The 1936 Berlin Olympics: Race, Power, and Sportswashing

"When Adolf Hitler hosted the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, he used the Games to rally political support for his white supremacist worldview. In doing so, Hitler not only ruptured the myth that politics and sports do not mix, but he also initiated the first major instance of sportswashing: hosting a sports mega-event to launder one's stained reputation on the world stage. The 1936 Berlin Olympics: Race, Power, and Sportswashing situates these controversial Games in the longer political history of the Olympics. In the United States, the Berlin Olympics catalyzed a raucous, if ultimately unsuccessful, boycott campaign that raised serious concerns about racialized repression in Germany. The Berlin Summer Games furnished a high-profile testing ground for racial theories rooted in white supremacy. This book demonstrates how the Olympic Games have long been both a pedestal for autocrats to boost their unsavory regimes and a flashpoint for human-rights criticism"--