Scholars interested in the role of sports in the Cold War will be intrigued by Degrees of Difficulty, Georgia Cervin's book about women's artistic gymnastics. Cervin is herself a former “international gymnast.” Much of the book deals with issues of greater interest to sport historians, ranging from the origins of the sport and its adaptation for women, to the heartbreaking and infuriating details about the abuse of gymnasts that caused the sport such scandal and agony in recent years. Yet Degrees of Difficulty also addresses the intersection of gymnastics and politics in the Cold War, with Cervin promising to challenge “what we know about the Cold War and international relations throughout this period” (p. 4).
Among the stars here are Czechoslovakia's Věra Čáslavská, who became an international celebrity in the 1960s with her gold medal performances and her beauty, to say nothing of her wedding to a fellow Czechoslovak...