The Games: A Global History of the Olympics

New
Illustrated
2018
$15.43

A Boston Globe Best Book of the Year
A Kirkus Reviews Best Nonfiction Book of the Year

The Games is best-selling sportswriter David Goldblatt's sweeping, definitive history of the modern Olympics. Goldblatt brilliantly traces their history from the reinvention of the Games in Athens in 1896 to Rio in 2016, revealing how the Olympics developed into a global colossus and highlighting how they have been buffeted by (and affected by) domestic and international conflicts. Along the way, Goldblatt reveals the origins of beloved Olympic traditions (winners' medals, the torch relay, the eternal flame) and popular events (gymnastics, alpine skiing, the marathon). And he delivers memorable portraits of Olympic icons from Jesse Owens to Nadia Comaneci, the Dream Team to Usain Bolt.

Synopsis

A Boston Globe Best Book of the Year
A Kirkus Reviews Best Nonfiction Book of the Year

The Games is best-selling sportswriter David Goldblatt's sweeping, definitive history of the modern Olympics. Goldblatt brilliantly traces their history from the reinvention of the Games in Athens in 1896 to Rio in 2016, revealing how the Olympics developed into a global colossus and highlighting how they have been buffeted by (and affected by) domestic and international conflicts. Along the way, Goldblatt reveals the origins of beloved Olympic traditions (winners' medals, the torch relay, the eternal flame) and popular events (gymnastics, alpine skiing, the marathon). And he delivers memorable portraits of Olympic icons from Jesse Owens to Nadia Comaneci, the Dream Team to Usain Bolt.

$15.43

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More Information

Format: Illustrated
Pages: 544
Edition: Illustrated
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Published: 16 Jan 2018
ISBN 10: 0393355519
ISBN 13: 9780393355512

Media Reviews

Fascinating. -- Peter Cowie - Wall Street Journal
Nuanced.... [W]ry, philosophical. -- Aram Goudsouzian - Washington Post
[A] bracingly debunking history. -- David Runciman - Guardian
Goldblatt is a wise, thoughtful, sometimes caustic observer. -- Boston Globe
Elegant and ambitious. -- Economist
[An] excellent, pacy, anecdote-studded history of the modern Games. -- Giles Smith - The Times (UK)
A timely and impressively expansive view of arguably the world's most beloved sporting event.... [Goldblatt] has created the definitive book on the Olympics, which should be on the reading list of anyone with a passion for learning the full story of the Olympic games. -- Russell P. Gantos - New York Journal of Books
Tak[es] readers through decades of iconic athleticism, complicated global politics, and increasing commercialism-all of which go into making the Olympic games what they are today. -- Bustle
[A] bracing corrective... [that] retains space for the extraordinary and inspirational in the arena. -- David Horspool - Spectator
A tour of world history through the lens of the Olympic Games.... Goldblatt's account of the history of performance-enhancing drugs is particularly striking. -- Charlie Goffen - Huffington Post

Author Bio

David Goldblatt is the author of The Ball Is Round, a best-selling global history of soccer, and, most recently, The Game of Our Lives, which won the William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award. He lives in Bristol, England.