I wanted to lurve this as it scratches two itches for me - the Olympics and Berlin in between the wars - but something just left me flat. Structure? Pacing? I'm not sure, because it's all intrinsically interesting, but I had to drag myself through the majority of this book. You know, it reads to me like a pitch for a great, non-Leni Riefenstahl documentary for this Olympiad rather than an engaging piece of historical nonfiction. I'd recommend, however, because it provides a nice overview of the Games and that fraught Berlin.

I had read a lot of history about WWII, but not very much about the prelude to the war, so this book was very interesting. It tells of the Nazi propaganda, the Olympic athletes and other people in Berlin for the Games, and what later happened to them, plus delicious descriptions of the food they ate. It made me really want to go out and eat a heavy meal at a German restaurant!

When I think of the 1936 Olympics, the first thing that comes to my mind is Jesse Owens. Actually, the only thing that came to my mind was Jesse Owen. This book follows 16 days during the Olympic and each day offers a different narrator. Narrators range from people who were persecuted in Nazi Germany (such as Jewish and Roma people), to diplomats, and even Jesse Owens himself. By the end of the book you have a better sense of what the atmosphere was like in Berlin during those day.

This book was laid out interestingly. Each day of the Olympics in Berlin in 1936 was broken down, starting with a weather report and then following some of the big names of the time; political, athletes, artists and proprietors of popular night clubs and eateries. There would also be smaller names, names of ordinary people who had the bad luck to get on the wrong side of the ruling power in Germany at the time, for being Jewish, a Gypsy, etc. There would also be snippets of instruction from the Nazi Party to journalists or the local police about how to deal with certain issues in writing while the spotlight was on Berlin during the Olympics. Chilling, to say the least.

I think the vignettes of the ordinary people were interesting, but some didn't seem to have much of a connection to anything else and I wasn't quite sure why those bits were added. It was nice at the end to have a "what happened to..." section, but it would have been more helpful to have the chapter the person was first mentioned in to be able to go back as a refresher for who the person was, as some of their stories blurred together.

I think the little Gypsy girl Elisabeth should have had more page time. Heck, I could see a whole book just about her and what she experienced.

After reading this book, I feel like I learned more about the atmosphere of Berlin at the time, rather than the facts of the time. I wasn't expecting that, to be honest. The emotions of the time are good to know, but there was SO much going on, I couldn't really grab any one fact before it was whipped away and something else was brought up. Again, the way it was broken down confused me, so I don't think I got as much out of this book as I could have had it been formatted differently.

Not a bad book, I think any well written book dealing with the hatred of the Nazis towards the "other" needs to be read by all so it won't be repeated now or ever, but this one didn't ring any huge bells for me. Solid 3 stars. Recommended if you are into that time period. It definitely makes you wonder how history would have been different if America had boycotted the 1936 Olympics. An interesting book would be a sci-fi exploration of that as an alternate timeline. I wonder if it's been written already or not? This is s solid book that makes the reader think.

My thanks to NetGalley and Other Press for an eARC copy of this book to read and review.

Superb. A quick and easy read that chronologically covers the progress of the 1936 Berlin Olympic games. We view each day through the eyes of a diverse cast of characters: politicians, senior Nazis, nightclub owners, Jesse Owens, displaced Roma citizens, Jewish citizens etc. It works brilliantly. The Nazis skilled PR exercise convinces many that their intentions are benign, whilst secret memos, nascent concentration camps, and the already visible anti-semitism, all tell a very different story.

Berlin 1936: Sixteen Days in August is a mere 270 pages, and manages to tell a powerful story, and evoke the terrifying rise of Nazism, very succinctly and accessibly. I can't praise it highly enough and feel sure that it would appeal to the casual reader and the informed historian alike.

The tantalising glimpses of some characters, for example Thomas Wolfe and Leon Henri Dajou, leave me eager to find out more about their lives. I will most certainly be reading I Have a Thing to Tell You by Thomas Wolfe.

I read Berlin 1936: Sixteen Days in August quite quickly. I will certainly be revisiting it again, this time reading it more slowly and carefully.

5/5

While I enjoyed the book, this was not the storyline I expected. The book was riveting in sections, as a student of German history. The back drop of this book is the Berlin Olympics, 1936, and is a montage of stories surrounding that event.

I am giving the book four stars for interesting subject matter, and not five as it wasn't a cohesive story as I expected. I found the politics frightening in relation to what I witness currently in the US.

Thank you to #NetGallery for the opportunity to receive this . book prior to publication as an advanced reader e-copy, in exchange for an honest review.

I was granted my wish by the publisher to read and review this book from Net Galley. I am an avid reader of WWII books, and had read another book covering the Olympics in 1936, it was awesome. So I had expected this book to cover the Olympic events, that was not so.
The best way to describe this book is a “medley”. It is a medley of many, many people, their lives, situations, and activities leading up to and during the 16 day event of the 1936 Olympics. It does cover a few of the events such as Jesse Owens and his interactions with fellow Olympians, but for the most part, this book is a journal of historical events happening to the members of the Third Reich administration, the journalist Thomas Clayton Wolfe, the movement of Jews before the Olympics started, the daily weather report for each day, the police highlights for the day and other people who attended the Olympic festivities. It also covers our USA delegates who went to Berlin before the games to investigate the participation and treatment of Jews, of which I was rather appalled at their attitude and opinions.
This book is hard to keep track of the names of the people involved. BUT, it is chocked full of true stories of multiple different people in multiple different professions and covers the extravagant social events that took place during this 16 day period. The best part was the ending, the author tidied up the entire book by going back and telling us what was the outcome of the people he touched on during the story. It wrapped the book up so nicely. I am giving this book 5 stars because I learned so much from it, it wasn’t what I had expected, but I almost consider it was better. This book clearly shows the lull before the horrific storm to follow and the extreme measures taken to deceive and cover up horrendous acts.

I am sorry, I cannot review this book as I cannot download it to my kindle and I dislike reading on my computer. Apologies.