- Paperback: 224 pages
- Publisher: Harper Perennial; 1 edition (May 18 2006)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0061132268
- ISBN-13: 978-0061132261
- Product Dimensions: 20.1 x 13.5 x 2.8 cm
- Shipping Weight: 363 g
- Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #617,814 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Booklist
Soccer's World Cup, unlike baseball's World Series, is truly global. And with soccer's fluidity and lack of set plays, it's easier to write about the context of the game than about the game itself. The editors, both Americans, gather essays for each of the 32 countries competing in the 2006 World Cup, providing an exceptional variety of discourse and digression on soccer as it relates to politics, culture, and personal life. Henning Mankell examines what it means to war-ravaged Angola simply to compete. Nick Hornby explores globalization as it relates to soccer in England. Sukhdev Sandhu writes about a fatwa forbidding the game "except when played as training for Jihad" in Saudi Arabia. Tim Parks (Italy), Jim Frederick (Japan), Robert Coover (Spain), and Dave Eggers (U.S.) also contribute standout essays. Despite a few missteps--essays that read as if soccer was added only in revision--this is a fine anthology, thought provoking and enjoyable, proving that we can learn vital things about societies through their attitudes toward sport. And there's no book like it about baseball. Keir Graff
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Review
'It is by some way the best read you could lay your hands on as companion entertainment during the tournament.' OBSERVER 'An almost pitch-perfect companion to the biggest event in sport ... fascinating ... a hugely satisfying grab bag of unexpected perspectives' INDEPENDENT 'Well worth the read . . . Splicing football, politics, culture and wit' SUNDAY TRIBUNE, Soprts Books of the Year
--This text refers to an alternate
Paperback
edition.
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Most helpful customer reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars
It could have been so much more,
By
This review is from: The Thinking Fan's Guide To The World Cup (Paperback)
This book was a great idea. Featuring profiles of all 32 countries at the World Cup this year, each written by a different author. The good thing about this is that we learn a few things that we never knew and there are a couple of interesting personal stories. Overall though, the concept is exciting, while the end product is not. Some of the highlights are the pieces written by Nick Hornby (on England of course) and Dave Eggers (on the U.S. and its defenders of the faith phys-ed teachers.) My other favourites included William Finnegan on surfing in Portugal and Tim Parks' touching story about Italy and his father in law. Also, for those interested in statistics, there is a All-Time World Cup table which ranks all the countries on their performance throughout the years. I also liked the short World Cup performance profiles at the end of each piece.On to the downside. Once again, this is a great, exciting concept on profiling the 32 finalists. I only wished they would use writers native to each country. I think it would have made for much more interesting and unique stories told in different styles. The variety of ideas and themes would have been far more interesting to the "thinking man". Otherwise, there are glaring mishaps. Take for example the story on France by Aleksandar Hemon; here is a writer, born in Sarajevo and living in Chicago. The connection to France is tenous at best; he used to be a fan of the old Platini team of the 80's and he preferred watching it to getting lucky. I find it hard to believe that of all the French writers in the world, the editors could not find one willing to write a piece on their own countries rich football culture or otherwise. And on it goes with several other stories. William Finnegan's surfing adventures in Portugal were unique and interesting, but again, the connection to football was weak and I'm sad that there wasn't a contemporary Portuguese author available to give us a glimpse into their world. The same can be said for Spain, Serbia and Montenegro and Sweden to name a few. It really puts them at a disadvantage when you have someone like Nick Hornby write eloquently and wittily about England and football and you have a confusing story about the prison system in Sweden. Although an interesting story, it presents a strange comparison. Finally, we really didn't need the CIA factbook statistics on each country at the beginning of each story; it felt out of place and an awful lot like a textbook. Overall, a great concept but mixed results and a great missed opportunity to showcase the truly global reach and voice of football.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
4.4 out of 5 stars (15 customer reviews) 7 of 8 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Guide to World Cup Nations,
By Stephen Leary - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: The Thinking Fan's Guide To The World Cup (Paperback)
This is really more of a guide to the nations competing in the 2006 World Cup, not the teams. The short essays are the main feature of the book. The essays try to explain soccer's importance in each country and give some insight into the national character of its people.Basic statistics are provided for each country (population, religions, languages, etc.) taken from the CIA World Factbook. But a few soccer stats are here too: the tournament schedule, sites and stadia in Germany where the matches will be held, the names of the referees, and recent FIFA World Player of the Year winners. If you're looking for in-depth stats on the World Cup, or the player rosters for each country and their strengths and weaknesses, or the odds on who's going to win, this isn't it. But if you just want the basics and to learn something about soccer and the people of each participating country, this gives a quick overview. The book is really about the essays, not the stats, and the writers are interesting to read. Dave Eggers wrote the United States section and has some funny things to say about flopping and Sly Stallone. 2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good reading for the most part,
By C. Stephans - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: The Thinking Fan's Guide To The World Cup (Paperback)
This book includes a chapter on each team that qualified for the 2006 World Cup in Germany. The chapters are written by different authors, who have some affinity for the nation. It also includes an interesting introduction and plenty of appealing statistics.Even after the World Cup, reading this book has been enjoyable and insightful. All but a few of the chapters are entertaining and interesting and some are excellent. There are also some that are quite tedious--these go on and on about topics unrelated to soccer and are uninteresting. I really enjoyed the chapters on some of the underdogs like Ivory Coast, Ghana, Australia, South Korea and Angola, and of course the chapter on England stands out. The good chapters make the book worth reading, for sure. The chapter on the US is disappointing as the writer concludes with a typical liberal swipe at Pres Bush and VP Cheney. The chapter reads like it was written in full between innings at a baseball game. I will definitely look for a similar book in four years prior to watching all of the games of the World Cup. 8 of 12 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great reference and reading.,
By Michael - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: The Thinking Fan's Guide To The World Cup (Paperback)
I picked up this book and wasn't sure what to make of it at first. 32 different writers writing about the countries in the World Cup? But it all works. In addition to those essays that give you a glimpse into each country, there are statistics about not only the teams and the tournament, but about the various countries that are envolved. Very interesting to read the articles and then compare the size of the countries, the population, the incomes, and lots of other facts. What you end up with in this book is a good world picture. Congratulations to the people who put this one together!
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