Munich 1972

This account follows the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, a festival best remembered for the attack in which Palestinian militants seized Israeli athletes and the failed police rescue attempt that ended in their deaths. Drawing on contemporary records, including recently opened German and Olympic archives, David Clay Large traces how the political crisis and the sporting competition unfolded side by side, with the Games themselves not free of political conflict.

Large brings the period to life through its people: the city of Munich, the visionaries who won the right to host the Games despite serious obstacles, and the athletes, both celebrated and little known. The book situates the events within the late 1960s and early 1970s, a time of upheaval.

Published as the fortieth anniversary of the tragedy approached in 2012, the book speaks to ongoing concerns about terrorism threatening the Olympic movement.