Games of Deception

September 1, 2019
Political events surrounding the 1936 Olympics intersect with the evolution of basketball in this outstanding history. The first game of basketball was played in 1891 without nets or dribbling. Created by James Naismith as an indoor winter activity that would support Muscular Christianity, early participants from the YMCA training program in Springfield, Massachusetts, soon spread the new game worldwide. When basketball was added as a sport in the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, Hitler saw it as an opportunity to showcase German might and athletic superiority. Meanwhile, American basketball players were holding fundraisers to help with travel costs while many Americans were calling for a boycott of the games altogether. Maraniss (Strong Inside, 2016, etc.) includes little-known facts about basketball, brutal information about Nazi Germany, and the harsh realities of blatant racism in the U.S. and Germany alike. The U.S. basketball team was all white; despite feeling conflicted by rampant anti-Semitism on both sides of the Atlantic, one Jewish player still chose to compete. Written with the captivating voice of a color commentator and the sobriety of a historian, Maraniss peppers readers with anecdotes, statistics, and play-by-play action, shining a spotlight on names found only in the footnotes of history while making it painfully clear that racism affected both politics and sport, tarnishing, a bit, each gold medal and the five Olympic rings. An insightful, gripping account of basketball and bias. (afterword, Olympic basketball data, bibliography, index) (Nonfiction. 12-18)

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December 1, 2019

Gr 7 Up-Readers will discover an incredible story where separate worlds from across the Atlantic collide. Maraniss traces the history of basketball including its invention and growing popularity in the United States leading up to the 1936 Olympic Games held in Berlin. By 1936 in Germany, Hitler had gained power and started to persecute Jewish people. But because the world was watching, the Germans projected the false image of an idyllic city in order to hide the true horrors of living under the Nazi regime. The 1936 games marked the first time basketball was featured at the Olympics, and the U.S. team saw firsthand the German's propaganda surrounding this historical event and the state of the country. Maraniss's well-researched book includes many period photographs that enhance the narrative. VERDICT This book is a smart read-alike for fans of Daniel James Brown's The Boys in the Boat or its young adult adaptation. It would also add to any student's study of the origins of World War II and the eventual involvement of the United States. An exciting and overlooked slice of history.-Kevin McGuire, Woodland Hills School District, PA

Copyright 2019 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from September 1, 2019
Grades 7-10 *Starred Review* Basketball?which, after its invention in 1891 Springfield, MA, quickly became beloved worldwide?was not an Olympic sport until it debuted at the 1936 games in Berlin. The story of how it came to be showcased as an exhibition in front of the Nazi hierarchy makes for an interesting saga, especially since journalist Maraniss doesn't gloss over the various controversies behind the event's conception, including the role played by U.S. racism and antisemitism. American teams of the 1930s were segregated, so no African Americans would be running up and down the court in Germany, even as the Olympics were dominated by track star Jesse Owens. Avery Brundage, the American Olympic Committee president, was untroubled by efforts to boycott the games and spoke glowingly of their Nazi hosts. Even so, ironies abounded: the American team included players as well as a founder of Jewish background. Maraniss weaves these various stories into that of basketball's inventor, James Naismith, who helped hand out medals in Berlin. The milieu of the games, the way the Nazis covered up their human-rights transgressions while showing readiness for war, makes a fascinating tale for history lovers, and the heavy use of historic photographs will draw readers in. Given its widely appealing combination of sports and history, this is a must for all library collections.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)