Dangerous Games (Larry Writer, A&U)

The 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin are usually remembered for two men: Jesse Owens and Adolf Hitler. But there were Australians there too. A team of 33 Australian athletes competed at the games and witnessed Owens’ great sporting achievements on the track, as well as the glitzy show that the Nazis put on for the rest of the world. Hitler wanted the games to be propaganda coup that showed the German capital in the best possible light, but not many were taken in. The Aussies did not win any gold medals but they competed hard and made many friends. They were amateurs funded on a shoestring who soon discovered that the Germans, Americans and Japanese in particular were far ahead of them in terms of funding and training. Larry Writer, author of the Ned Kelly Award-winning Razor, brings the 1936 games to life in this detailed and atmospheric account. Dangerous Games will appeal to sports fans and history readers alike. There is always interest in the 1936 Olympics—just think of how well Daniel James Brown’s The Boys in the Boat sold.

Dave Martus is the manager of Dymocks Neutral Bay in Sydney

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Category: Reviews