Purchase
The Secret History Behind the Game That Changed the World
Scribner
January 2014
On Sale: January 7, 2014
352 pages ISBN: 1451642776 EAN: 9781451642773 Kindle: B00BSAZ4KM Hardcover / e-Book
Add to Wish List
Non-Fiction
THE SPRING OF 1971 heralded the greatest geopolitical
realignment in a generation. After twenty-two years of
antagonism, China and the United States suddenly moved
toward a détente—achieved not by politicians but by
Ping-Pong players. The Western press delighted in the
absurdity of the moment and branded it “Ping-Pong
Diplomacy.” But for the Chinese, Ping-Pong was always
political, a strategic cog in Mao Zedong’s foreign policy.
Nicholas Griffin proves that the organized game, from its
first breath, was tied to Communism thanks to its founder,
Ivor Montagu, son of a wealthy English baron and spy for the
Soviet Union. Ping-Pong Diplomacy
traces a crucial intersection of sports and society.
Griffin tells the strange and tragic story of how the game
was manipulated at the highest levels; how the Chinese
government helped cover up the death of 36 million peasants
by holding the World Table Tennis Championships during the
Great Famine; how championship players were driven to their
deaths during the Cultural Revolution; and, finally, how the
survivors were reconvened in 1971 and ordered to reach out
to their American counterparts. Through a cast of eccentric
characters, from spies to hippies and Ping-Pong-obsessed
generals to atom-bomb survivors, Griffin explores how a
neglected sport was used to help realign the balance of
worldwide power.
Comments
No comments posted.
Registered users may leave comments.
Log in or register now!
|