"Engrossing" -- Matt Chilton, **Books of the Year** * Daily Telegraph *
"Eighty years after the events it depicts, Berlin 1936 is a small masterpiece - you actually feel like you were there... The book was originally in German, but Jefferson Chase's translation is so perfectly judged, you'd never even notice" -- Marcus Berkmann * Daily Mail, **Books of the Year** *
"Entertaining... A vivid collage of vignettes gleaned from diaries, police reports, snippets from newspapers, and so on. It dances from comedy to tragedy, from the ironic to the sinister, to give a picture of a darkening Germany... Hilmes has an eye for incidental detail." -- Robbie Millen * The Times *
"A German historian charts the Berlin Olympics day by day through a series of memorable vignettes of life under Nazism. Hilmes' deceptively jaunty, even comic tone echoes that of the Games themselves" -- Simon Kuper * Financial Times, **Books of the Year** *
"This book reads like a tourist guide to a city on the eve of destruction" -- Gerard DeGroot * The Times, **Books of the Year** *
"Written with great verve, compassion and humour, Hilmes' book brings to life a panoramic cast of characters ... Compelling, suspenseful and beautifully done" -- Anna Funder, author of STASILAND
"Jefferson Chase's excellent translation gives us taut prose that adds to the sense of unease" -- Emma John * Guardian, **Books of the Year** *
"Thrilling ... Berlin 1936, with its keyhole glimpses into otherwise private lives, gives us an engaging portrait of those last flashes individuality in the Third Reich." -- Robert Leigh-Pemberton * Daily Telegraph *
"This fascinating work captures the simmering complexity of a society as it enters one of the darkest chapters of modern history. With chilling immediacy, Hilmes offers portraits taken from a whole cross section of Berlin, characters as vivid as any from an Otto Dix or George Grosz painting" -- Chloe Aridjis, author of BOOK OF CLOUDS
"Anybody looking for an alternative history of one of the most controversial Games in the history of the Olympics should look no further" * Daily Express *
"Hilmes has a gift for storytelling ... entertaining ... a delicately crafted treat" -- Nikolaus Wachsmann * Guardian *
"Fascinating... meticulous research" -- Roger Domeneghetti * Times Literary Supplement *
"Hilmes' narrative mosaic becomes mesmerising." -- Peter Carty * i *
"A breathtaking book" * Die Welt *
"Hilmes has unearthed many memorable vignettes ... Jefferson Chase's smooth translation contributes to a chillingly breezy read." -- Simon Kuper * Spectator *
"A punchy, vibrant, and highly original account of the most controversial of all modern Olympiads." -- David Clay Large, author of NAZI GAMES: THE OLYMPICS OF 1936
"A riveting, immersive glimpse into German-and indeed global-life tiptoeing towards disaster. Through Hilmes's creative approach to historical storytelling, a multivocal Berlin lives and breathes vividly." -- Jessica J. Lee, author of TURNING: A SWIMMING MEMOIR
"Fascinating... Oliver Hilmes' pen portrait immerses the reader in a city still resistant to totalitarian control" -- David Evans * The Tablet *
"A dense, enthralling portrait of those sixteen days, reflective of the whole of Germany. As riveting as a novel." * Neues Deutschland *
"Carrying readers to venues far from the fields of athletic competition, the richly detailed 16-day narrative spotlights men and women who receive no medals but who deserve empathetic attention ... A riveting drama." * Booklist (starred review) *