Rivaling the nonfiction works of Steve Sheinkin and Daniel James Brown's The Boys in the Boat (Penguin Books 2014), author Andrew Maraniss covers a lot of territory in this story of the first basketball team to compete in the controversial 1936 Olympics in Nazi Germany. He traces the origins of basketball beginning with divinity student James Naismith's unique idea in 1891, to the triumphant performance of not only the basketball team, but also other American athletes at the Olympics. The text blends history and sports seamlessly. It provides a window into the evolution of a winning basketball team, offering brief backgrounds on the chosen players and the efforts to win sponsorship from a Hollywood movie mogul, as well as delving into the political climates of both the United States and Germany before World War II. The reader will be appalled to read of the pro-Nazi support of the Olympic Committee leaders and the anti-Semitic sentiment that was then prevalent in America. Maraniss uses his narrative nonfiction text as a platform to communicate the disparity in the treatment of different races both stateside and abroad. The extensiveness of his research is evident, and he has a knack for making the subject compelling and understandable. Even readers who don't appreciate sports will find this story a page-turner. One drawback is the photographs attended by captions are tiny with fuzzy images and small font; although good reference points, this well-written, well-designed work deserves better. Nevertheless, the interesting facts Maraniss presents will appeal to a wide audience of children and young adults and can be a supplemental piece in U.S. history classes when investigating the years leading to the Second World War or for researching the 1936 Olympics Games. It can also be used as a resource in civil rights units that will offer a unique perspective on discrimination against people of color in the United States.
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