Soccer Against the Enemy: How the World’s Most Popular Sport Starts and Fuels Revolutions and Keeps Dictators in Power
Where to buy Soccer Against the Enemy: How the World’s Most Well loved Sport Starts and Fuels Revolutions and Keeps Dictators in Power books online?
- ISBN13: 9781568586335
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
Product Description
Soccer is much more than just the most well loved game in the world. It is a matter of life and death for millions around the world, an international lingua franca.
Simon Kuper traveled to twenty-two countries to learn the sometimes bizarre effect soccer can have on politics and culture. At the same time he tried to learn what makes different countries play a simple game so differently.
Kuper meets a remarkable variety of fans along the way, from the East Berliner persecuted by the Stasi for supporting his local team, to the Argentine all-purpose with his own views on tactics. He also illuminates the frightening intersection between soccer and politics, particularly in the wake of the attacks of 9-11, where soccer is obsessed over by the likes of Osama bin Laden. The result is an astonishing study of soccer and its place in the world.
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I have recently finished this book and besides reading the “Scarlet Letter” by Hawthorne in high school; this has been the most paintful book I have ever read. The premise is a excellent one: what different countries’ take on soccer (football, I’m in America give me a break). But, the chapters seem to not be organized very well. The best chapter which would have been a better introductory chapter “Celtic v. Ranger” was placed near the end of the book. “Celtic v. Rangers” was the most all ears and detailed of the book. Now, if Kuper chose to keep this approach throughout the book then I judge I would have loved this book. But, what annoyed me was how Kuper wasted (no offense) three chapters on the Baltics, South Africa (which should have been folded into the all-purpose Africa chapter) and on Herrerra (I really got no sense of Italian soccer) and yet wrote a clipped chapter on Brazilian soccer. I really had to struggle to get through this book and I haven’t had that experience for years! The only reason that I am not giving this book a single star is the fact I loved the chapters on Russia, Germany, Brazil (while clipped was excellent but certainly could have been better) and Celtic v. Rangers.
Reader’s Rating: 2 / 5
For any one interested in Soccer, or any “major league” sport around the world, it’s insightful reading that dispells many of the myths surrounding professional sports.
Reader’s Rating: 5 / 5
Simon Kuper’s first book “Soccer Against the Enemy” is one of the best books about football/soccer I’ve ever read. It’s hard to judge Kuper was only 22/23 when he wrote it. But then again perhaps you’d have to be that young to travel to all the obscure corners of the globe he did. Kuper interviews football heroes in Africa, gangsters in Russia, East German fans, Brazilian coaches and just about everyone else in the spectrum of world football. What emerges is to us Americans, something of a secret history. The game is hugely vital to the rest of the world, at times a matter of life and death. Kuper’s book captures that importance, that excitement and that like of the fantastic game that only now is again building some waves here in the U.S. If you like football or if your merely curious, this is a excellent book for you. Take it on a plane or a train and it will place you in a nice international mindset to travel in.
Reader’s Rating: 5 / 5
From an American perspective this was just so-so. I only say that due to the lack of background on my part. There were some very appealing tales within the books and others where a better background on my part would have helped.
Reader’s Rating: 3 / 5
I read dozens of books a year and cannot remember laughing out load so many tmes while reading a book. Kuper manages to write both a very appealing history of international soccer and also infuse it with some unbelievably amusing dry humor. Additional than getting a small dense in the Spain section, the book was awesome. The chapter on Afica is unforgettable. I wish he would write a follow-up.
Reader’s Rating: 5 / 5