For nearly twenty-five years, East Germany's corrupt sports organization dominated international athletics. While the German Democratic Republic's secret "State Plan" was in effect, more than ten thousand unsuspecting young athletes-- some as young as twelve years old-- were given massive doses of performance-enhancing anabolic steroids. These athletes achieved miraculous success in international competitions, including the Olympics, but for many of them, their physical and emotional health was permanently damaged. Faust's Gold draws on the revelations of the ongoing trials of former GDR coaches, doctors, and sports officials who have now confessed to conducting ruthless medical experiments on young and talented athletes selected for Olympic training camps. It also draws on the extensive research of Brigitte Berendonk, who escaped from East Germany to begin a decade-long crusade to bring justice to her fellow athletes, and that of her husband, Professor Werner Franke. Berendonk's story, and those of her colleagues in the GDR, offers a unique insight into a bizarre regime. Faust's Gold is a true-life detective story that plunges into the dark, secretive world of the GDR doping scam, where elite competitors and their families are up against a formidable opponent: the East German secret police, known as the STASI. What emerges is a complex tapestry of the politicized modern Olympics that culminates in a powerful testimony to the massive wrong done by one Eastern Bloc nation to its world-class athletes. East Germany was once a power in international sports. Its athletes established world records and set new standards for athletic performance. But many people correctly suspected that these achievements were the result of the use of steroids and other illegal substances. Ungerleider, director of a nonprofit research corporation that specializes in substance abuse prevention, looks into the doping of athletes and the subsequent rise of the East German sports empire. He successfully uses trial records and an athlete's testimony to trace the use of steroids in state-sponsored training programs. This intriguing book captures the reader's attention, but at times the narrative becomes melodramatic. Nevertheless, Ungerleider does an excellent job of showing the extreme steps that political leaders will take to achieve glory in sports and how young, na ve athletes are negatively affected in this process. Recommended for public libraries. Thomas A. Auger, Georgia Inst. of Technology, Atlanta Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. As the use of illegal drugs continues to be discovered in so many sports, it is all the more important to read Faust's Gold, for whereas East Germany is no more, the same dreams and drives that lead athletes to turn to drugs and the same sort of evil people willing to dispense them, still exist. Steven Ungerleider's thorough study of this remains modern athletics most compelling horror story." -----Frank Deford, Sports Illustrated, Vanity Fair, NPR weekly contributor Steven Ungerleider, Ph.D., the author of four books, completed his undergraduate studies in psychology at the University of Texas, Austin, where he also competed as a collegiate gymnast. He holds master's and doctorate degrees from the University of Oregon and is a licensed psychologist consulting with college, Olympic, and professional athletes. Since 1984, he has served on the United States Olympic Committee Sport Psychology Registry and has covered the past seven Olympiads for various media, including AOL and the Atlanta Constitution . Mental Training for Peak Performance , his third book, is now in its third printing and was named as a Book of the Month Club Selection for Men's Health magazine. Ungerleider lives with his family in Eugene, Oregon.