July 2008 Archives

The Beijing Olympics begin Aug. 8 and, like its Olympiad predecessors, will be the subject of concentrated international attention and round-the-clock television coverage for 18 consecutive days.

So what exactly is it that draws the world's focus to mass quantities of athletic competition every four years?

Talmage Boston and David Maraniss

Pulitzer Prize-winning author David Maraniss answers the question this way in his new book "Rome 1960: The Olympics That Changed the World" (Simon & Schuster 2008): "The singular essence of the Olympic Games is that the world takes the same stage at the same time, performing a passion play of nations, races, ideologies, talents, styles, and aspirations that no other venue, not even the United Nations, can match."