December “Leisure Reads”

"Dreaming of warm weather and gold medals? December 2024's "Leisure Reads" celebrates the past and present Olympic Games-the most recent taking place in Paris this past summer of 2024. Below you'll find mostly nonfiction works-in print and ebook form-on the history of the modern Games in various countries, as well as overviews of this esteemed event's place in Antiquity. One novel is featured: The Peerless Four by Victoria Patterson, which tells the story of the first time women were allowed to compete in Olympic track and field events in the year 1928. The Special Olympics World Winter Games will be held in March 2025 and the Winter Olympics will be held in February 2026!" Joshua Zeller

Print Books:

Devil at my Heels: A Heroic Olympian's Astonishing Story of Survival as a Japanese POW in World War II by Louis Zamperini

"A youthful troublemaker, a world-class NCAA miler, a 1936 Olympian, a WWII bombardier: Louis Zamperini had a fuller life than most. But on May 27, 1943, it all changed in an instant when his B-24 crashed into the Pacific Ocean, leaving Louis and two other survivors drifting on a raft for forty-seven days and two thousand miles, waiting in vain to be rescued. And the worst was yet to come when they finally reached land, only to be captured by the Japanese. Louis spent the next two years as a prisoner of war-tortured and humiliated, routinely beaten, subjected to medical experiments, starved and forced into slave labor-while the Army Air Corps declared him dead and sent official condolences to his family." - Publisher's Summary

Florence Griffith Joyner: Track and Field Star by April Koral

"A [children's] biography of the noted sprinter who won three gold medals at the 1988 Olympics." - Publisher's Summary

Greek Athletic Sports and Festivals by E. Norman Gardiner

"First published in 1910, this book explores the subject of athletics festivals in ancient Greece, looking in detail at its history as well as the exercises commonly seen at such occasions. Greek Athletic Sports and Festivals is highly recommend for those with an interest in athletics and is not to be missed by collectors of related literature. Contents include...'Athletics in Homer'...'The Age of Athletic Ideal, 500-440 B.C."...'Athletics Under the Romans'...etc." - Publisher's Summary

Hour of the Olympics (Magic Treehouse #16) by Mary Pope Osborne

"Their magic tree house takes Jack and Annie back to retrieve a lost story in ancient Greece, where they witness the original Olympic Games and are surprised to find what girls of the time were not allowed to do." - Publisher's Summary

The Modern Olympic Games by John Lucas

"A history of the modern Olympic movement focusing on the influence of nations serves as a foundation for the argument that the games should be sheltered from international politics." - Publisher's Summary

The Olympic Games by M. I. Finley; H. W. Pleket

"A definitive survey of the Olympic Games, from 776 B.C. to A.D. 261, this scholarly, yet immensely readable account of Olympic athletes in ancient times takes a highly realistic view of these fabled contests. Transporting readers back to the eighth century B.C., Professor M. I. Finley and Dr. H. W. Pleket draw upon their extensive knowledge of the ancient world to explain in absorbing detail the various sporting events and their historical, social, and religious context. They also detail the similarities and differences between ancient and modern games. Through their examination of ancient documents, the authors conclude that today's audiences would be astonished by the brutality exhibited in many of the Olympic events. The ferocity of boxing and wrestling matches, for example, is unparalleled in modern games. No event today could match the spectacle or excitement of the four-horse chariot races in which thirty to forty teams competed. Of special interest were the demands made by the victors, who expected, insisted upon, and procured material rewards for their victories, regardless of class or personal fortune." - Publisher's Summary

The Olympic Image: The First 100 Years by Wei Yew

"The Olympic Image presents the graphic design of the Olympic Games from 1896 to 1996. It emphasizes how the cultures have interpreted and celebrated the Olympic Games through their art and design." - Publisher's Summary

The Peerless Four by Victoria Patterson

"Running so hard you think you'll choke on your next breath. Lungs burning like they're drenched in battery acid. Peripheral vision blurred by the same adrenaline that drowns out the cheers coming from the full stadium. And of course, the reporters. The men scribbling furiously on their notepads so they can publish every stumble, sprain, and sniffle. This was the world of the female athletes in the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics, the first games in which women were allowed to compete in track and field on a trial basis. Nicknamed "The Peerless Four," the Canadian track team included some of the strongest, most diversely talented women on the scene. Narrated by the team's chaperone-a former runner herself-the women embark on their journey with the same golden goals as every other Olympian, male or female. But as the Olympic tension begins to rise with unexpected injuries and disqualifications, each woman discovers new fears and priorities, all while the weight of women's future in the Olympics rests on their performance." - Publisher's Summary

The World's Greatest Olympians by Michael Hurley

"The World's Greatest Olympians looks at great Olympians through the history of the modern Olympics and reasons why these athletes were/are so great. It also includes Fact Files fact boxes of top athletes and charts and tables to help illustrate their amazing talents and achievements." - Publisher's Summary

Ebooks:

A Cultural History of the 1984 Olympics: The Making of Olympic Sarajevo by Zlatko Jovanovic

"This book examines the 1984 Sarajevo Winter Olympic Games. It tells the story of the extensive infrastructural transformation of the city and its changing global image in relation to hosting of the Games. Reviewing different cultural representations of Sarajevo in the period from the 1960s to the 1980s, the book explores how the promotion of the city as a future global tourist center resulted in an increased awareness among its populace of the city's cultural particularities. The analysis reveals how the process of modernization relating to hosting of the Olympics provided an opportunity to re-imagine the city as a particularly environmentally progressive city. Placed within the field of studies of late socialism, the book offers important insights into Yugoslav society during the period..." - Publisher's Summary

Contesting the Olympics in American Cities: Chicago 2016, Boston 2024, Los Angeles 2028 by G. Andranovich & M.J. Burbank

"This book examines the changing nature of opposition to bidding for and hosting the Olympic Games in contemporary American cities. It explores and critiques the process by which cities bid for the Olympics in the current context of the International Olympic Committees changing bid requirements and from the social justice perspectives of Olympics opponents. Using detailed case studies of the Olympic bids in Chicago, Boston, and Los Angeles, it shows how opposition to bidding for and hosting the Olympics has changed dramatically in American cities." - Publisher's Summary

Female Olympian and Paralympian Events by Linda K. Fuller

"Female Olympian and Paralympian Events is a groundbreaking book that examines women's sports in the Olympic and Paralympic Games, which have long been underappreciated and under-analyzed. The book begins with a brief background on women's participation in the Olympic Games and their role relative to the International Olympic Committee, then introduces the underlying Gendered Critical Discourse Analysis theory used throughout the book's analysis before delving into a literature review of female Olympians and Paralympians' events. It includes a listing of noteworthy 'firsts' in the field, followed by individual discussions of twenty-eight Summer and seven Winter events, analyzed according to their historical, rhetorical, and popular cultural representations. Women's unique role(s) in the various events are discussed, particular athletes and Paralympic events are highlighted, and original tables are also included." - Publisher's Summary

International Security and the Olympic Games, 1972-2020 by Austin Duckworth

"Drawing on new archival documents and interviews, this book demonstrates the evolving role of international politics in Olympic security planning. Olympic security concerns changed forever following the terrorist attack on Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games. The International Olympic Committee's (IOC) choice to ignore security after the attack in Munich left individual Olympic Games Organizing Committees to organize, fund, and provide security for the major international event. Future Olympic hosts planned security amidst increasing numbers of international terrorist attacks, and with the Cold War in full swing. For some Olympic hosts, Olympic security now represented their nation's largest ever military operations. By the time the IOC made security more of a priority in the early 1980s, the trends in Olympic security were set for the future." - Publisher's Summary

Mexico City's Olympic Games: Citizenship and Nation Building, 1963-1968 by Axel Elías

"This book looks at the 1968 Summer Olympic Games as a complex nation-building project. Sports mega-events have been mostly studied as homogenous government-led strategies, but more work is needed around the diverse reception and performances. The preparation period for the Olympics in Mexico and especially the year 1968 highlight the multiplicity of voices behind these exercises. Beyond the government and associated networks, the citizenry also used this mega-event to present an idea of Mexico to the world and thus reshape citizenship and nationhood. This study takes a bottom-up approach to look at the citizenry's experiences of the 1968 Olympic Games, both the shared nationalistic values and the areas of conflict." - Publisher's Summary

The Popular Front and the Barcelona 1936 Popular Olympics: Playing as if the World was Watching by James Stout

"This book deals with the events leading up to the 1936 Popular Olympics which would have united the Popular Front in opposition to the Berlin Olympics. It also discusses the days after the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War which began on the same day the games were due to start. Using a variety of primary and secondary sources, the book traces the biographies of several Popular Olympians who would go on to volunteer in the Spanish Civil War. The book also examines the planned events and locations for the Popular Olympics as well as the international funding that the games secured. The book argues that the events were a departure from Workers' Sport as well as the IOC's Olympic games and represented an important cultural manifestation of the Popular Front." - Publisher's Summary