Customer Reviews

Something in the Air: American Passion and Defiance in the 1968 Mexico City Olympics

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I got interested in this book while reading an excerpt in a recent issue of Sports Illustrated. I had extremely high hopes for this book, but was somewhat disappointed. Being born in 1970, I obviously have no personal recollection of the 1968 Olympics, but long remembered hearing about Bob Beamon's historic long jump and Tommie Smith and John Carlos' defiance on the medal stand. The opportunity to learn even more about the Mexico City against the backdrop of the turbulence and upheaval that was 1968 was irrestible.

My main criticism of Hoffer's book is that it is quite uneven. There are some strong parts, specifically the chapters about Fosbury, Smith and Carlos. On the other hand, his coverage of Beamon and Foreman did not provide nearly the depth and dimension that I expected and was a letdown when compared to the previously mentioned athletes. By far the most enlightening part of the book centered on Avery Brundage, an American who was head of the IOC. Brundage tried to maintain iron-fisted control of the Games and keep absolute order in what was the first Olympics in a developing nation --- and before the vast commercialization that the Olympics have become today.

Overall, Hoffer's book is a solid contribution, but has enough holes to only be 4 stars. It is a quick read and contains enough back stories to be worth the time.

Well worth the time, this relatively brief look at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics gives the reader an enticing look into what may have been the first truly modern Games. The famous medal stand gloved protest by Tommie Smith and John Carlos is given full treatment, but other revealing stories are told concerning George Foreman, Dick Fosbury (of the famous "Flop") and others.

A terrific read and highly recommended!

I had to read this book for an African American Diaspora Studies class, and this is a great read if you're like me and despise reading historical texts. The author presents the information in a way that captures your attention, raising awareness to the hypocrisy and contradicting nature of the 1968 Olympics. The author does a great job in explaining the story behind this historical event and there are moments that make you laugh. I would definitely recommend this book for anyone to read. The only negative is the amount of names the author talks about, but at the same time that's history for you.

The Washington Post's review (above) gives a full overview of the tumultuous events and fascinating personalities described in "Something In The Air". To Richard Hoffer's credit, he interviewed a great number of them and is able to provide readers with many interesting anecdotes. But... then one begins to encounter numerous factual errors (not to mention many typos and carelessly written sentences). The latter are merely annoying; the former, the factual errors, are startling coming from a long-time Sports Illustrated writer. And they make one wonder if he was equally careless - and simply inaccurate - in recounting the recollections of those he interviewed.
Examples: He credits Ray Norton with a "100 meter time of 9.3 seconds". Nope, 100 yards.
He says Jim Ryun was 5 meters behind Keino at the 800 mark in the 1,500 and says "the race had gotten away from him." Yes, it had - but because he was actually 18 meters back, according to Track and Field News's report on the race. Five meters would not have been a big gap, as a sportswriter surely should know.
He writes at length about Dick Fosbury's winning performance in the high jump and says that the first marathoner, Mamo Wolde, was just entering the stadium as Fosbury began his approach. His point: The appearance of the marathon winner usually got huge applause but did not in this case because of the crowd's focus on Fosbury. But Hoffer goes on to describe the reaction of Kenny Moore, the American who finished over 9 minutes behind Wolde. He says Moore was coming on the track when Fosbury jumped and reacted with delight to the crowd's cheering for Fosbury's leap. So... Fosbury's run-up took over 9 minutes?
Concerning Fosbury's revolutionary flop style of jumping, Hoffer says: "Neither his jump nor the straddle was inherently superior." Yet every single world class jumper for decades has used only the "Flop" as have virtually all jumpers at every level.
He has the high jump bar going up "quarter inch by quarter inch" which he says is "actually 5 centimeters". But, as his own context on the same page shows, each 5 centimeter elevation was close to 2 inches.
In one sentence Hoffer has Lynn Davies winning gold in the broad jump in '64 and Ralph Boston winning silver - and Igor Ter Ovanesian beating Boston there by 4 centimeters. Where did Ter Ovanesian place? 1 1/2?
He mentions "pole vaulter John Thomas" - who was actually a great high jumper -and "Bob Beamon the high jumper" even though he later writes at length about Beamon's awesome long jumping.
He says "Bob Beamon's father was in Sing Sing when he was conceived...." Well, not unless they had conjugal visits in those days, which I seriously doubt.
He locates San Jose as north of Sacramento.
He twice mentions the great '50s basketball player Paul Arizon - a career sportswriter who doesn't know how to spell the name of an all-time great: Arizin.
In describing the anchor leg of the 4x200 relay in swimming he says: "So what was supposed to be a Spitz-Schollander duel...." - which would have been quite a feat since they were both on the U.S. team.
These are some of those I caught. How many did I miss? Why didn't Hoffer, or someone at his publisher with a little knowledge of sports, proofread this book. And, as I said, was he as careless when he reported the recollections of Beamon, Carlos, et al?
I'm disappointed since I followed the events of that year closely. I wrote a letter to Track and Field News early in the year sympathising with those considering a possible boycott. (It's available on-line, plus I still have the issue from '68 - not a prettied up memory.) I began this book with high expectations. Some were met but the inexcusable lack of fact-checking and proofreading made me doubt the over-all accuracy of Hoffer's reporting.

Well lets start out by counting how many political things were happenning that summer that had nothing to do with the actual sport of competing with other nations best track and Olympic stars in various sports such as boxing with a young George Foreman walking around with an American flag.
Great human interest stories on the historic two weeks of competition and reviews of winners as well as the losers who trained their whole life for Olympic glory!
Its a facinating read for the olympic fan as well as stories of hyuman sacifice and training. i know that i could not put the book down as a quick paced style of writing.
Run for the gold and pick it up today.