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A review by the_emas
How Soccer Explains the World: An Unlikely Theory of Globalization by Franklin Foer
3.0
I love the idea of examining a culture's most serious political and social problems through its pastimes, but I think Foer falls short of the task he sets for himself. Some of the chapters are poorly developed, with not enough of a historical backdrop to truly paint a picture of soccer's cultural context. The chapters become mere vignettes on different soccer teams and rivalries, without a clear central thesis. Each sentence seems to make sense as you read it, but you come away from each page without any coherent insight. Foer jumps from one insight to the next in a completely different train of thought without really establishing any of them. So while each bit seems interesting, nothing is developed enough to scrape past the surface.
Foer seems to flourish in his theories about teams with which he personally identifies - whether it be because of his Jewish heritage, his Barca fandom or his home country. As much as I liked getting a "worldwide" view of soccer, I think he would have been able to present a more coherent thesis if he had focused on these three storylines as well as the history of Iranian soccer. Sometimes less is more and I think that would have transformed this from a travelogue of soccer to the pop-academic text on globalization that was advertised.
Foer seems to flourish in his theories about teams with which he personally identifies - whether it be because of his Jewish heritage, his Barca fandom or his home country. As much as I liked getting a "worldwide" view of soccer, I think he would have been able to present a more coherent thesis if he had focused on these three storylines as well as the history of Iranian soccer. Sometimes less is more and I think that would have transformed this from a travelogue of soccer to the pop-academic text on globalization that was advertised.