Behind the Curtain
'EPIC' Financial Times
'PERCEPTIVE' The Sunday Times
'BLISSFUL' Daily Telegraph
'FASCINATING' Independent on Sunday
'TERRIFIC' Henry Winter
'EXCELLENT' Simon Kuper

The fascinating story of football in Eastern Europe following the collapse of the Berlin Wall, from the award-winning author of Inverting the Pyramid

From the war-ravaged streets of Sarajevo, where turning up for training involved dodging snipers' bullets, to the crumbling splendour of Budapest's Bozsik Stadium, where the likes of Puskás and Kocsis masterminded the fall of England, the landscape of Eastern Europe has changed immeasurably since the collapse of communism. Jonathan Wilson has travelled extensively behind the old Iron Curtain, viewing life beyond the fall of the Berlin Wall through the lens of football.

Where once the state-controlled teams of the Eastern bloc passed their way with crisp efficiency - a sort of communist version of total football - to considerable success on the European and international stages, today the beautiful game in the East has been opened up to the free market, and throughout the region a sense of chaos pervades. The threat of totalitarian interference no longer remains; but in its place mafia control is generally accompanied with a crippling lack of funds.

Jonathan Wilson goes in search of the spirit of Hungary's 'Golden Squad', charts the disintegration of the footballing superpower Yugoslavia, follows a sorry tale of corruption, mismanagement and Armenian cognac through the Caucasuses, reopens the case of Russia's greatest footballer, Eduard Streltsov, and talks to Jan Tomaszewski about an autumn night at Wembley in 1973...

BEHIND THE CURTAIN is the definitive story of football in Eastern Europe.

1102167568
Behind the Curtain
'EPIC' Financial Times
'PERCEPTIVE' The Sunday Times
'BLISSFUL' Daily Telegraph
'FASCINATING' Independent on Sunday
'TERRIFIC' Henry Winter
'EXCELLENT' Simon Kuper

The fascinating story of football in Eastern Europe following the collapse of the Berlin Wall, from the award-winning author of Inverting the Pyramid

From the war-ravaged streets of Sarajevo, where turning up for training involved dodging snipers' bullets, to the crumbling splendour of Budapest's Bozsik Stadium, where the likes of Puskás and Kocsis masterminded the fall of England, the landscape of Eastern Europe has changed immeasurably since the collapse of communism. Jonathan Wilson has travelled extensively behind the old Iron Curtain, viewing life beyond the fall of the Berlin Wall through the lens of football.

Where once the state-controlled teams of the Eastern bloc passed their way with crisp efficiency - a sort of communist version of total football - to considerable success on the European and international stages, today the beautiful game in the East has been opened up to the free market, and throughout the region a sense of chaos pervades. The threat of totalitarian interference no longer remains; but in its place mafia control is generally accompanied with a crippling lack of funds.

Jonathan Wilson goes in search of the spirit of Hungary's 'Golden Squad', charts the disintegration of the footballing superpower Yugoslavia, follows a sorry tale of corruption, mismanagement and Armenian cognac through the Caucasuses, reopens the case of Russia's greatest footballer, Eduard Streltsov, and talks to Jan Tomaszewski about an autumn night at Wembley in 1973...

BEHIND THE CURTAIN is the definitive story of football in Eastern Europe.

15.99 In Stock
Behind the Curtain

Behind the Curtain

by Jonathan Wilson
Behind the Curtain

Behind the Curtain

by Jonathan Wilson

Paperback(New)

$15.99 
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Overview

'EPIC' Financial Times
'PERCEPTIVE' The Sunday Times
'BLISSFUL' Daily Telegraph
'FASCINATING' Independent on Sunday
'TERRIFIC' Henry Winter
'EXCELLENT' Simon Kuper

The fascinating story of football in Eastern Europe following the collapse of the Berlin Wall, from the award-winning author of Inverting the Pyramid

From the war-ravaged streets of Sarajevo, where turning up for training involved dodging snipers' bullets, to the crumbling splendour of Budapest's Bozsik Stadium, where the likes of Puskás and Kocsis masterminded the fall of England, the landscape of Eastern Europe has changed immeasurably since the collapse of communism. Jonathan Wilson has travelled extensively behind the old Iron Curtain, viewing life beyond the fall of the Berlin Wall through the lens of football.

Where once the state-controlled teams of the Eastern bloc passed their way with crisp efficiency - a sort of communist version of total football - to considerable success on the European and international stages, today the beautiful game in the East has been opened up to the free market, and throughout the region a sense of chaos pervades. The threat of totalitarian interference no longer remains; but in its place mafia control is generally accompanied with a crippling lack of funds.

Jonathan Wilson goes in search of the spirit of Hungary's 'Golden Squad', charts the disintegration of the footballing superpower Yugoslavia, follows a sorry tale of corruption, mismanagement and Armenian cognac through the Caucasuses, reopens the case of Russia's greatest footballer, Eduard Streltsov, and talks to Jan Tomaszewski about an autumn night at Wembley in 1973...

BEHIND THE CURTAIN is the definitive story of football in Eastern Europe.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780752879451
Publisher: Orion Publishing Group
Publication date: 11/28/2006
Edition description: New
Pages: 336
Product dimensions: 5.00(w) x 7.75(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

About The Author
Jonathan Wilson (Author)
Jonathan Wilson is a columnist for the Guardian and the founder and editor of The Blizzard. Inverting the Pyramid: The History of Football Tactics was Football Book of the Year in 2009 and was shortlisted for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year award. Seven of his other books have been shortlisted for football book of the year and he has also won the Premio Antonio Ghirelli in Italy. Angels with Dirty Faces did the double of football book and history book of the year at the Polish Sports Book Awards in 2018. He is a three-time recipient of the FSA Football Writer of the Year award and in 2023 was granted an honorary doctorate by the University of Sunderland. He writes for the Guardian and in 2011 founded The Blizzard, which he still edits. He is also the co-presenter of the football history podcast It Was What It Was.

Twitter/X: @jonawils

Jonathan Wilson Ltd (Author)
Jonathan Wilson is a columnist for the Guardian and the founder and editor of The Blizzard. Inverting the Pyramid: The History of Football Tactics was Football Book of the Year in 2009 and was shortlisted for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year award. Seven of his other books have been shortlisted for football book of the year and he has also won the Premio Antonio Ghirelli in Italy. Angels with Dirty Faces did the double of football book and history book of the year at the Polish Sports Book Awards in 2018. He is a three-time recipient of the FSA Football Writer of the Year award and in 2023 was granted an honorary doctorate by the University of Sunderland. He writes for the Guardian and in 2011 founded The Blizzard, which he still edits. He is also the co-presenter of the football history podcast It Was What It Was.

Twitter/X: @jonawils

Hometown:

Newton, Massachusetts

Date of Birth:

February 26, 1950

Place of Birth:

London, England

Education:

B.A., First Class, University of Essex 1973; Ph.D., Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 1980
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