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emelir's review against another edition
3.0
Foer tar med läsaren till arenor världen över för att skildra den påverkan fotboll har på människor och samhälle. Vid varje nedstamp belyser han lite olika aspekter. Det är allt från Serbien (Red Star, Arkan), Skottland (Old Firm), England (Chelseas huliganer), Brasilien (Pelé), Ukraina (minus 21 grader, värvningen från Nigeria, postsovjetiskt), Italien (hårprodukter, filmningar och matcha strumpor med bälte stil), Spanien (Barca) till Iran (fotbollsrevolution i form av utnyttja den nationalistiska glöden för motstånd av staten). Foer belyser världen och samhället i ljuset av fotbollen, och han går in på en hel del olika ting (som nämnt ovan). Det är såväl historiskt, socialt, ekonomiskt, religiöst som politiskt. Han belyser även en hel del av huliganismens framväxt och dess våld. Men även rasism, nationalism, makt och korruption. MEN också kärleken för fotbollen, och hur det ibland kan vara en hårfin linje mellan passion och galenskap…
Bitvis intressant, bitvis lite tradig. För det mesta så beskriver Foer saker utan att direkt någonsin gå på djupet i dessa… men det var ändå en intressant läsning, och mycket var nytt (ok, typ allt) för mig! Ger en bredare förståelse för den betydelse (och påverkan) fotboll har i vissa aspekter i samhället.
Bitvis intressant, bitvis lite tradig. För det mesta så beskriver Foer saker utan att direkt någonsin gå på djupet i dessa… men det var ändå en intressant läsning, och mycket var nytt (ok, typ allt) för mig! Ger en bredare förståelse för den betydelse (och påverkan) fotboll har i vissa aspekter i samhället.
brentmayberry's review against another edition
4.0
Just finished a highly entertaining book about how soccer incorporates aspects of globalization. From Nigerians in Ukraine, to an English team without a single royal subject in its lineup, from sectarian strife in Scotland, to the nationalist Catalans, this book gives the history of some of football's most impressive clubs and explains how politics, economics, media, culture are all influenced by the passion for the beautiful game.
I had no idea football was so intertwined in so many cultures. It's practically a secular religion, and it's a powerful, powerful force.
Of particular enjoyment was the final chapter about how soccer explains America's "Culture Wars".
I had no idea football was so intertwined in so many cultures. It's practically a secular religion, and it's a powerful, powerful force.
Of particular enjoyment was the final chapter about how soccer explains America's "Culture Wars".
cstefko's review
informative
reflective
slow-paced
3.0
It's very interesting as a snapshot of history and quite uncanny in the sense that many of the topics are still relevant nearly twenty years later, but Foer's politics are so horribly outdated—especially his misogyny.
timhoiland's review against another edition
4.0
In conjunction with the beginning of the 2013/14 season of the English Premier League, I’ve just re-read How Soccer Explains The World: An Unlikely Theory of Globalization by Franklin Foer. In it he takes us on a fascinating journey around the world, exploring the ways in which soccer constitutes not just a sport, but a way of life in different corners of the world. In places as disparate as Iran and England, or Brazil and Serbia, Foer reveals soccer’s deep-seated political, economic, and even religious underpinnings. In some places, team owners load up their teams with foreign superstars during campaigns for the country’s presidency as a way of garnering public support. Elsewhere, centuries-old ethnic and religious divides are reenacted every weekend on the pitch. Totalitarian regimes use the sport as a tool of propaganda, only to be outsmarted and out-spirited by the citizenry who gather by the tens of thousands in stadiums where they chant what they’d never dare whispering on the street. Clearly, soccer has a way of bringing out both the best and the worst in people.
- See more at: http://tjhoiland.com/wordpress/2013/08/soccer
- See more at: http://tjhoiland.com/wordpress/2013/08/soccer
chaoswizard's review against another edition
3.0
Interesting look at the corruption, excitement, and passion of the beautiful game.
This book sparked a new interest in me for a sport that most of us know nothing about.
This book sparked a new interest in me for a sport that most of us know nothing about.
jamesvw's review against another edition
4.0
This is a travelogue more than an actual comprehensive theory of globalization as the cover suggests, but it is just so much fun that its tenuous hold on a thesis hardly matters. I can imagine that those who care little about soccer will not garner nearly as much enjoyment, but with Ajax pride pulsing in my blood, it kept me fascinated and smiling throughout.
Without going into each chapter, Foer leaves two of his best for near the end - humorously fusing his passion for FC Barcelona with an intriguing exploration of Catalonia and its cultural separation from Castillian Madrid with team pride there contributing to complacency under Franco's repression - and convincingly noting the reverse cultural split of Americans who play the game, here mostly existing as a sport for the elite, whereas it is often a working class sports in European and Latin American countries.
Without going into each chapter, Foer leaves two of his best for near the end - humorously fusing his passion for FC Barcelona with an intriguing exploration of Catalonia and its cultural separation from Castillian Madrid with team pride there contributing to complacency under Franco's repression - and convincingly noting the reverse cultural split of Americans who play the game, here mostly existing as a sport for the elite, whereas it is often a working class sports in European and Latin American countries.
annabella82's review against another edition
4.0
This was a book that was recommended to me by someone close to me who adores soccer and who thought I would like what it had to offer.
I only have a basic knowledge of soccer, so I kind of went into this being a little naive. I've got to say that I was amazed by what I didn't know about the world of soccer; I'll definitely view certain teams (and countries) differently from now on.
I only have a basic knowledge of soccer, so I kind of went into this being a little naive. I've got to say that I was amazed by what I didn't know about the world of soccer; I'll definitely view certain teams (and countries) differently from now on.
laurend's review against another edition
3.0
I learned a lot about international politics and soccer at the same time. It didn't really make me like organized sports anymore, except in his case of why Barcelona is different, but I feel much more well versed on things. I wish he'd do an update as it seems that everything exploded in the soccer world after he wrote this.
Makes you not look at a world cup the same way. And I'll always like the woman teams best because they do not go for the fake fouls and falls the way the men do. I wish he'd address this too.
Makes you not look at a world cup the same way. And I'll always like the woman teams best because they do not go for the fake fouls and falls the way the men do. I wish he'd address this too.