Harry Blutstein has worked as a freelance journalist since 1972 and his articles have appeared in major Australian newspapers. He is an adjunct professor at RMIT University and a fellow at the University of Melbourne. More recently he has published several books: An Insider's Guide to Australia (Kummerly & Frey, 1995), Ascent of Globalisation (Manchester University Press, 2016) and his latest, Cold War Games (Echo Publishing, 2017) and has been reviewed in the Sydney Morning Herald, He is currently working on a book on the 1968 Olympic Games, the working title of which is Games of Discontent: Protests and Political Battles at the 1968 Mexico Olympic Games, which should be available mid-2021. His twitter handle is @harryblutstein.

About Cold War Games:

Cold War Games: Spies, Subterfuge and Secret Operations

 The 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games have become known as the ‘friendly games’, but East-West rivalry ensured that they were anything but friendly. From the bloody semi-final water polo match between the USSR and Hungary, to the large number of athletes who defected to the West, sport and politics collided during the Cold War.

Cold War Games shows vividly how the USSR and US exploited the Melbourne Olympic Games for propaganda, turning athletic fields, swimming pools and other sporting venues into battlefields in which each fought for supremacy.

There were glimmers of peace and solidarity. Cold War Games also tells the love story between Czechoslovak discus thrower Olga Fikotová, and American hammer thrower Hal Connolly, and their struggle to overcome Cold War politics to marry.

Cold War Games is a lively, landmark book, with fresh information from ASIO files and newly discovered documents from archives in the USSR, US and Hungary, revealing secret operations in Melbourne and showing just how pivotal the 1956 Olympic Games were for the great powers of the Cold War.

 

Some Highlights: 

Harry's background interest in the 1956 Melbourne Olympics
1956 Hungarian Revolution
Privilege of athletes behind the iron curtain
"The Friendly Games" and the power of olympic sport
Bloody water polo "Blood in the Water"
Spies and Aussie Rules Football
The decision of defection for an athlete
Vladimir Kutz and running through the pain
The Power of Protest in Sports
1968 Olympic games and Harry's upcoming work
Stalin vs. Tito and Soviet Soccer

Suggestions:

Harry: Read fun books, such as the work of Carl Hiaasen

Steven: Sign-up with your local library and read books for free (especially now!)

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