Munich 1972: Tragedy, Terror, and Triumph at the Olympic Games

by David Clay Large

Set against the backdrop of the turbulent late 1960s and early 1970s, this compelling book provides the first comprehensive history of the 1972 Munich Olympic Games, notorious for the abduction of Israeli Olympians by Palestinian terrorists and the hostages tragic deaths after a botched rescue mission by the German police. Drawing on a wealth of newly available sources from the time, eminent historian David Clay Large explores the 1972 festival in all its ramifications. He interweaves the political drama surrounding the Games with the athletic spectacle in the arena of play, itself hardly free of controversy. Writing with flair and an eye for telling detail, Large brings to life the stories of the indelible characters who epitomized the Games. Key figures range from the city itself, the visionaries who brought the Games to Munich against all odds, and of course to the athletes themselves, obscure and famous alike. With the Olympic movement in constant danger of terrorist disruption, and with the fortieth anniversary of the 1972 tragedy upon us in 2012, the Munich story is more timely than ever.

Genres: History, Sports, Nonfiction, Germany, Terrorism, Politics, European History

396 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2012

About the author

David Clay Large is a senior fellow at the Institute of European Studies, University of California, Berkeley, and professor of history at the Fromm Institute, University of San Francisco. He has also taught at Smith College, Yale University, and Montana State University.

Reviews

[Dee Miller · Rating 3 out of 5]

Audible.com 14 hours and 39 min. Narrated by Gregory St. John (B+)

During this year's Olympic Games, I spent valuable reading time doing what I enjoy every four years--watching the Olympics. This year I decided to find two books about the Olympics and listen to them . The first was a short Audible Original "Black Gold" written and told by by basketball legend Teresa Edwards, both the youngest and oldest winner of a gold medal as part the USA women's basketball team. It was interesting.

The second was "Munich 1972." I've always been curious about what led to the killing of the eleven Israeli men who were murdered during these games. This is covered in chapters seven and eight. This book is so much more which is fine, but I will have to read another book to get more details about the murders. I think this book was written around 2000, and the author discusses the selection of Munich just miles from Dachou concentration camp and only 28 years after the end of WW II as the site for the games. These games were played at the height of the Cold War when there were two Germanies, and both countries were represented and the repercussions. He talked about the IOC and Avery Brundage and the effort to keep the games from becoming professional. He discusses the commercialization of the games. Throughout the book he speaks about how politics within Germany and politics around the world affected the games. In the last chapters Mr. Large looked in depth into track and field events and then into the gold medal men's basketball game. In the final chapter he gets into the expenses of the games including a cost vs. benefit breakdown. Are the Olympic Games really worth the money?

My reply is YES but I don't pay for them, but I am thrilled by the competition. My young adult children and I were able to attend the 1996 Games in Atlanta for two days and we were driving home to Florida the day Centennial Park was bombed. We had just strolled though it and enjoyed the fountain on the two hot days we were there. It was like something out of a horror movie to get home and see it on tv!
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This was a well-researched book and the reader did a good job of keeping the story interesting. It just wasn't enough and also more than I was looking for!

[Socraticgadfly · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is really a four-star book, but, with multiple people three-starring it, and one even two-starring it, it needed a bump, so it got it.

Large looks at much more than the Israeli athlete kidnapping and eventual murder.

He discusses how Germans, in an anti-Nazi-appearances reaction to Berlin 1936, had security so low-key as to let this happen. Add in jurisdictional issues between city of Munich, state of Bavaria, and country of West Germany, and you've got a clusterfuck. Add on top of that, that Willy Brandt refused to ask Israel for commando help and the FRG had no trained force itself, and the final, deadly disaster was a ticking time bomb waiting to happen.

But, the book covers much more.

First, Large notes that the US basketball team, while perhaps having some grounds to complain, didn't get totally jobbed by the refs, either. (Also, if Hank Iba hadn't played a slowdown game, this wouldn't have happened in the first place.)

Second, there were Cold War politics.

Third, this was probably the first Olympics with major cost overruns.

And, there was the final Olympics of "Slavery Avery" Brundage running the IOC.

All that and more in this good book.

[Jette · Rating 5 out of 5]

Historische Faktendarlegung: 10/10
Quote an überflüssigen Fußnoten: standen im Anhang, also nicht mein Problem 🤓
Google notwendig: 7/10 (hat definitiv Interesse zum Thema geweckt)
Unerwarteter Plot-Twist: 8/10
Empfehlung: 10/10, richtig fesselnde Geschichte, die nicht nur das Attentat auf das israelische Team beschreibt, sondern auch das Leben der DDR-Sportler
Geschichts-Ass, um es zu verstehen: 1/10

[Bargain Sleuth Book Reviews · Rating 4 out of 5]

For this and other book reviews, visit www.bargain-sleuth.com

The Munich Olympic games are history for me. I was born four months after they were completed, but their images loomed large for me as I watched every Olympics from 1976 on. Usually, when anyone talks about the 1972 Olympics in Munich, they focus on the abduction and assassination of the Israeli athletes. The word terrorism became commonplace after these games. But the Munich games were so much more than the terrorist attack. As the Tokyo Olympic games continue, I thought I’d look back at several other Olympic Games. Munich 1972: Tragedy, Terror and Triumph at the Olympic Games delves into the entire games: how they came about, the stand outs in the sports field, and of course, the attack by Palestinian terrorists.

As I said, if you’re looking specifically to read a detailed discussion of the terrorist attacks at the Munich games, this book isn’t it. Rather, it’s a history of how Germany fought hard to host another Olympics, following Hitler’s 1936 Olympics. Many thought it was too soon for Germany to be a host country for the games of peace. Much time is spent detailing the politics and machinations of bringing the games back to Germany after 36 years.

Then, quite a bit of time is spent explaining how the city of Munich and surrounding communities prepared for the games with the building of the sports complexes and Olympic athletes’ villages. The Germans were so afraid of appearing in any way Nazi-like that serious security lapses happened including not having enough boots on the ground, which made the terrorist attack all that much easier to execute, and an insistence on pastel colors so nothing appeared too militaristic,

Two chapters detail the terrorist attacks, including the history of the fighting between the Israelis and Palestinians and a rundown of the events that happened, but overall, the chapters seem a bit rushed. I feel more could have gone into the kidnapping and killing of the Israeli athletes, but I also get the fact what Large was trying to do with the book in presenting them as a whole. The fact that IOC president Avery Brundage insisted the games continue is astounding, yet from everything I’ve read about Brundage, dating back to the 1936 Olympics, has not been positive.

Then, of course, are the stars of the 1972 games, the egotistical American swimmer Mark Spitz, and the Soviet gymnast Olga Korbet, who made gymnastics a dominant sports-watching event ever-after. In fact, Large makes the case that the 1972 Olympics in Munich were what made the sporting event must-see TV, the most important of the modern Olympics. The Olympics ever since Munich have been plagued with cost overruns and many cities deciding they simply can not afford the costs of hosting an Olympic games.

Overall, a good book looking into the history of the 1972 Olympics. However, there were times when Large glossed over certain events simply because he didn’t care for them and said so. If you’re going to be a historian of some measure, you set your prejudices at the door.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

My earliest memory of the Olympc Games goes back to a late August night in a caravan in East Maitland, sitting with my mum and watching the Opening Ceremony of the 1972 Munich Summer Olympic Games. From thereon till now I've been besotted with all things five ringed, and I have become familiar with the crucial role of these games in the history of the Olympic movement. Seminal in many ways, defined (tragically) by the murder of eleven Israeli team members, and perhaps the final games of what might be called the Olympics 'amateur' years (yes, I know this is a bit of a non-sequitor), Munich 1972 deserves study. In Munich 1972: Tragedy, Terror, and Triumph at the Olympic Games by David Clay Large readers such as yours truly get what we want.

That this book is more than just a study of the events on Harold Connolly Strasse, or the specific controversies and highlights of the Munich Olympics, is to Large's credit. The author offers a very comprehensive and detailed exploration of so many aspects of the Games, from the initial bid process all the way through to its legacy. It does spend a good deal of space reviewing the events of the Israeli massacre, and yes, figures such as Spitz, Korbut and the US basketball team are given attention. However, it is refreshing to read a book that really grapples with the complexities of Olympic hosting. Furthermore, Large offers some very interesting perspectives on the Munich Olympics within the then contemporary Cold War and German political context that are not well known even among passionate Olympic fans such as yours truly.

It must be noted that there are flaws in this book, though they are understandable. Because this book is written for (primarily) an American audience, the narrative does have a distinct American focus. That the US had such an important role in the Olympics is reasonable grounds for such an authorial stance. However, it seems a bit too parochial to spend so much narrative energy on Steve Prefontaine who was, for all his reputation, just another medallist.

Large also misses one of the most interesting stories of the Munich Olympics when he ignores the canoe events. He states “I am not concerned with the ’72 whitewater canoeing events that took place in Augsburg” which seems understandable with his focus on the host city. However, considering he spends so much time reviewing the rivalry between the Bundesrepublik (West Germany) and the DDR (East Germany) and ignores how this was the focus of a major espionage coup by the East Germans (copying and building an exact copy of the water course so as to best their West German rivals) is a bit of an error.

Finally, whilst for almost the entirety of the text Large applies valid and detaled academic research and scholarship, the following claim is spurious at best, and down right wrong at worst. The author, when reviewing Coca Cola's commercial relationship with the Olympics states “The Atlanta-based company had also been on board in Berlin in 1936, where Hermann Goering (for a price) had posed swigging from a bottle of Coke. ”. This factoid appears to have no genuine supporting evidence and appears to be just as mythic as Hitler snubbing Jesse Owens at the same Olympics. It might be considered a minor point, but when considering the importance of commercialism at the Olympics and also the historical legacy of the 1936 Olympics on Munich, as well as the Olympic movement in general, Large should've done better.

The most impressive aspects of Munich 1972: Tragedy, Terror, and Triumph at the Olympic Games“African American soldiers, high on the rhetoric of Black Nationalism, posed perhaps the single greatest threat to the “order” and tranquility of the Munich Games..."). The rivalry between the East Germans and West Germans is given plenty of attention, with additional reference to internal IOC machinations. This particular quote is emblematic of how Large depicts and understands how Munich 1972 represented a key moment in Cold War and IOC politics:

“In a secret assessment of Munich’s Olympic application compiled in mid-March 1966, officials from the top GDR sports association warned that Munich’s prospects for landing the ’72 Games looked alarmingly good, especially since Vienna and Moscow had opted out of the race. Avery Brundage was known “to have reacted positively” to Munich’s bid, as had an influential Swiss IOC delegate, Marc Holder, who reportedly argued that the committee must bring the Games back to the heart of Europe after their recent sojourn in Asia and their impending visit to Latin America (Mexico City).”

Throughout the book Large offers copious consideration of the unique problems faced by Munich 1972's supporters and organisers, with the split between the two German states being a magnification of broader Cold War tensions. That this is something that is for many people part of a dim past that's barely remembered, is fascinating and one that still speaks to many, including Germans, today, It is also interesting when one considers how the attentuon of almost all involved with the Olympics were on the challenges posed by East versus West political considerations, thus (arguably) blinding many from the threat posed by terrorism inspired by the Israel-Arab conflict.

The massacre in the Olympic Village, including its causes, direction and effects, are given enough space to make sure that the reader udnerstands the gravity and importance of it for the Munich Games and the broader community. The manner in which Large narrates the hostage drama and its bloody conclusion highlights to great effect just how badly it was handled. It is interesting to see the author offer some correctives to past narratives, specifically relating to conspiracy theories after the event, most notably Simon Reeve's One Day in September. Large notes that, when referring to a hijacking that helped free a surviving Palestinian terrorist after the massacre:

“Although this reading of the “strange” hijacking incident may be correct, it is not quite as convincing as it first may seem. The putatively corroborative “sources” mentioned by Reeve and Klein are never cited—and I can find no sign of any “smoking gun” in the German records (which admittedly does not mean that it doesn’t exist). Although the hijacking was perhaps convenient for Bonn, its disorderly and improvised character does not suggest a pre-arranged operation.”

There is certainly sufficicnt and informative coverage of the massacre to satisfy most readers. However, there are some tidbits, some quirks or dare one say factoids about Munich 1972 that Large deserves credit for, in bringing to one's attention. One such example is the following, with its discussion of Leni Riefenstahl's putative involvment with the Olympics, 36 years after her infamous film of Berlin 1936:

“Riefenstahl, however, wrangled an assignment from the Sunday Times (London) to cover the ’72 Olympics. Avery Brundage, who considered her film on the 1936 Games, Olympia, to be a “masterpiece,” and at whose behest the IOC had awarded her its Olympic Diploma in 1939, went to bat for her again in 1972, urging Willi Daume to secure her press credentials for the Munich Games. Riefenstahl eagerly took up her correspondent duties despite receiving warnings from the Munich Police of threats against her life. Of course, she would rather have been filming the opening ceremony as opposed to merely writing about it. According to her memoir, she had been offered the opportunity to do just that by David Wolper, producer of the 1972 Olympic film Visions of Eight, but apparently representatives of the federal government pressured Wolper to withdraw the offer. Riefenstahl’s regret over not having a camera in hand at the ’72 Games was evident in her generous comment about the opening ceremony: “That [pageant] was so grandiose, that one could have made a great film on the opening ceremony alone. It was much more beautiful than [the opening ceremony] in 1936 in Berlin.”

Of course it must be noted that citing Riefenstahl's authority has problems, in that she was very much the creator of her own mythos.

So, why read Munich 1972: Tragedy, Terror, and Triumph at the Olympic Games? For anyone who is a student of the Olympic movement and modern German history it will definitely receive a positive response. Those interested in the speciifc issues related to the Israeli massacre will also find much to think on, and Cold War historians should also respond positively. This is a highly readable and infornative text that does for Munich 1972 what a plethora of other texts have done for Berlin 1936. It gave me plenty to think about and is, at its base, a definitive book about its subject.

[John Ethier · Rating 2 out of 5]

I could not get past the first 100 pages - for me there was too much background info related to Germany that caused me to lose interest in the book.

[Joseph Stieb · Rating 4 out of 5]

A comprehensive history of the Munich games that is more about the games as political events rather than sports themselves. Covers why Munich was chosen, how the Munich organizers envisioned the games, how different countries and parties brought different political aspects to it, and, of course, the terror attack. I was impressed with Large's treatment of the attacks, as he managed to be quietly unequivocal about their monstrousness while situating them in the history of terrorism quite well. The overall apathy the IOC showed toward the attacks and their memory reflects the poison of Avery Brundage, a notorious anti-Semite and bizarre idealist who thought that these attacks were the moral equivalent of the global movement to exclude Rhodesia and South Africa from the games.

Large covers sporting events well, but overall this book was more academic than I anticipated. I hope to someday teach an Olympic Games course, so this will be a great resource. However, there are a few topics that I thought Large gave a little too much attention to that just aren't super compelling, including intra-IOC politics and Munich games architecture. Still, a solid book for fans of Olympic history. Last note: the terror attacks take up maybe a fifth of this book, and while the treatment of the attacks is excellent, the book is not ABOUT the attacks alone.

[Dachokie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outstanding Account of a Tragic, Yet Fascinating, Historical Event …


The 1972 Munich Olympics will forever be identified with the massacre of eleven members of the Israeli team by members of the Black September terrorist group. It is, understandably, the most logical icon of those Games. In fact, other than a few images or video clips of Mark Spitz, Olga Korbut or the masked Black September gunman on the dormitory balcony, there really isn’t enough information available for anything else to be associated with the Munich Olympics. Thankfully, with MUNICH 1972, David Large fills that void with zeal and offers the complete story of the “most beautiful Olympics ever to have been wrecked” .

Considering the author was actually in Munich during those Olympic Games (as a grad student working on a dissertation, not as a spectator), there is a sense that this book was written to satisfy his own quest for understanding the tragic event that unfolded down the road from him; as he is so thorough in his approach to the subject matter. Covering every imaginable facet of the 72 Olympics, from the controversy of Munich being awarded host-city status to the immediate and long-term aftermath of the Games and everything in-between, Large makes a case that Munich may arguably be the most important Olympics of the modern era. Rather than focusing solely on the obvious (the massacre), Large reminds us that up until the tragic event, the Games provided some astounding athletic performances that seemed destined to make Munich one of the most successful Olympics ever. This detailed, balanced and rather unbiased overview of the entire 72 Olympics proved to be a fascinating and educational read. We get the good, the bad and the very ugly facts behind this tragic event.

Large dedicates the first third of the book to the build-up to the Games. Starting with the controversial decision to award host city status to the birthplace of the Nazi Party, readers are reminded of the last time Germany hosted an Olympics, under Hitler. Large details the painstaking efforts of West Germany and Munich took to prove to the world that a new Germany had arisen from the ashes of its destructive past … the Munich Games were to be a showcase of this rebirth. Paralleling this story of Munich’s herculean attempt to rebrand itself (and Germany) is the rumbling of the global political violence that existed at the time (including trouble from its estranged brother-country, East Germany). It is clear that the planners knew the likelihood of the Munich Olympics being targeted for a violent political statement was high to almost certain. I was astonished to read that months before the Games started, a security advisor pretty much laid-out a potential Palestinian terrorist attack (“scenario 21”) in the exact manner in which it actually happened. And while security was important in theory it was superseded by the effort to soften reminders of Germany’s Nazi past (pastel jackets and baseball hats in lieu of anything remotely militant-looking). In other words, the door was left wide open for anyone with ill intentions.

The remaining two-thirds of the book are dedicated to the two weeks the Games played out. What is sometimes difficult to remember is that the athletic performances at Munich were quite stellar. Rather than a glossing overview of the athletics, Large opts to provide intimate and colorful details of a variety of events, their participants and eventual outcomes. An excellent overview that is full of interesting obscure stories and controversies. I felt that the author’s thorough attention to sports at the Munich Games was integral in making the book balanced and complete. Following the the first week of events, comes the chapter dedicated to the day of the Black September attack. Again, the author provides explicit detail that puts readers at the horrific scene and takes us through the tragedy, step-by-step, from the hostage-taking to the disastrous “rescue attempt” at a nearby airfield. Reading this chapter confirms that the security for entire Munich Games was nothing more than a house-of-cards and that most of the organizers were simply crossing their fingers, hoping to ride the good fortune of the first week all the way to the closing ceremony. The West German response to the crisis is characterized as being inept and helpless. Large does hand out a heap of blame to virtually everyone … even Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir is shown to have callously conceded the hostages’ lives rather than accommodating the terrorists’ demands. If there is one source of obvious bias exhibited by the author throughout the book, it is his obvious distaste for IOC President Avery Brundage, who infamously insisted the Games continue following the massacre. The final week of competition has a few bright moments, but readers will sense the Olympic spirit as being long gone as the controversy of continuing the games elicits a myriad of reactions from those athletes whose events were scheduled for that second week, after the massacre.

Thorough, informational and entertaining … a totally absorbing read. Quite simply, MUNICH 1972 left me with no unanswered questions regarding the Munich Games, but a strong desire to share the fine details with others. I believe David Large has done a magnificent job documenting an event that, for 40 years, has been steeped in darkness and mystery. This book should appeal to anyone interested in sports and/or history. Reading it as the London Olympics are playing out gave the book more special meaning and certainly puts things in perspective.

[Adriana Cisco · Rating 3 out of 5]

This topic interests me, and I do feel that I know a lot more about the 1972 Munich Olympics than I did before. I do appreciate that Clay Large wrote about the games holistically, and not just focused on the terrorist attack. However, I felt that his description of some events were very glib and insensitive. He used phrases like "blown to bits" to describe people dying in a suicide bombing. This casual, and sometimes joke-cracking habit was off-puting to me, though I recognize it may make nonfiction more fun for others. Frankly, a lot of the time, it just put me to sleep, and it consequently took me forever to finish.

[Kate McMurray · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting but slow at times. There is so much time spent on an in-depth dissection of the status of Germany in the early 1970s and the politics of how Munich came to host the Olympics that by the time we get to the actual events that occurred during the Olympics, both the sports (Olga Korbut! Mark Spitz!) and the hostage situation end up feeling glossed over.

[Jessica · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm upset I bought this book and gave this guy money. From not using the word terrorist to describe actual terrorists, to comparing Israel to Nazi Germany, it's pretty clear where he stands. Please, don't make my mistake. Learn about this massacre elsewhere.

[James S. · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is an overview of the entire 1972 Olympics as well as a portrait of West Germany and the city of Munich. The kidnapping incident occupies only one chapter towards the end. Not recommended if, like me, that's mainly what you wanted to read about.

[L · Rating 5 out of 5]

Munich 1972 by David Clay Large. scary account of how mishandled the israeli hostage crises at the olympics was handled and how little the safety of the athletes was the focus of many at all levels

[Umar Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

As someone who wasn't born yet and has only read about legends from the 1972 games such as wrestler Dan Gable and swimmer Mark Spitz I appreciated the background about the athletic accomplishments at the Munich Olympics. I also appreciated the author going back into history with detail about the shameful games under Nazi Germany. I feel the author could've spent more time on the actual hostage situation, murders, and failed rescue attempt.

[Steven Voorhees · Rating 5 out of 5]

With each Olympiad, the world is reminded of the pains, the problems and the procrastination that engulf each host city (and host nation, for that matter). Recently, the run-up to the games have been fodder for fury (Athens in 2004 and Rio in 2016). But rarely have events DURING the games themselves upended them. The most glaring example of the latter is, of course, the 1972 Summer Olympics of Munich. These games were designed to show a new and bright Germany. Yet they were built also to exorcise Nazi ghosts and Hitler's evil showcasing at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. The '36 Olympiad reflected the geopolitical realities of the day. And so did its '72 counterpart. A new world order reflected Munich. This order was informed by the Cold War, terrorism and the permanence of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. All of the former were either established or shattered by the Palestinian taking of Israeli athletes as hostages and the subsequent disastrous rescue attempt. However, the tragedy is but one piece of the overall story. Calling the quadrennial jamboree a festival is one of many curiosities Large employs in his in-depth and fascinating history of the Games of the XX Olympiad. His book is detailed, informative and humorous. And it never fails to grip or compel the reader.

[Jim Kelsh · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought I was getting a book describing the "Munich Massacre", but this volume is much more. Large starts his story with a short history of the modern Olympics. He next, painstakingly, describes Munich's application process, and then takes us through the fits and starts of planning th "72 games. There's a great cast of characters such as Olympic head Avery Brundage, Frank Shorter, Wiily Brandy, and many more as the "peaceful games" got under way. The book also details political backstabbing, cost overruns, municipal malfeasence and misfeasence...kind of a bavarian "Boardwalk Empire".
Large spent a good deal of time on the games themslves, detailing the two American runners who were given the wrong starting time, Frank Shorter"s marathon victory, and the thievery of the US-USSR Basketball game.
Then, we land on September 5; the gruesome murder of members of the Israeli squad by the Black Sepember group. Several coloosal foul ups by the West German contributed to this lamentable chapter in history. The details are well reseached and balanced.
A very readable cultural history of a time that doesn't seem so long ago.

[Devansh Gupta · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a good account of the Munich Olympics of 1972. I was disappointed though that the Hostage Incident(about which I wanted to read) is covered in only 2 chapters out of 8. The rest of the book is about the Bidding, Preparation and Organisation of the Munich Games which, not entirely irrelevant to the later events, can sometimes proved to be a tedious read. Although if you develop an interest, it provides deep insights into the nitty-gritties of organizing such large scale events and how political and unbiased they really are. After reading all that, the fact that the terrorists chose 'neutral' Olympic games to attack became less shocking. The accompanying worldwide publicity with such an attack, which was also the original intention of the Black September, is highlighted well. I wish that the eventual escape of the captured terrorists by the hijacking of a Lufthansa plane was also expounded more. But all in all, a good read and since much less is written about the actual incident in the olympics than about the subsequent "Wrath of God" operation by the Israeli Intelligence, the book fills a useful gap.

[Paul Miller]

The new leader in the "Best Book Paul's read in 2012" competition. Yes, it does help that this period correlates to one of my first sports memories as a child, but that being said...

A very thoughtful, yet very readable spin on an amazing stew of political and sports drama. Duh to me, but I'd never connected the dots to realize the significance of having the Olympics back in Germany only 36 years after the Nazi Olympics, AND having them in Bavaria, birthplace of the Nazis. Not surprisingly, the Germans are averse to visible, strong, militaristic security principles ("Here they go again."), so it's a piece of cake for the Arabs to commit terror.

If you're like me and you enjoy reading about sports in a thoughtful way, in the broader context of the times in which the games take place... you'll gobble this guy up just like I did.

[Courtney · Rating 3 out of 5]

Informative but slightly biased. The author's personal bias shined through often when describing characters and controversial situations throughout the book. I enjoyed learning more about the specific incident at the Munich '72 Games but not necessarily the alleged politics that fueled a lot of the decisions made before, during, and following the attack. Though I realize politics always play a huge part with any Games, I was looking for a straightforward, fact-based account.
A lot of time was also spent on specific events and competition outcomes. If you're looking for an in depth, comprehensive look at the Munich Games, this is your book. If you're looking for an in depth, comprehensive look at the attack and Munich's response, evidently, it doesn't exist.

[David Blankenship · Rating 4 out of 5]

Seeing the title 'Munich 1972' I thought that the book would be primarily about the terrorist attack at the Olympic games. But this book is about much more than that one event. From the bidding of the games years ago to the shadow of the 1936 Berlin Nazi games to the ongoing cold war debates between east and west (in particular, the two Germanys) to the ongoing social changes taking place, this book is a fascinating history. The least interesting aspect of it might well be the reporting on who actually won the sporting events. In many ways it holds up a mirror to the idea of sport and politics even as those trying to speak about the purity of sport seek to eliminate (unsuccessfully) any thought of politics entering its sacred realms.

[Brian Watkins · Rating 3 out of 5]

Picked this book because it was about a topic I was interested in, but knew little about. Not bad, but suffered from too much background detail that didn't fit into the larger narrative at times. While I didn't expect the entire focus to be on the hostage situation, there was so much build up and then very little on the actual event, that it was disappointing. I enjoyed it, but it was not the book I had hoped it would be.

[Doug Hauser · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although I enjoyed the chronological history of the games I was very disappointed with two areas of the book. First, too much time was spent to with the lead up to the games and too little with the actual tragedy. How did the terrorists get into Germany? Where did they train? Second, I was really quite miffed that there seemed to be more U.S.A. bashing then terrorist bashing.

[Megan · Rating 5 out of 5]

While other reviewers felt that there was too little attention paid to the terrorist attack, I felt like Large accurately provided a sense of how quickly everything occurred on September 5 and 6. So much of the Olympics is context, and Large did an excellent job of putting each win, loss, and plan into perspective. A really interesting read, especially if you love the Olympic games.

[Jonathan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I abandoned this book. It is probably a historical wealth of information, but it is just too dry and life is to short. There are so many great books in my "next" pile that I had to make the tough choice and prioritize.

[Erika Dreifus]

I reviewed this book for JEWISH REVIEW OF BOOKS, fall 2012 issue. (Review based on complimentary copy.)

[Roma Levy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Heavy book. A definite one to add to your library

[Fritzov · Rating 3 out of 5]

I know this olympics is not like others but would be interesting if books like this was written for every olympics