SWIFTER, HIGHER, STRONGER

In time for this summer’s Games, a slickly produced overview that’s just right for getting readers up to speed on the modern Olympics’ revival, development, and high (or low) spots. Macy combines historical and topical approaches, opening with accounts of Pierre de Coubertin’s brilliantly successful efforts to promote that revival and his ugly feud with Alice Milliat over the inclusion of women’s events. She goes on to quick profiles of dozens of prominent Olympians, frankly discusses drug and gender issues, politics and violence, then closes with capsule descriptions of each Olympiad from 1896 on. The plethora of illustrations includes shots of posters, gold medals, and athletic gear, but is largely comprised of crisply reproduced photos of athletes, either in action or accepting their laurels. It’s a relatively quick once-over, but, capped by a superb, annotated, multimedia source list for readers seeking systematic statistics or specifics about individual events, this sets a pace that few, if any, competitors are likely to match. (index) (Nonfiction. 10-15)