Soccer Against the Enemy: How the World's Most Popular Sport Starts and Fuels Revolutions and Keeps Dictators in Power

Soccer Against the Enemy: How the World's Most Popular Sport Starts and Fuels Revolutions and Keeps Dictators in Power
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Manufacturer: Nation Books
Average Customer Rating: Average rating of 4.0/5Average rating of 4.0/5Average rating of 4.0/5Average rating of 4.0/5Average rating of 4.0/5

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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 796.334
EAN: 9781560258780
ISBN: 1560258780
Label: Nation Books
Manufacturer: Nation Books
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 320
Publication Date: 2006-04-27
Publisher: Nation Books
Studio: Nation Books
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Editorial Reviews:
Soccer is much more than just the most popular game in the world. It is a matter of life and death for millions around the world, an international lingua franca.

Simon Kuper traveled to twenty-two countries to discover the sometimes bizarre effect soccer can have on politics and culture. At the same time he tried to discover what makes different countries play a simple game so differently.

Kuper meets a remarkable variety of fans along the way, from the East Berliner persecuted by the Stasi for supporting his local team, to the Argentine general with his own views on tactics. He also illuminates the frightening intersection between soccer and politics, particularly in the wake of the attacks of 9-11, where soccer is obsessed over by the likes of Osama bin Laden. The result is an astonishing study of soccer and its place in the world.
Spotlight customer reviews:
Customer Rating: Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5
Summary: Soccer Against the Enemy: a great read for travelling
Comment: Simon Kuper's first book "Soccer Against the Enemy" is one of the best books about football/soccer I've ever read. It's hard to believe Kuper was only 22/23 when he wrote it. But then again perhaps you'd have to be that young to travel to all the obscure corners of the globe he did. Kuper interviews football heroes in Africa, gangsters in Russia, East German fans, Brazilian coaches and just about everyone else in the spectrum of world football. What emerges is to us Americans, something of a secret history. The game is hugely important to the rest of the world, at times a matter of life and death. Kuper's book captures that importance, that excitement and that love of the great game that only now is again making some waves here in the U.S. If you love football or if your merely curious, this is a good book for you. Take it on a plane or a train and it will put you in a nice international mindset to travel in.
Customer Rating: Average rating of 3/5Average rating of 3/5Average rating of 3/5Average rating of 3/5Average rating of 3/5
Summary: Soccer against the Enemy
Comment: From an American perspective this was just so-so. I only say that due to the lack of background on my part. There were some very interesting stories within the books and others where a better background on my part would have helped.
Customer Rating: Average rating of 3/5Average rating of 3/5Average rating of 3/5Average rating of 3/5Average rating of 3/5
Summary: Good, but....
Comment: I read this a few years after reading "How soccer explains the world", so my comparison is based on a shaky memory, with lots of other soccer reading in between....

In some ways, SATE a more interesting read - you can really feel that the author knows soccer much more intimately than Foer (HSETW author) does. And the writing is a little less 'clinical' than the other book, and the extra chapter is nice. But while this book is a series of anecdotes that are entertaining, I thought Foer does a better job making the point implicit in the title.

And the clumsy translation is ridiculous - it's as if the publishers just performed a "search and replace" for "football" and "soccer" - to the point where it's at times confusing: sections about "American soccer" where clearly he meant American Football (=gridiron). I know it's not Shakespeare, but I'd rather read the "real thing".
Customer Rating: Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5
Summary: A total classic
Comment: I read dozens of books a year and cannot remember laughing out load so many tmes while reading a book. Kuper manages to write both a very interesting history of international soccer and also infuse it with some unbelievably funny dry humor. Other than getting a little dense in the Spain section, the book was awesome. The chapter on Afica is unforgettable. I wish he would write a follow-up.
Customer Rating: Average rating of 2/5Average rating of 2/5Average rating of 2/5Average rating of 2/5Average rating of 2/5
Summary: Painfully misses the Mark
Comment: I have recently finished this book and besides reading the "Scarlet Letter" by Hawthorne in high school; this has been the most paintful book I have ever read. The premise is a good one: what different countries' take on soccer (football, I'm in America give me a break). However, the chapters seem to not be organized very well. The best chapter which would have been a better introductory chapter "Celtic v. Ranger" was placed near the end of the book. "Celtic v. Rangers" was the most focused and detailed of the book. Now, if Kuper decided to keep this approach throughout the book then I believe I would have loved this book. However, what annoyed me was how Kuper wasted (no offense) three chapters on the Baltics, South Africa (which should have been folded into the general Africa chapter) and on Herrerra (I really got no sense of Italian soccer) and yet wrote a clipped chapter on Brazilian soccer. I actually had to struggle to get through this book and I haven't had that experience for years! The only reason that I am not giving this book a single star is the fact I loved the chapters on Russia, Germany, Brazil (while clipped was good but definitely could have been better) and Celtic v. Rangers.
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