Author Biography | Interview | Books by this Author | Read-Alikes
David Maraniss is an associate editor at The Washington Post and a distinguished visiting professor at Vanderbilt University. He has won two Pulitzer Prizes for journalism and was a finalist three other times. Among his bestselling books are biographies of Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, Roberto Clemente, and Vince Lombardi, and a trilogy about the 1960s – Rome 1960; Once in a Great City (winner of the RFK Book Prize); and They Marched into Sunlight (winner of the J. Anthony Lucas Prize and Pulitzer Finalist in History). A Good American Family is his twelfth book.
David Maraniss's website
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What is especially compelling about the 1960 Summer
Olympics?
What attracted me to Rome, what made it special in my mind, was the uncommon
combination of legendary athletes, the tension of the cold war, the beauty of
the setting, and the issues that arose during the 18 days of competition. With
the entire world on the same stage at the same time, I saw the opportunity to
weave the drama on the playing fields with the political and cultural issues
that were emerging then.
You say in the book that the 1960 Summer Olympics marked the passing of one
era and the dawning of another. What do you mean by that?
In so many ways, the 1960 Olympics marked a passing of one era and the birth
of another. Television, money and doping were bursting onto the scene, changing
everything they touched. Old-school notions of amateurism, created by and for
upper-class sportsmen, were being challenged as never before. New countries were
being born in Africa and Asia, blacks and women were pushing for equal rights.
For better and worse, one could see the modern world as we know it today coming
into view.
The Berlin, Munich or Mexico City Summer Olympics were arguably more
controversial or meaningful than Rome. ...
Tom Bissell is the author of Chasing the Sea, God Lives in St. Petersburg, The Father of All Things, Why Video Games Matter, Magic Hours: Essays On Creators and Creation (2012) and Apostle: Travels Among the Tombs of the ... (more)
If you enjoyed:
They Marched Into Sunlight
Try:
The Father of All Things
by Tom Bissell
Richard Ben Cramer was born June 12, 1950 in Rochester, New York. He attended Johns Hopkins University earning a bachelor's degree in the Liberal Arts, later going on to earn a masters degree at Columbia University. His ... (more)
If you enjoyed:
When Pride Still Mattered
Try:
Joe DiMaggio
by Richard Ben Cramer
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