Ping-Pong Diplomacy: Ivor Montagu and the Astonishing Story Behind the Game That Changed the WorldSimon and Schuster, 2 ene 2014 - 352 páginas It was one of the most significant developments of the post-war era: China finally abandoning its close relationship with the Soviet Union to begin detente with the USA. Astonishingly, the man who helped make it happen was a British aristocrat, Ivor Montagu, a Soviet spy who knew Stalin and dined with Trotsky. Even more remarkably, the means to this rapprochement was table tennis, a sport loved by both Chairman Mao and Montagu. For years, Montagu had lived a dual life, working to spread communism and also table tennis around the world. Surprisingly, the two strands of his career would come together in an event of global significance. Nicholas Griffin weaves a compelling story to reveal the background to the famous occasion in 1971, when the USA's Glenn Cowan, a 19-year-old hippie, befriended China's world champion Zhuang Zedong, who was imprisoned during the Cultural Revolution. Within days, the Americans would be playing the Chinese in front of 18,000 fans in Beijing, with the whole world watching. It was the beginning of a thaw in Sino-US relations that forced the Soviets into a crippling arms race that acted as a catalyst to pressuring them into errors that would draw the Cold War to an end. Sometimes sport truly can have the biggest consequences. |
Índice
Prologue | |
PART ONE The West | |
The Chance to Shine | |
Fallout | |
Heroes of the Nation | |
Spreading the Gospel 28 The Grinding Halt | |
Under Pressure | |
Acknowledgements | |
Notes | |
NotSoHumble Beginnings | 1 |
GentlemanlyRebel 3 Roast Beefand Russia | 2 |
The Dangers of Derision | 4 |
Table Tennis and Trotsky | 5 |
Culture and the Coming | 6 |
Suspect | 7 |
PART THREE East Meets West | |
The World at | |
The Seedsof Peace 35 Long HairLight Heart | |
Could the Great Wall Crumble? | |
A Measured Coincidence | |
An Invitation Home | |
Surprise | |
Decisionsto BeMade 41 The Worries 42 Crossing the Borders 43 All Eyes on America | |
Tension 45 Nixons Game 46 Political PingPong PART FOUR Aftermath | |
Return Game | |
Capital Performance 49 United Nations 50 The Hippie Opportunist 51 The Heights | |
The Costs | |
Epilogue | |
Brothers | 8 |
The Endof the Game? 10 The Jewish Question | 9 |
12 | |
The RiseofAsia | 13 |
Tiny Tornadoes | 14 |
Reconnaissance | 15 |
The Golden Game | 16 |
Setting the Table | 17 |
The End of Brotherhood | 18 |
Preparation | 19 |
Sacrifice | 20 |
Nourishing theTeam 22 PingPong Espionage 23 Cheery Martial Music | 21 |
Otras ediciones - Ver todo
Ping-Pong Diplomacy: Ivor Montagu and the Astonishing Story Behind the Game ... Nicholas Griffin No hay ninguna vista previa disponible - 2014 |
Ping Pong Diplomacy: Ivor Montagu and the Astonishing Story Behind the Game ... Nicholas Griffin No hay ninguna vista previa disponible - 2014 |
Términos y frases comunes
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