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    The Ball is Round: A Global History of Soccer
    The Ball is Round: A Global History of Soccer
    The Ball is Round: A Global History of Soccer
    Audiobook38 hours

    The Ball is Round: A Global History of Soccer

    Written by David Goldblatt

    Narrated by Liam Gerrard

    4.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    The definitive book about soccer, from the author of The Games: A Global History of the Olympics.

    There may be no cultural practice more global than soccer. Rites of birth and marriage are infinitely diverse, but the rules of soccer are universal. No world religion can match its geographical scope. The single greatest simultaneous human collective experience is the World Cup final.

    In this extraordinary tour de force, David Goldblatt tells the full story of soccer's rise from chaotic folk ritual to the world's most popular sport-now poised to fully establish itself in the USA. Already celebrated internationally, The Ball Is Round illuminates soccer's role in the political and social histories of modern societies, but never loses sight of the beauty, joy, and excitement of the game itself.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateApr 21, 2020
    ISBN9781541439122
    The Ball is Round: A Global History of Soccer
    Author

    David Goldblatt

    David Goldblatt was born in 1965 and inherited, for his sins, Tottenham Hotspurs from his father. He has published highly acclaimed books of football: The Ball is Round, an astonishingly ambitious global history of the game, Futebol Nation, a footballing history of Brazil, and The Game of Our Lives about the meaning and making of English football. He also edited the World Football Yearbook, made sporting documentaries for BBC Radio, reviewed sports books for the TLS and the Guardian and taught the sociology of sport at Bristol University, De Montfort University, Leicester and Pitzer College, Los Angeles.

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    Reviews for The Ball is Round

    4.5/5

    57 ratings4 reviews

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    • 5/5
      Wow! A beautifully narrated breathtaking book on football through history and around the globe. Well worth the time and attention.
    • 4/5
      Exhaustive, fascinating and uplifting. Unlike his later book which focuses on finance, here the positive power of football is front and centre. It’s no minor undertaking - it felt like I was back at university wading through some chapters - but then it does cover the role of the world’s favourite sport in pretty much every country on earth.
    • 5/5
      This is the bible of global soccer history as it relates to politics, economics, and society. It is a very detailed account that is not an overnight read. It is thoughtful, well researched, and well written. I would recommend it to anyone that wants to know the history of the game and why it has achieved such a world following. As a football (soccer) fan and avid player, the detailed accounts of some of the famous match games was fascinating as well as some of the uncommon football history from less known parts of the world. GREAT BOOK!
    • 5/5
      We are unlikely to ever see a more definitive and complete account of soccer than this. At 911 pages it is a long read but never a slog. Goldblatt seems equally conversant with social theory, political history, and the narrative drama on the pitch and strikes the perfect balance—never too general or abstract, but more than just a series of match anecdotes. (I think I probably learned more about the histories of South America and Africa than from any other single book that I have read.) Soccer is here firmly placed its sociopolitical context without being reduced to a simple function thereof. Pitch invasions, stadium collapses, political intrigue and criminal corruption, not to mention economic exploitation, all get their due here and yet somehow Goldblatt's love of the game comes through. Dense with information but never overwhelming, for me it is the grown-up post-graduate-school equivalent of the many hours I spent as a child reading books about athletes and sports. Highly recommended.