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| How Soccer Explains the World: An Unlikely Theory of Globalization | 
 enlarge | List Price: $13.95 (€11.02)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  (based on 81 reviews)
Sales Rank: 8977
Category: Book
Author: Franklin Foer
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Studio: Harper Perennial
Manufacturer: Harper Perennial
Label: Harper Perennial
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 272
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 7.8 x 5 x 0.9
ISBN: 0060731427
Dewey Decimal Number: 327.1
EAN: 9780060731427
ASIN: 0060731427
Publication Date: July 1, 2005
Release Date: July 5, 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 A good read but not what the title suggests May 13, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is a good read and the pages turn quickly. It gives readers a fair sense of what soccer/futbol means to people in other parts of the world, and how it intersects with varying aspects of culture and identity.
The title is misleading, though, and if you're hoping for a significant focus on theory you will likely be disappointed - with one expeption: Foer's examination of the role soccer plans in America, who the fans are in white America, and how it fits into their lives and identity's is intriguing and accurate on many (but not all) levels. (I found that chapter interesting enough to share it with friends from abroad who cannot understand America's general lack of interest in the sport.)
For the casual fan of soccer or sport who knows little about the role sport plays in other parts of the world, this has the potential to be an absolutely fascinating read. My father - a baseball fan who claims to hate soccer (I don't believe it) - read this book in amazement, and he brings it up every time we talk... That, in and of itself, is an achievement...
Not a book for soccer novices May 1, 2007
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
The title of this book is misleading, unless you believe that "globalization" is synonomous with "corruption".
This book gives a very sensational account of the underworld of soccer in Europe and South America. If you have a morbid sense of curiosity about organized crime in Belgrade, hooliganism in the UK, or corrupt business practices in Brazil, this is the book for you!
I would not, however, recommend this book to a novice to the beautiful game who is trying to learn what soccer is all about. So if you've never read a book about the game, but want to, don't buy this one. For the novice to the game, I would HIGHLY recommend the DVD series, History of Soccer: the Beautiful Game.
 A Great Read... April 27, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
what a great read this is, i have recommended this book to everyone, it is more about the cultures and societies that soccer had a hand in shaping then it is actually about the game itself. its a wonder why so many americans have a hard time appreciatiing soccer (the last chapter gives a good reason why)
This book was a perfect mix, of everything, sport, globalization, humor, passion, everything totally worth it, its a fairly quick and easy read. one of my new all time favorite books.
Good book but with fillers December 17, 2006
4 out of 9 found this review helpful
Well, I'm a big football fan and I was very interested to read what an american scholar could write about the most beautiful game in the planet... His work is very well researched and actually shows a love for the game that is transmitted but I have to admit that I almost skipped two entire chapters (the ones about the Islam and Judaism) because it was obvious that they were just fillers to have the book with more pages and so it could be sold like a book.
Maybe buy it used for half the price or rent it in a library, because the bad move of filling the book with boring (yawn) chapters makes this book not eligible to be bought to it's sugested retail price.
 a thoroughly unique work November 8, 2006
5 out of 6 found this review helpful
I'll confess that I'm a soccer fanatic with a degree in Political Science, there could hardly be a more biased critic. Foer's book is my dream come true, brilliantly weaving soccer and globalization in a highly successful and intriguing manner. Especially poignant are chapters on Red Star Belgrade (from the former Yugoslavia), Seria A, La Liga and the famed Celtic-Rangers rivalry of the Scottish league. I was somewhat disappointed with the final chapter on U.S. soccer, which I felt largely ignored the growing passion of American fans for soccer moms and yuppies which fit better with Foer's personal story. There was also nothing mentioned about the accomplishments of MLS over the past decade.
Some will say Foer has a hiddden agenda and is bashing the sport with vivid portrayals of hooliganism, but in reality his carefully researched explanations put much of the blame on tribalism and ethnic rivalries that predate soccer by hundreds of years. I whole-heartedly recommend "How Soccer Explains the World" for both casual and hardcore fans of 'the beautiful game.'
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