WHEN IN ROME

Pulitzer Prize-winning author David Maraniss combines his passion for sports and history with his flair for storytelling in Rome I960 (Simon & Schuster), a riveting account of how the television coverage of the Olympics transformed the world. By putting names and faces on the conflicts and social upheavals across the world, TV vanquished the image of the Olympics as a pure gathering of innocent amateurs. The propaganda war raging between the U.S. and the Soviet Union, with athletes on both sides seeking to defect, would eclipse the first doping scandal. Less than a year before the erection of the Berlin Wall, East and West Germany (furious rivals themselves) would for the last time compete as one. India would take on Pakistan. China would face down Taiwan. Barefoot Ethiopian marathoner Abebe Bikila would be the first black African to take home a gold medal, less than 25 years after Italy invaded his country. The struggle for civil rights would hit home when black athletes such as 18-year-old Cassius Clay and sprinter Wilma Rudolph established their superiority, demanding the world's atten tion and respect. This coverage would usher in the turbulent 60s, when the revo lution was truly televised.