Silent Gesture: The Autobiography of Tommie Smith (Sporting) [Hardcover]

Tommie Smith (Author), David Steele (Author)

Book Description

Series: Sporting | Publication Date: February 28, 2007

The picture of Smith raising his black-gloved right fist at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics is one of the most enduring sports images of the 20th century. Nearly 40 years later, he details what the gesture symbolized for him and reveals what his life has been since.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Tommie Smith raised his black-gloved right fist after receiving the 200-meter gold medal at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics. The picture of that moment is one of the most enduring sports images of the twentieth century. Nearly 40 years later, he details what the gesture symbolized for him and reveals what his life has been since. We learn that, in Smith's mind, the raised glove was not a Black Power salute. We also learn that he was terrified he'd be shot while on the podium or afterward, a fear that left his life with a lingering undercurrent of paranoia. Along with reflections on the significance of the raised hand, Smith and coauthor Steele deliver a straightforward autobiography: growing up poor, early athletic success, college career at San Jose State, and decades as an educator and coach. There is an undercurrent of bitterness here, too, as Smith recounts numerous severed relationships, both professional and personal, in which he sees himself as the aggrieved party. Still, Smith is an important figure in the history of American sports, and deserves a forum to tell his story his way. Wes Lukowsky
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

"Smith is an important figure in the history of American sports, and deserves a forum to tell his story his way." -- Booklist

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Temple University Press (February 28, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1592136397
• ISBN-13: 978-1592136391
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.9 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #935,953 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Silent Gesture, April 1, 2009

By 

Thomas Gardner (Carson City, NV USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Silent Gesture: The Autobiography of Tommie Smith (Sporting) (Paperback)

I was a teammate of Tommy"s in 1965 at SJS. I found the book to be factual and very interesting. I learned a lot about a person I thought I knew. I also learned a lot about other things going on at the same time that I was not aware of. Things about race relations during those times, that I though were only going in the South. In my many years in Track and field I, being white, was a minority but never gave it much thought, skin color was never an issue with me, maby because I was white. He gave coach winter a lot of credit and of course he was a great coach however as a person he left a lot to be desired. If you were a sprinter and white (with the exception of Wayne Herman) then you didn't have much of a chance making the first team I was very interested in what Tommy had to say about breaking the 200 record for the first time. He gave Wayne Herman the credit when in fact I led that race for the first 125 yards. Wayne did finist second and I third. I enjoyed the book and would recommend it to people who want to know the man. I never got over what happend in Mexico City, but I understand it more. I am an olympic purist and still believe the Olympics is no place for demonstration or politics.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Explosive Social Commentary on the Dynamics and Interplay of Race, Athletics, Education Administration and its Effects, February 27, 2007

By 

Mitch Forte (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Silent Gesture: The Autobiography of Tommie Smith (Sporting) (Hardcover)

This story was long overdue. It should have been written at least 20 years ago. Better late than never and it was well worth the wait. The event that started this book took place almost 40 years ago and it was one of the most explosive events of 1968 when a lot of explosive and historical events took place.

Tommie Smith is very candid in his language and approach to telling his story. Very humorous at times and at other times the events will have you riveted to your seat. His story clarifies a lot of rumors and hearsay about the actual goings-on about what actually happens in the Olympic Village and the before and aftermath of what happend on the medal stand. It includes a lot of info on his upbringing and family life as a kid and his life as a husband and father. Once I opened the book, I could not put it down until I finished it.

An Olympic Gold Medalist in 1968, Tommie has proven to be an Olympian in life also by overcoming innumerable obstacles.

Congratulations Tommie on a job well done........

mitch

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Rather Noisy Gesture, August 9, 2007

By 

F. J. Craveiro de Carvalho (Coimbra, Portugal) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Silent Gesture: The Autobiography of Tommie Smith (Sporting) (Hardcover)

I cannot remember if I watched the medal presentation ceremony for the 200 meter race at the 1968 Olympics. I think I did, if I did not then I missed a historic occasion.
At that time racial problems in USA were not unfamiliar to me and I knew of people like Eldridge Cleaver, Malcolm X, Stokely Carmichael, Angela Davis... However I thought that those problems would not affect top class athletes and that they were fairly treated by the white society. So I regarded the medal ceremony as a strong and emotional protest by people who though not directly affected wanted to give a voice to the majority of afro-american citizens.
I could not be wronger. For instance, it never crossed my mind that Carlos and Smith feared to be shot by someone from the crowd.
The book under review is a detailed account of Tommie Smith's life, focussing on the events that led to Mexico 68 and what happened afterwards.
It is hard to believe what the two athletes, Smith and John Carlos, gold and bronze medallists respectively, had to endure: insults, menacing junk mail (a friend of a Smith's sister later confessed she used to send similar messages just for fun), the collapse of a marriage, a wife's suicide, the lack of support from people who could have helped (the former footballer Jim Brown was one of those), other black athletes strongly complaining their careers had been destroyed (Jim Hines, for example), no jobs...
Also the families suffered. Smith's mother died at 57 and he strongly implies her death was caused by the stress that the situation generated. His brothers and sisters suffered all sorts of abuse and his youngest brother still seems to blame his life failures on him.
It is no wonder that Muhammad Ali threw his Roma gold medal into the Mississipi river when realized that he was treated as before in his home town.
The story appears to have a happy ending, the book closes with the unveiling of a statue
portraying both athletes where everything started - the campus of San Jose State College -,
but has it? Does anything in the world erase the strong suffering both athletes had to face?
On reading this book I was reminded of a TV movie I watched long ago. The character played by Bette Davis, an old teacher, bumps into a former and much, much younger pupil.
They recall her motto - It's better to lose on one's terms than to win on someone else's. (I'm quoting from memory). I think that Tommie Smith might agree.