He fails to live up to his goal of thoroughly accounting for political or social phenomena in a convincing way through the lens of soccer. In terms of language, Foer is not a great stylist who plays with language to convey meaning. His journalistic background is clearly visible as his intention is not to leave people in awe over his language skills.
He rather wants to illustrate the importance of soccer for world events. He uses an adequate mixture of well-researched facts, e. This also lends more authenticity to the content, because he experienced this first handedly. In addition, this shows his personal interest for soccer and its surrounding developments. Add to cart. Introduction Most Americans would agree that watching football on the weekends and rooting for their favorite team is an integral part of Americanism.
Sign in to write a comment. Read the ebook. Drivers of Globalization: Integration Brilliantly written and well thought out, it is required reading not just for soccer lovers, but anyone who wants to understand what is going on in the world today. This book is a dazzling exception -- and no less a contribution to serious study of the issue for being a delight.
This is a book that reveals a whole different side of the sport. Fans everywhere, take note: How Soccer Explains the World is illuminating, fun, and provocative -- and a must read. A novel look at how the world is everywhere becoming more alike, and everywhere more different, as people seek to define themselves through soccer.
Unfailingly interesting. Foer scores a game-winning goal with this analysis of the interchange between soccer and the new global economy. Bristles with anecdotes that are almost impossible to believe. Several chapters stand alone as surgical strikes of intelligent reporting. The Old Firm Celtics and Rangers in Glasgow is still largely a clash between Protestants and Catholics even though neither team is religiously homogeneous anymore and the Brazilian and Italian systems are still as corrupt as ever.
In short, this is an interesting read more for the explanations of the different local futbol cultures than for any "theory of globalization. View all 4 comments. Mar 13, Lilly rated it really liked it. Foer brother of Jonathan Safran Foer, for those of you keeping track at home puts his pen to the paper to explain world affairs to his american audience through the one lens they might identify with -- sports.
Unfortunately, the sport he chooses is soccer. Which American's don't give a shit about. But guess what? They don't give a shit about world affairs either, so it's a brilliant marriage.
For you curious folk out there, he takes on major questions- racism, gender discrimination, fundamental Foer brother of Jonathan Safran Foer, for those of you keeping track at home puts his pen to the paper to explain world affairs to his american audience through the one lens they might identify with -- sports. For you curious folk out there, he takes on major questions- racism, gender discrimination, fundamentalist Islam, you name it.
But forget the politics. As you whip through the pages you're gonna learn what you need to be a self-respecting soccer fan. That alone is worth the price of admission. What is a hooligan? Why do people care about Arsenal and Manchester United? What the hell is going on with Italian football? I thought my eyes were fooling me when I saw this book sitting in the bookstore.
I still pinch myself. And to be completely honest, it didn't disappoint, not a bit. It's ectasy, anguish, joy and despair. It's part of our history. It's part of our country. And it will be part of our future. It's theatre, art, war and love. It should be predictable It's a feeling that can't be explained but we spend our lives explaining it.
It's OUR religion. We know how you feel about it. Because we feel the same Well, few years ago, I caught myself l It's ectasy, anguish, joy and despair. Well, few years ago, I caught myself lost in thought after I saw and heard a classic advert about Premiership season football coverage and Sean Bean a movie star whose also known as a Leeds diehard fans who narrated this advert DANG!!! So true, so very true.. For myself I will always considered those words are "holy" because somehow it's reflected my feeling about football.
More importantly in my opinion reflected football as a whole. Not just that, I tempted to tape the advert.
And the funny thing is that I can't help get rid the feeling that my life going down the toilet when I find myself video-taping a seconds promo for a TV channel's football coverage.
Buku yang menarik. Terus terang saya tidak terlalu "memperhatikan" aspek2 "globalisasi" yang ada di dalam buku ini. Secara pribadi saya lebih tertarik dengan sepakbola yang diceritakan di buku ini. Banyak sekali yang tidak saya ketahui semisal cikal bakal derby klasik Old Firm antara Glasgow Rangers vs Glasgow Celtic, bagaimana ribuan orang Irlandia Utara menyerbu Glasgow untuk menyaksikan Derby Glasgow.
Trus bagaimana masyarakat Itali yang menggemari statistik tentang sepakbola termasuk statistik wasit. Terus kompetisi sepakbola di brasil yang carut marut dan banyak klub yang dikelola oleh pemilik2 oportunis yang korup tapi tetap melahirkan bintang2 baru seakan tak ada hentinya, suporter spurs yang memelorotkan celana mereka untuk membalas hinaan dari suporter lawan yah, hal2 unik seperti itulah.
Sayangna untuk sepakbola inggris hanya membahas dari sisi holigan dan suporternya aja. Sayang eyang Fergie ama eMyU nya gak disebut-sebut, pdhl ketika buku ini terbit eMyU telah menjadi sebuah kekuatan baru. Dalam kurun waktu 12 tahun terahir mereka sudah merebut 8 kali juara Premiership. Total sampai saat saat itu pasukan eyang Fergie sudah mengoleksi 15 gelar juara semakin mendekati raja Premiership, Liverpool yang sudah mengoleksi 18 gelar juara. Naaah, kalo buku ini ditulis taun sekarang sepertinya seru, karena eMyU pada musim kompetisi berhasil menyamai rekor Liverpool dengan merebut gelar ke Sebagai fans bola terus terang saya tertarik mengenai "kampanye 19" ini, sapa neh yang duluan bisa nembus ke angka 19?
Ato jangan-jangan Gunner yah yang udah 13 kali merebut gelar yang bisa nyalip. Iya gitu? Setelah pemain Juve terang-terangan mengganjal badan penyerang Inter dari Brasil, Ronaldo, wasit enggan memberi Inter hadiah penalty. Tak lama berselang, di sisi lapang Inter, wasit malah memberi Juve tendangan penalty atas sebuah akting penuh kepalsuan. Seorang pemain Juve tiba-tiba tergelimpang di lapangan tanpa penyebab apapun yang bisa dijelaskan oleh hukum fisika hahaha, gw masi inget banget kejadiannya.
Duh, pengen deh rasanya nyekek ntu wasit. Sayang buku ini ditulis tahun sementara skandal Calciopoli yang mengguncang sekaligus menurunkan pamor sepakbola Italia baru terungkap tahun Apa lagi yah?
I assure you, it's much more serious than that. View all 94 comments. An interesting essay on how the microcosm of football can explain the different facets of globalisation. Aug 23, J. This was very readable and mostly enjoyable, but with caveats.
Foer's blithe USA-centric blinkers were annoying at times especially in the Iran chapter but it's pretty representative of a certain kind of early optimistic liberal mindset I guess. Also frustrating was the absolute unwillingness to call Ukranian football's blatant racism by what it is, the author instead arguing that it's some quaint sort of folkloric nationalist impulse unlike racism in western Europe even while h 3. Still worth a read, enjoyed the chapters on Serbian football and Jewishness in football the most, but with critical faculties intact.
Jan 18, Christine rated it really liked it Shelves: football , reporting , history-general , sports. Warning: Depsite the fact that I am a Yank, I might refer to soccer as football in this review.
The term football makes more sense. I would get hungery just stepping outside the building , I had a lay over in Paris. The only time I have ever been to Paris. Do you have any idea how long it took to me find something affordable to eat? And this was b Warning: Depsite the fact that I am a Yank, I might refer to soccer as football in this review. And this was before the Euro. Anyway, I was there a few days before the French won the Euro Cup a football tournment, for those of you who don't know, along the lines of the World Cup, but just for Europe.
And if you don't know what the World Cup is, I don't think I can help you. Paris seemed to be full of drums, chanting, drunken, happy Parisans no doubt drunk on wine , and soccer, football, balls. It was fun! So fun that I was willing to forget that my beloved Dutch National Team I'm not Dutch, but Netherlands is nice, and the de Boer brothers were playing didn't make to the finals.
I've been lucky enough to have been in Europe twice during Euro Cups. The first time was when I went to England. I was in Scotland when the Scots lost to the English in a game yeah, I don't quite get or believe it either.
What I remember most is the man dressed in full kilt playing the bagpipes after the loss. It was far more beautiful than the drunken cries I hear from the bar up the street when a local Philly team loses. Though there was plenty of that on the Royal Mile too. America has nothing football fans.
Foer explores the impact change isn't the right word football has on society and nations. He makes an agrument that soccer represents an aspect of globalizations, and while sometimes this point isn't entirely proved, he tells story, after story, usually funny ones. Foer explores the history of hooliganism. Okay, before I go any further, I have to disgress again.
Foer, dude, Oakland Raider fans are closest to English Hooligans? What are you smoking? People are frightened to go to our stadiums. Not because of the teams [maybe the Phils:] but because of the fans.
Sorry, just had to get that out. Foer explores the history of hooliganism, talking to honest to gosh Hooligans, who are old, as well as looking at the Protestant vs. Catholic football rivalary. Which is in Scotland and not Northern Ireland. He also explains the state of football in Brazil, including a story that will disappoint Pele worshippers. That section of the book is heartbreaking.
He examines racial tension in European clubs. It is true that he is some what biased in some places, but hey, I like Baracelona too. Nice bit on Iran, espcecially considering the current state of affairs there. The only weak part is the section on America. Overall, if you like football or soccer it is an enjoyable book. Nov 18, Alex rated it it was ok Shelves: economics , sport , sociology , history , travel. Alright, so anybody that knows me knows what a freak I am about the beautiful game.
Having said that I have to admit that I was more than a bit disappointed by this book. Now, the reviews that it had received weren't entirely terrific, nonetheless, it was a quick and interesting read at work.
I can't say I didn't learn anything, but the author's thesis was tenuous at best and he never really "proved" for lack of a better term right now how, exactly, soccer "explains the world. I mean seriously, in his story on Barcelona he makes it clear where he's coming from and he fits the stereotype I already had in my head regarding self-professed Barca fans at least amongst Americans : he's a liberal yuppie and comes off as a bit self-righteous and snobbishly "cosmopolitan.
You're the footballing equivalent of an American in a Che t-shirt. I will admit that I'll always support Barca v Real Madrid fucking fascist bumpkins , but let's not get carried away. Foer's attempt to tackle what I'll dub the "Italian Conundrum" falls short a bit, though it is probably the most thorough chapter in the book. Unfortunately the book was written before the Calciopoli scandal that broke just after the World Cup and the continuing crises that Italian football and the country in general has been experiencing.
Italy is fucked up and corrupt as any reader's of Roberto Gotta's columns on soccernet. I guess I have the benefit of a bit of hindsight on these matters allowing me to view the game and its progression in the years that have followed the book's publication.
However, that does little to change the fact that although Foer attempted to support his theories of globalization with soccer-related anecdotes, he actually makes the case against himself by demonstrating that football remains quite culturally specific despite the influx of capital and the increase in non-european born players. Time will tell, of course whether the upper echelons of the game come to represent the ideals of globalized capital which is certainly arguable , but in less grandiose terms, football remains beholden to more parochial attitudes for better or worse.
If Foer wasn't so blinded by his yuppie-ism and was actually a fan of the game, I think he would have noticed this. Jul 08, Shuhan Rizwan rated it liked it. World Cup read. The theme is very interesting, but the implementation is not what I expected.
Aside from the misleading title, this is an excellent book. It's important to point out, I think, that this book does not explain globalization by means of soccer. Instead, it shows the ways in which many of the various facets of globalization can be seen in microcosm within the world of professional soccer.
For people who are soccer fanatics and who know very little about the world around them, the title may therefore be true; but I think for the average person, there's more to be learned about Aside from the misleading title, this is an excellent book.
For people who are soccer fanatics and who know very little about the world around them, the title may therefore be true; but I think for the average person, there's more to be learned about soccer than anything else.
At least, that was the case with me. But - and I say this as a non-fan of pretty much every sport, including and perhaps especially soccer - what I learned was fascinating. Since soccer is a worldwide phenomenon, it has become a part of a terrific number of very different cultures and traditions.
In a way, this book might more accurately be billed as a kind of whirlwind tour of the world with soccer as the guide. Whatever the book is, it is ultimately a look at parts of the world that most people often don't think about, using as unusual a lens as the game of soccer; it's hard to imagine anyone who wouldn't learn quite few new things from reading this book.
Oct 11, Steven Peterson rated it liked it. This is a quirky work; it ends up proving more satisfying than one might have imagined. The subtitle:"An Unlikely Theory of Globalization. The author notes that Page 5 : "On my travels, I tried to use soccer--its fans, its players, and strategies--as a way fo thinking about how people would identify themselves in this new era.
In the end, I am not sure how well he links these various nationalistic loyalties to teams with globalization. However, this is an intriguing book that gets one to thinking about much larger issues. Feb 08, Sander rated it really liked it. I wouldn't say it's about the theory of globalization. However, it's really great book about the impact that football has on cultures around the globe. In each chapter, the author follows different football clubs from different countries and cultures.
The soccer is linked with religion, mafia, politics, power and corruption, hooliganism, nationalism, race, class and so on. So somehow it's really logical that football can explain cultural differences and why some people in Liverpool support Evert I wouldn't say it's about the theory of globalization.
So somehow it's really logical that football can explain cultural differences and why some people in Liverpool support Everton and another half of the city supports Liverpool or why some people in Belgrade support Red Star and others Partizan.
Football is much more than a sport at least when you are interested in all that happens behind the curtains of the most popular sport in the world. Apr 05, Aaron Arnold rated it really liked it Shelves: history , politics , read-in I'm hardly the first person to point out that the book's title is overblown; a better one might have been "How soccer reflects the world".
However, that's not nearly so snappy, and wouldn't have sold as many copies, so I won't quibble. While this vintage book could use some updating, for the most part many of the aspects of soccer as a global sport that Foer identifies haven't much changed: soccer is still beset by hooligans, trapped by ancient rivalries, riddled with corruption, and burden I'm hardly the first person to point out that the book's title is overblown; a better one might have been "How soccer reflects the world".
While this vintage book could use some updating, for the most part many of the aspects of soccer as a global sport that Foer identifies haven't much changed: soccer is still beset by hooligans, trapped by ancient rivalries, riddled with corruption, and burdened with uneasy relationships to global and national politics, religious divides, the challenges of modernity, and questions of identity.
Soccer is unique in that it's the only truly transnational sport, which makes it a good lens to magnify various interesting cultural traits for closer inspection.
While it's unlikely that soccer will ever get its hooks into American culture the way it's done in most other countries, it's worth thinking about why the US is so globalized in terms of people yet so insular in sports, and what our own half-embrace of soccer says about our attitudes towards the world. Hooliganism takes up much of the first part of the book. To me it's probably the most interesting aspect of soccer fandom, since in American sports you just don't have the kind of organized violence that you have in other countries.
Sure, you have fans with a reputation for being jackasses Philadelphia Eagles or for shocking the bourgeoisie Oakland Raiders , but the gangs of thugs that are endemic in many countries are simply absent here. The members of the Red Star fan club Foer talks to sound like some cool guys: "Draza especially relishes describing a game against Partizan the previous season.
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