Guy’s book on the Berlin Games is, in itself, a game of two halves: partly politics, partly play-by-play account of the sporting events held at the Olympics in Berlin, in 1936. Famed for its spirit of ferocious competition and the rise of legends such as Jesse Owens, the games’ infamy rose at pace, too; Guy’s theory being that the 1936 Olympics should not have been held in Germany at all. But it was and, as a result, Hitler, Goering, Goebbels, Ribbentrop et al were able to stage a propaganda coups d’état. In among the troubling backstories about IOC politics, bribery and corruption, Guy reveals the wider context and explains why, and how, the Berlin Games became a crucible for what was to come soon after. Human stories of triumph and disaster: the metaphor is strong, and the story is excellent.
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