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Triumph: The Untold Story of Jesse Owens and Hitler's Olympics
Triumph The Untold Story of Jesse Owens and Hitler's Olympics Author:Jeremy Schaap In 1936, against a backdrop of swastikas flying and storm troopers — looming, an African-American son of sharecroppers set three world — records and won an unprecedented four gold medals, single-handedly — crushing Hitler"s myth of Aryan supremacy. The story of Jesse Owens — at the 1936 Olympics Games is that of a high-profile athlete giving a — perf... more »ormance that transcends sports. But it is also the intimate and complex
tale of the courage of one remarkable man.
Drawing on unprecedented access to the Owens family, previously
unpublished interviews, and exhaustive archival research, Jeremy
Schaap transports us to Nazi Germany to weave this dramatic tale.
From the start, American participation in the games was controversial.
A boycott, based on reports of Nazi hostility to Jews, was afoot, but it
was thwarted by the president of the American Olympic Committee.
At the games themselves the plots and intrigues continued: Owens was
befriended by a German rival, broad jumper Luz Long, who helped
Owens win the gold medal at his own expense. Two Jewish sprinters
were, at the last moment, denied the chance to compete for the United
States out of misguided politeness to the Nazi hosts. And a myth was
born that Hitler himself had snubbed Owens.
Like Neal Bascomb"s The Perfect Mile and David Margolick"s
Beyond Glory, Triumph captures this momentous episode in sports,
and world, history in a nuanced yet page-turning narrative full of