This New York Times best-selling author's account of the 1936 Olympics in Berlin offers a "vivid portrait not just of Owens but of '30s Germany and America" (Sports Illustrated).
At the 1936 Olympics, against a backdrop of swastikas and goose-stepping storm troopers, an African American son of sharecroppers won a staggering four gold medals, single-handedly falsifying Hitler's myth of Aryan supremacy.
The story of Jesse Owens at the Berlin games is that of an athletic performance that transcends sports. It is also the intimate and complex tale of one remarkable man's courage. Drawing on unprecedented access to the Owens family, previously unpublished interviews, and archival research, Jeremy Schaap transports us to Germany and tells the dramatic tale of Owens and his fellow athletes at the contest dubbed the Nazi Olympics.
With incisive reporting and rich storytelling, Schaap reveals what really happened over those tense, exhilarating weeks in a "snappy and dramatic" work of sports history (Publishers Weekly).
"A remarkable job of tackling a complex subject and bringing it to life." -- John Feinstein
"Add[s] even more luster to the indelibly heroic achievements of Jesse Owens." -- Ken Burns
| Sobre o Livro |
Nos Jogos de 1936 em Berlim, Jesse Owens conquistou quatro medalhas de ouro diante de um cenário dominado por símbolos e retórica nazistas; o relato focaliza esse episódio esportivo de alto impacto. A narrativa destaca tanto as provas em pista quanto o efeito público das vitórias sobre as teorias raciais da época. Com acesso à família Owens e a entrevistas inéditas, o autor incorpora pesquisa arquivística para reconstruir semanas-chave da competição. A abordagem combina reportagem e análise das interações entre atletas, oficiais e a imprensa naquele contexto. Jeremy Schaap posiciona as performances esportivas no centro de um ambiente político tenso, mostrando como resultados em pista desafiaram a propaganda nazista. O texto traz descrições de provas, personagens e do ambiente social que permeou os Jogos.
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