tensions in the United States and Europe, the intrusion of politics into the world of sports, and the mingling of athletes and celebrities. Highly recommended for all libraries.--Tim Delaney, SUNY at Oswego Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.