From Booklist
Tommie Smith raised his black-gloved right fist after receiving the 200-meter gold medal at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics. The picture of that moment is one of the most enduring sports images of the twentieth century. Nearly 40 years later, he details what the gesture symbolized for him and reveals what his life has been since. We learn that, in Smith's mind, the raised glove was not a Black Power salute. We also learn that he was terrified he'd be shot while on the podium or afterward, a fear that left his life with a lingering undercurrent of paranoia. Along with reflections on the significance of the raised hand, Smith and coauthor Steele deliver a straightforward autobiography: growing up poor, early athletic success, college career at San Jose State, and decades as an educator and coach. There is an undercurrent of bitterness here, too, as Smith recounts numerous severed relationships, both professional and personal, in which he sees himself as the aggrieved party. Still, Smith is an important figure in the history of American sports, and deserves a forum to tell his story his way.
Wes LukowskyCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Review
"An important entry in the history of track and field and African American studies." Library Journal "The book offers insights into Smith's athletic prowess...When he describes the physical sensations of running -- the paradoxical relaxation of muscles required to explode out of the blocks, the adrenaline that floods the body as a sprinter takes the get-set position and the stride-by-stride account of the 1968 gold medal race -- Smith's narrative surges to life. A major aim of the book is to explain the motivation behind the silent gesture, but Smith isn't interested in trenchant political analysis...Readers of Silent Gesture will be left with a stark impression of the toll Smith paid for speaking out against racism. He views his autobiography as his last, desperate chance to pull himself out of the 'muck and mire he's been stuck in since the Mexico City Olympics.' Smith never expresses regret for having taken his controversial stand." The Washington Post "Smith's account is told in simple but eloquent fashion, tempered by a healthy dose of irony and humor. He never romanticizes his actions, but rightfully acknowledges their powerful social impact." Smooth "Read Silent Gesture for the story of an athlete who grabbed a chance to make a difference." The Seattle Medium "The reader is given a good sense of his family's small-town home in Texas...Smith's book doesn't lack for honesty." Bookforum "Smith's candid reflections on life after Mexico City is compelling...Most striking, though, are revelations about the stresses he endured before the 1968 race...For Smith, at 24, to have not only won the gold, but to have issued his anything-but-silent gesture from the world's biggest stage, makes his story all the more extraordinary." Black Issues Book Review "With the help of Steele, Smith offers a well-documented and clearly written story behind the memorable 1968 Olympic moment...Extensive background information about Smith's life before, during and after the 'silent gesture' provides understanding and insight about an Olympic image that will endure forever. Clearly presenting the fears, the disappointments, the triumphs, and the hopes, then and now, that the raised black fists represented in 1968, this book offers a wealth of information that will help the reader understand the deep-rooted meaning of the gesture and the impact it continues to have almost 40 years later. CHOICE August 2007 "What is the worth of this book? I believe it to be one that accurately portrays Tommie Smith's life and Olympic ordeal...We have waited a long time for this book. The result is worth the delay...Silent Gesture provides, by far, the most powerful punctuation mark in explaining one of the most historic of all Olympic moments." Olympika: The International Journal of Olympic Studies
