In this extensively researched book, Petr Roubal does much more than provide a history of Spartakiads in communist Czechoslovakia; he lays the foundation for a deep analysis of his subject by helping the reader to understand the historical context. As such, we learn as much about early mass gymnastics in Germany, the Sokol Slets, and Strahov Stadium as we do about Spartakiads.

The author sets out to address the origins of the Spartakiads, the messages they conveyed, their logistics, and public reception. He succeeds in doing this. Roubal also tracks very well the continuities over time. Indeed, the Spartakiads present an interesting case study in measuring the changes in Czechoslovak society. This includes shifts in gender dynamics and the feminization of the Spartakiads after 1955.

Much of the opening section is devoted to examining the origins of the Spartakiad, going back to Turner exercises and the Sokol movement. The rich detail on gymnastics in the first section sets the scene for Roubal to compare the content, style, and politics of the 1955 Spartakiad with the kind of mass gymnastics that preceded it. In the second section on symbolism, we learn about the various exercises on the grounds of Strahov Stadium and their visualization of themes on labor, war, and international solidarity in the 1955 and 1960 Spartakiads. One of the most fascinating aspects of the Czechoslovak Spartakiads was their scale, which Roubal reminds us of. The sheer number of participants (some 40,000), as well as the choreographic and logistical complexity of the exercise routines comes to the fore in the section “A New Shift Begins”—a chapter enhanced with some wonderful photographs. This chapter discusses a new shift literally, in the sense of the exercise routine, but also more symbolically, in terms of the broader social, cultural, and political changes taking place. As Roubal notes, “the Sokol gender model” did not reflect the “social reality,” nor did it speak to the communist regime's ideological position at the time (148). As he shows, the Spartakiads of 1955 and 1965 marked a point of both change—the communist regime—and continuity—the survival of certain Sokol traditions.

In the third section on symbolism during the “Normalization” era, Roubal explores the growing changes in the Spartakiads and in society more broadly, and counts the 1965 Spartakiad as the “first truly post-Stalinist, Spartakiad” (175). It was also the last Spartakiad for ten years after the Prague Spring led to instability and fears about the “Sokol subculture” (185). Subsequent Spartakiads during the “normalization” period, Roubal informs us, focused on family imagery, differences in the male and female body, and national wholeness.

In the next section on the organization of Spartakiads, we again get a sense of the immense scale of these events and the politics behind them. One of the most fascinating chapters is that on transportation, accommodation and food, where Roubal provides some excellent insights into how everyday life in Prague veered off course when thousands of Spartakiad participants descended on the city. Just as interesting is the analysis of Strahov stadium and the organizational logistics required to ferry so many participants through its gates.

The final section, “Society and Spartakiads,” is arguably the strongest of all. Here, Roubal analyzes public reception to the Spartakiads as well as the institution of the Spartakiad itself. He concludes that communism acted as incubator that kept alive the nineteenth century culture of mass gymnastics (323). Here he explores ideas of open and passive resistance, as well as the public perception that the event represented a time of plenty, when food and drink that was usually difficult to obtain would suddenly appear in Prague during the Spartakiads. In spite of the vast time and resources (not to mention money) that was invested in the Spartakiads, Roubal argues in the final chapter that the Spartakiad failed to create a “new socialist society” (363).

The book reiterates the importance that participation in physical culture and mass gymnastics display in the communist world. It is thoroughly researched and engagingly written. While it does take some time to get to the subject of Spartakiads in communist Czechoslovakia, the patient reader is rewarded with rich detail and insightful analysis as well as a clearer understanding of the relationship between the Spartakiads and the Sokol tradition.