A review by pennyriley
Games of Deception: The True Story of the First U.S. Olympic Basketball Team at the 1936 Olympics in Hitler's Germany by Andrew Maraniss

5.0

The game is basketball, the deception is the Nazis attempts to make these games seem like any other Olympics, bringing athletes from many countries together to compete in the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. Both stories were fascinating especially at their intersection. Many in America wanted to boycott the games, one player decided not to go because of the atrocities. Another Jewish player convinced himself that playing was the right thing to do, and had a wonderful time in Berlin, but all the time questioned whether he should be there or should have stayed home. A couple of things that fascinated me: how the team was chosen, or in fact, teams. The two finalists of a national competition were the two teams to go to Berlin, and because of the restrictions of numbers of players allowed on court, they continued as two teams, playing alternate games. Another: the conditions under which the teams played, basically on what was more of a muddy football style pitch than a basketball court. And finally the unequal treatment of women; while men were feted and lived like kings the women were shoved into a dormitory and only got enough to eat if they arrived promptly at the dining hall. The whole series of deceptions was fascinating, if unsurprising given what history has taught us. For me an added layer of interest was the Kansas connection. A good section was given over to James Naismith's invention of the game and his later move to KU where his original 13 Rules of Basketball are still displayed, and that one of the two teams to make it to Berlin was from a small town, McPherson, KS.