DOC Deadly Dictators: Masterminds of 20th Century Genocides by Terry Stafford in History

Description

Now in paperback: the New York Times bestselling inspirational story of impoverished children who transformed themselves into world-class swimmers. In 1937; a schoolteacher on the island of Maui challenged a group of poverty-stricken sugar plantation kids to swim upstream against the current of their circumstance. The goal? To become Olympians. They faced seemingly insurmountable obstacles. The children were Japanese-American; were malnourished and barefoot and had no pool; they trained in the filthy irrigation ditches that snaked down from the mountains into the sugarcane fields. Their future was in those same fields; working alongside their parents in virtual slavery; known not by their names but by numbered tags that hung around their necks. Their teacher; Soichi Sakamoto; was an ordinary man whose swimming ability didn't extend much beyond treading water. In spite of everything; including the virulent anti-Japanese sentiment of the late 1930s; in their first year the children outraced Olympic athletes twice their size; in their second year; they were national and international champs; shattering American and world records and making headlines from L.A. to Nazi Germany. In their third year; they'd be declared the greatest swimmers in the world; but they'd also face their greatest obstacle: the dawning of a world war and the cancellation of the Games. Still; on the battlefield; they'd become the 20th century's most celebrated heroes; and in 1948; they'd have one last chance for Olympic glory. They were the Three-Year Swim Club. This is their story.*Includes Reading Group Guide*