Read Ebook {PDF EPUB} A Terrible Splendor Three Extraordinary Men a World Poised for War and the Greatest Tennis Match Eve A Terrible Splendor: Three Extraordinary Men a World Poised for War and the Greatest Tennis Match Ever Played by Marshall Jon Fisher. Named Best Tennis Book of the Year by HuffingtonPost.com Named No. 1 Book for Holiday Giving by the Bay Area Reporter. Click here for Marshall Fisher's tour schedule. Hear Marshall Jon Fisher on the radio: A German edition was published in July by Osburg Verlag. Read the New York Times blog by Harvard tennis coach Andrew Rueb, which started a long conversation. Another Times blog compared 1937 and 2007 "greatest-ever" matches (and books). Excerpted in the April issue of Tennis magazine (print version only). Peter Bodo blogs about the book at Tennis.com. Waves of Acclaim for A Terrible Splendor. “ TENSE, TRAGIC, BEAUTIFULLY TOLD, AND IMMENSELY ENJOYABLE. M arshall Fisher has masterfully woven the story of Europe on the edge of war, a man pursued by the Gestapo, and America on the rise into the tale of the greatest tennis match of the century. ” — Atul Gawande. “ A REMARKABLE BOOK . . . told in fascinating detail. ” —Fox News. “ P rovides a welcome reminder of how a great athlete, in dire circumstances, can rise to extraordinary levels—both in his game and in his life. ” — Newsweek. “ A FINE BOOK , in the new tradition of solidly researched sports writing. Marshall Jon Fisher has found a remarkable story and has told it well. ” — The Washington Times. “ ENGROSSING . . . Marshall Jon Fisher captured two memorable characters, illuminated their historical and cultural milieus, and kept me in delicious suspense. I'm grateful for my ignorance of tennis history, since if I'd known the outcome of the 1937 Davis Cup match before I read this engrossing book, I might not have sat on the edge of my seat and bitten my nails as Don Budge and Gottfried von Cramm served and volleyed. ” —Anne Fadiman. “For his smashing serve and spectacular rallies between sports history and political drama, game, set, and match go to Marshall Jon Fisher’s A Terrible Splendor .” — Vanity Fair “ ABSORBING . . . . Fisher depicts t he intersection of their careers amid the simmering world conflict, juxtaposing history and sport. By illuminating the terrible shadows of a time, Fisher shows that hyperbole may be fleeting but champions are not .” —Liz Robbins, New York Times Book Review “ Fisher hits on a nonfiction storyline that would make a screenwriter squeal. . . . reads like a novel. While expertly weaving world history, the varied backgrounds of each of the men involved in the Davis Cup, and the details of what he considers the greatest match ever played, he keeps the story moving and the pages turning. ” — Berkshire Eagle. “Offers richly detailed portraits as the story moves from one nail-biting set to the next against a backdrop of improbably high personal and political stakes.” — Boston Globe “ TRANSFORMATIVE . so much more than a tennis story … may well stay with you forever … Ranks right up with Gordon Forbes’ A Handful of Summers and John McPhee’s Levels of the Game as one of the most memorable books about tennis — and more importantly, the human spirit — that you may ever read. ” — TennisWeek.com. “For those of us who believe that tennis is a metaphor for life, here at last in this marvelous narrative is proof, served up on the rackets of Budge and Von Cramm. A Terrible Splendor is a wonderful account of a time of great historical drama , with the world on the brink of war, and everything resting, or so it would seem, on getting the ball back over the net just one more time.” — Abraham Verghese , author of The Tennis Partner and Cutting for Stone. “ A LITERARY MASTERPIECE . . . Mar shall Fisher has turned a tennis court masterpiece — American Don Budge overcoming German Gottfried von Cramm to decide the 1937 Davis Cup — into a litera ry masterpiece . Blending their lives with the darkening times, Fisher illuminates bygone cultures in the fascinating tale of a July afternoon in London." — Bu d Collins. “ A LITERARY TRIUMPH . . . Fisher masterfully weaves biography, history, and sports—and sex and romance and the drums of war—into a thoroughly riveting narrative . full of ironic twists and astonishing revelations .” — Scott Stossel , author of Sarge: The Life and Times of Sargent Shriver. “ RICHLY DETAILED AND METICULOUSLY RESEARCHED . . . It’s taken almost seventy-five years for a sufficiently gifted writer to re- create the magnificence of that event, but it’s been worth every moment of the wait.” —Peter Bodo , senior editor , Tennis magazine “ THIS IS SPORTS HISTORY AT ITS FINEST AND MOST THOROUGH. . . . there could be no more disparate characters in any sport than Big Bill Tilden, Don Budge and Baron Gottfried von Cramm. Marshall Jon Fisher has done a marvelous job of weaving the threads of these three lives together at a time when the world was coming apart and at the moment when Budge and von Cramm were playing in the most important — if not the best — tennis match ever. — Frank Deford, author of Bill Tilden: The Triumphs and the Tragedy. “A THOROUGHLY RIVETING account of intense human endeavor [and an] astonishing, inspiring story of a sports hero who was not merely a heroic tennis player, but a genuinely heroic man. ” — The Commercial Dispatch (Columbus, Mississippi) “ Fisher tells a fascinating, true story [that] puts readers on the scene at Wimbledon. Fisher braids not just the stories of the players themselves — Budge and Cramm together with the tale of former world champion 'Big Bill' Tilden — but also the covert world of gay Nazi Germany and the significance of the American-German matchup on the cusp of war. ” — The Star Tribune (Minneapolis and St. Paul, MN) “ A Terrible Splendor is not only ONE OF THE BEST-EVER BOOKS ON TENNIS but is sure to be ONE OF THE BEST NONFICTION BOOKS OF THE YEAR. Marshall Jon Fisher delivers A SMASHING ACCOUNT of the game’s first international superstars as they compete against each other, the impending violence of Nazism, and their own inner demons. The experience is like watching Chariots of Fire —but this time in an arena of grass courts, white balls, and wooden racquets. ” —Robert Atwan, editor, The Best American Essays 2008. “ FASCINATING . . . A Terrible Splendor offers a compelling, page-turning portrait of a man literally playing for his life. Never in the sport of tennis have the stakes been so high. With graceful prose, a flair for detail, and a novelist’s eye for character, Marshall Fisher lures us into this unexpectedly layered tale of the greatest tennis match ever played. ” — Lars Anderson, staff writer for Sports Illustrated , author of Carlisle vs. the Army and The All Americans. “ VIVID . . . Through the prism of one of the greatest tennis matches ever played, Marshall Jon Fisher throws open a window on the terrifying world of the thirties in Europe; illuminating in vivid detail the persecution of Baron Gottfried von Cramm; the pitiful kow-towing to Hitler by the tennis authorities and, rising above it all, the innate sportsmanship of the two friends and rivals, von Cramm and Donald Budge. Between every Budge backhand and von Cramm volley, history rears up in all its ‘terrible splendor.’ ” — Richard J. Evans, author of The Davis Cup: Celebrating One Hundred Years of International Tennis and The Coming of the Third Reich. PERFORMANCE RIGHTS : Stone Canyon Media. (Under option for feature film as of 2013.) UK, FOREIGN RIGHTS: c/ o Crown / Random House, Inc. FOREIGN RIGHTS SOLD: German (Osburg Verlag), Italian (66thand2nd). Marshall Jon Fisher ’s work has appeared in the Atlantic, Harper’s, and other magazines. H is essay “Memoria ex Machina” was featured in Best American Essays 2003 . He has written several books with his father, David E. Fisher, including Tube: The Invention of Television . Marshall lives in the Berkshires with his wife and two sons. Marshall Jon Fisher. A Backhanded Gift , a novel (New Chapter Press, 2013). Mysteries of Lost Empires (MacMillan UK 2000). Companion to the NOVA series. With David E. Fisher. Tube: The Invention of Television (Counterpoint 1996, Harcourt-Brace paperback 1997). With David E. Fisher. The Ozone Layer (Chelsea House 1992). Articles/Essays/Stories. Medium.com. 7/2/20 “Nabokov vs. Hemingway” — Volodya and Papa in a Bout for the Ages. 4/9/20 “Packets of Air” — a surreal pneumonia ICU experience, pre-COVID. Sports Illustrated (website) 3/13/17 “Disallow the Bouncing Ball” — a modest proposal for professional tennis. Country. Sept 2016 “Lawn Boys” — an age-old chore, family style. The San Francisco Chronicle. The New York Times (website) 12/26/14 “A Hell of a Thing” — insomnia and parenting. Brandeis Magazine. Summer 2013 “Little Feet” — short story. Berkshire Magazine. Dec 2012 “Hangman” — laundry and life. 2005 “Cannibals ” —poem. The Atlantic Monthly. May 2002 “Tennis on the Green” —grass-court tennis. Dec 2001 “Pixels at an Exhibition” —digital photography. May 2000 “The Unlikely Father of Miami Crime Fiction” — Charles Willeford. April 1998 “An Eye for Anomaly” —Rosamond Purcell. Sept 1997 “moldovascam.com” —internet scam. Aug 1997 “Artful Restorations” —ébénesterie. July 1997 “Alleycat Couriers” —bicycle messenger races. July 1995 “The Feel of Wood” —wooden tennis rackets. Jan 1998 (website) “Punt, Pass, Dance, and Pray” —end-zone celebrations. Oct 1997 ; (website) “Brando’s Birds” —Atlantic Abroad, Paris. Aug 1997 (website) “Ecophobia” —environmental angst. Harper’s. Dec 2002 “Memoria ex Machina ” —reprint from DoubleTake. DoubleTake. Summer 2002 “Memoria ex Machina” —a remembrance of gadgets past. Discover. July 2002 “The X-Prize” —civilian rocketry. April 2001 “The Nitrogen Bomb” —nitrogen pollution. Country Journal. May 2000 “At Home with Annie”—profile. Earthwatch. Sep/Oct 1998 “A Woman’s War on Worms”—Health project in Cameroon. May/Jun 1997 “The Coral Kingdom” —Belize archaeology. Dec 1990 “Cliff Notes”—Wyoming rock art. June 1990 “Bones of Contention”—Indian remains. Worldview. Winter 1999 “Madame Nurse”—Peace Corps nurse in Cameroon. American Way. May 1, 1998 “The Paperback Heist” —short story. The Sciences. Nov/Dec 1996 “Racket Science” —tennis technology. May/Jun 1996 “Water Whirled”—Earth’s slowing spin. Los Angeles Times Book Review. American Heritage of Invention & Technology. A Terrible Splendor. Three Extraordinary Men, a World Poised for War, and the Greatest Tennis Match Ever Played. 4.2 • 10 Ratings $6.99. $6.99. Publisher Description. Before Federer versus Nadal, before Borg versus McEnroe, the greatest tennis match ever played pitted the dominant Don Budge against the seductively handsome Baron Gottfried von Cramm. This deciding 1937 Davis Cup match, played on the hallowed grounds of Wimbledon, was a battle of titans: the world's number one tennis player against the number two; America against Germany; democracy against fascism. For five superhuman sets, the duo’s brilliant shotmaking kept the Centre Court crowd–and the world–spellbound. But the match’s significance extended well beyond the immaculate grass courts of Wimbledon. Against the backdrop of the Great Depression and the brink of World War II, one man played for the pride of his country while the other played for his life. Budge, the humble hard-working American who would soon become the first man to win all four Grand Slam titles in the same year, vied to keep the Davis Cup out of the hands of the Nazi regime. On the other side of the net, the immensely popular and elegant von Cramm fought Budge point for point knowing that a loss might precipitate his descent into the living hell being constructed behind barbed wire back home. Born into an aristocratic family, von Cramm was admired for his devastating good looks as well as his unparalleled sportsmanship. But he harbored a dark secret, one that put him under increasing Gestapo surveillance. And his situation was made even more perilous by his refusal to join the Nazi Party or defend Hitler. Desperately relying on his athletic achievements and the global spotlight to keep him out of the Gestapo’s clutches, his strategy was to keep traveling and keep winning. A Davis Cup victory would make him the toast of Germany. A loss might be catastrophic. Watching the mesmerizingly intense match from the stands was von Cramm’s mentor and all-time tennis superstar Bill Tilden–a consummate showman whose double life would run in ironic counterpoint to that of his German pupil. Set at a time when sports and politics were inextricably linked, A Terrible Splendor gives readers a courtside seat on that fateful day, moving gracefully between the tennis match for the ages and the dramatic events leading Germany, Britain, and America into global war. A book like no other in its weaving of social significance and athletic spectacle, this soul-stirring account is ultimately a tribute to the strength of the human spirit. ‘Playing for My Life’ One afternoon in late July 1937, an American redhead and a German aristocrat graced the noble lawn of Wimbledon, spinning an unforgettable spectacle. Tennis was never so civilized — or so it seemed. Don Budge, the son of a truck driver from California, and his friend Baron Gott​fried von Cramm, a dashing blond, dueled toward dusk in the last match of the Davis Cup semifinal held at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club. At stake was more than national pride. “On this still-peaceful English summer day, the swastika is flying high over Center Court, along with the Union Jack and the Stars and Stripes,” Marshall Jon Fisher writes in his new book, “A Terrible Splendor: Three Extraordinary Men, a World Poised for War, and the Greatest Tennis Match Ever Played.” “Nazi officials are sipping tea with the queen in the Royal Box.” A lot of tea gets sipped between points in this book (even by the players). This quaint detail belies the anxiety of this five-set thriller and puts readers at the edge of their seats — sometimes right next to Jack Benny and Ed Sullivan, friends of Budge. At 22, Budge was No. 1 in the world, on his way to becoming a superstar. The 28-year-old von Cramm, No. 2, feared he was on his way to a Nazi prison — or worse. Von Cramm’s coach, the “fading American hero” Bill Tilden, was unsure where he was going. Fisher depicts the intersection of their careers amid the simmering world conflict, juxtaposing history and sport in an absorbing but uneven narrative that does not always live up to the match’s billing. Budge’s and Tilden’s stories have been told elsewhere, so they work better as support for a nuanced portrait of von Cramm. A “gallant” and “gracious” man revered for his sportsmanship, von Cramm was Germany’s second-most-celebrated athlete, behind the boxer Max Schmeling. But he harbored a secret: he was gay. His Jewish doubles partner had fled Germany; so had his Jewish lover. In the months leading up to the match, von Cramm was interrogated by the Gestapo about his homosexual activities, was barred from playing singles in the French Championships, divorced his wife and lost the Wimbledon final for the third straight year (to Budge, no less). He refused to join the Nazi Party; tennis success was his only shield. “I’m playing for my life,” von Cramm told Tilden, who kept his own homosexuality a less guarded secret. Fisher shows how, with unflinching generosity, von Cramm stoically endured his tribulations. If the book’s structure seems familiar, Fisher acknowledges he borrowed the model from John McPhee’s “Levels of the Game,” a lean and lively account of Arthur Ashe’s 1968 United States Open semifinal match against Clark Graebner, infused with sociology and history. But some of Fisher’s digressions (into Schmeling’s career, into previous ​matches) slow down the flow. At other times, he leaves the reader wanting more: about von Cramm’s brief despair when he was eventually imprisoned, or about the United States’ refusal to let him immigrate, even after he married the heiress Barbara Hutton in 1955. Fisher, who has written for Harper’s Magazine and The Atlantic, culls spirited dispatches from Alistair Cooke, then an NBC radio commentator, and James Thurber, then The New Yorker’s tennis columnist. But his own writing can be strained (he calls extended sets “extra innings” and says that “Gott​fried drank Weimar Berlin in like the Champagne that he forwent”), and the dialogue and thoughts he recreates to “dramatize a moment” do not always work (“Anyway, he’s not going to make it easy for me, that’s for sure”). Better to consider the wider perspective. Just last summer at Wimbledon, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer reinvented “the greatest tennis match ever played.” By illuminating the terrible shadows of time, Fisher shows that hyperbole may be fleeting, but champions are not. A Terrible Splendor. There is a lot to break down in Marshall Jon Fisher’s A Terrible Splendor: Three Extraordinary Men, a World Poised for War, and the Greatest Tennis Match Ever Played . On the surface, the book is about a tennis match between Don Budge and Gottfried Von Cramm played during the 1937 Davis Cup. It is also a unique account of the rise of Adolph Hitler and the Nazi party in the run up to World War 2. A Terrible Splendor also details the the duplicitous way the national lawn tennis associations defined and handled amateurism in tennis during that era. Throw in early issues with what would now be benignly phrased “diversity and inclusion” and you have a broad sweeping book that tackles some serious historic and social issues. The match in A Terrible Splendor is from a time when international sports and politics were inextricably linked. In the natural ebb and flow of history, those domains have had a higher degree of separation in the recent past. Currently, the world is on an upward trend where politics and sports are once again converging. A lot has happened between the time when Colin Kaepernick was ostracized for kneeling during the national anthem and Naomi Osaka strolling onto center court at the US Open wearing a mask emblazoned with “Breona Taylor.” It is an inescapable fact that Von Cramm was literally playing for his life against Budge at the Davis Cup. He was a thorn in the side of the Nazi party for various reasons. However, as long as he kept winning he was too valuable as a symbol of Aryan superiority for punitive action. Von Cramm was ultimately imprisoned by the Gestapo shortly after the match was played. He spend a year in prison, narrowly avoiding the concentration camps. His standing as a tennis star created the international interest and visibility that resulted in a lighter sentence for his transgressions against laws enacted by the Nazi party. Tennis may have literally saved his life. A Terrible Splendor is a comparison and contrast between Von Cramm and two iconic American players. Von Cramm’s opponent in the match was Don Budge, and the book traces the parallel lives of those two players. Ironically, the greatest American player up until that time, Bill Tilden, was the third player involved with the match because he was coaching the German Davis Cup team. Tilden was also a close personal friend of Von Cramm. In detailing the lives of these three great players, A Terrible Splendor brings societal and political issues of their time into stark detail. There was so much more to their lives than simply their accomplishments on a tennis court. At the same time, the book is a gripping account of history during the run up and start of World War 2. It was a terrible chapter in world history and one that is critically important to remember. A Terrible Splendor is a book that anyone interested in tennis history should immerse themselves in. 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