Cambridge classicist Spivey offers a vivid history of Greek athletic contests, not just the Olympian but also the Pythian at Delphi, Isthmian at Corinth and Nemean at Argos. A wonderful popular writer, he focuses on the central role of athletics (and the military which was a close corollary) in classical Greek life. The book is timed, not coincidentally, with the quadrennial. With 40 black-and-white illustrations.  (GRE206, $16.95)