Sneaker Wars By Barbara Smit Ecco; 383 pages
What does David Beckham's superstardom have to do with a pair of warring Bavarian brothers in the early 1900s? More than you think, according to this compelling book. Smit tells the story of Adi and Rudi Dassler, partners after World War I in a sports-shoe factory in tiny Herzogenaurach, Germany. The two got their spiked running shoes onto the feet of Olympic star Jesse Owens in 1936, but a bitter family feud soon split their business in half, resulting in the founding of Adidas (Adi's outfit) and Puma (Rudi's company). The whole town...