Most journalists researching globalization spend their time at posh international conferences; the New Republic's Frank Foer does his legwork in working class bars and soccer stadiums. This hands-on journalist argues that soccer can be viewed as a lens into the new global age, exposing societal fault lines in nations from Brazil to Bosnia, from Ireland to Iran. Many of Foer's conclusions are counterintuitive: He claims, for example, that globalization has revived tribalism and entrenched corruption.
Kirkus Reviews
A novel look at how the world is everywhere becoming more alike, and everywhere more different, as people seek to define themselves through football. "I suck at soccer," young New Republic staffer Foer offers by way of an opening. And why not? He's an American, and Americans see soccer-what the rest of the world calls "football"-differently. Where in Italy or Brazil or Kenya, say, it's a working-class sport laden with working-class aspirations, in the US it's inverted: "Here, aside from Latino immigrants, the professional classes follow the game most avidly and the working class couldn't give a toss about it." Yet everywhere the game is politicized as none other: In the US, "soccer moms" are alternately reviled and courted while reactionary politicos insist that soccer is fundamentally un-American (and probably socialist, too, as Jack Kemp once urged). In Scotland, Foer writes, the game affords a screen behind which to play out fantastic anti-Catholic hatreds. (Glasgow, Foer brightly adds, provides a fine rebuttal to the capitalist theory that "once a society becomes economically advanced, it becomes politically advanced-liberal, tolerant, democratic.") In the heart of the former Yugoslavia, where the soccer hooligans are so tough that they regularly beat up their own teams, professional football has provided shibboleths by which to separate and massacre Croats, Bosnians, Slovenians, and other non-Serbian types. In Spain, football arenas still resound with echoes of the civil war of the 1930s. In the Middle East, the game provides a means of expressing anti-fundamentalist sentiment. And so on. One day soccer/football will be played everywhere, Foer hints, and fans in Benin and Burlingtonwill cheer players in Belgrade and Botswana; but in each place, even as the sport remakes the planet, those big and little cultural differences will remain, perhaps some day to provoke future wars, revolutions, or renaissances. Though the globalism thread sometimes disappears, the author is unfailingly interesting. Lively and provocative-even for those who just don't get what FIFA is all about. Agent: Raphael Sagalyn/Sagalyn Literary Agency
From the Publisher
Important. . . . Foer’s book sets one thinking about the great American isolation. If we want to understand the world, we should probably try to understand soccer.” — Boston Globe
“An insightful, entertaining, brainiac sports road trip.” — Wall Street Journal
“Sensational. . . . The smartest sports book of the summer.” — ESPN.com
“What a brilliant idea! Franklin Foer provides a personal yet richly-reported look at how approaches to soccer tell us so much about different societies and their cultural attitudes. He even uses the game to dissect the ideological and class divides in America. The result is both amusing and revealing—and delightfully provocative.” — Walter Isaacson, author of Benjamin Franklin
“A great new guide. It combines a diary of an obsessive with some penetrating thoughts on globalism. It’s as if Nick Hornby, author of the brilliant soccer book Fever Pitch, commandeered Tom Friedman’s laptop.” — Slate
“Foer’s book shows that soccer is much more than just kicking the ball around—it is about the way soccer exists in people’s lives. 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.” — Aleksandar Hemon, author of Nowhere Man and The Question of Bruno
“A wildly entertaining romp through the world with a smart, nervy guide. Tucked into this amazing snapshot of unconventional wisdom is a brilliant description of the chilling interface of sports and politics and how it’s used to manipulate our lives.” — Robert Lipsyte, New York Times contributing columnist and author of In the Country of Illness
“Important and controversial as the subject of globalization is, it’s not often much fun to read about. This book is a dazzling exception—and no less a contribution to serious study of the issue for being a delight. It’s full of lively tales, colorful characters, and humor—all on behalf of explaining, clearly and convincingly, how the world is changing in momentous ways.” — Strobe Talbott, president, The Brookings Institution
“Most people who write about globalization never leave the world of fancy hotels and conferences. Franklin Foer actually went out and did a day’s work. His reporting among soccer’s lumpen proletariat illuminates the dark complexities of globalization.” — Robert D. Kaplan, author of Balkan Ghosts and The Ends of the Earth
“Franklin Foer has written a book that is significantly entertaining if you like soccer, and entertainingly significant if you do not.” — Adam Gopnik, author of Paris to the Moon
“I’ve always admired Franklin Foer’s smart, insightful reporting, but here he does something I couldn’t have predicted: took me into a world I was completely unfamiliar with and brought it alive with wit, a sense of adventure—and cultural and geopolitical ramifications I wouldn’t otherwise have imagined.” — Ron Rosenbaum, author of Explaining Hitler and The Secret Parts of Fortune
“Franklin Foer has penetrated the global game of soccer in all its forms and at the deepest level. 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.” — Bruce Arena, head coach, U.S. National Soccer Team
“A fantastic, unexpected, and hugely entertaining book, written with wit and intelligence and of course a love of the game.” — William Langewiesche, author of American Ground
“Step aside Tom Friedman, Sam Huntington, and Amy Chua. Franklin Foer’s dark and witty tale of the soccer world reveals the meaning of globalization in all its joys and horrors.” — Robert Kagan, author of Of Paradise and Power
“Lively and provocative. . . . 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.” — Kirkus Reviews
“Fascinating. . . . Foer scores a game-winning goal with this analysis of the interchange between soccer and the new global economy. . . . One doesn’t have to be a soccer fan to truly appreciate this absorbing book.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“An eccentric, fascinating exposé of a world most of us know nothing about. . . . Bristles with anecdotes that are almost impossible to believe.” — New York Times Book Review
“Funny and terrifying. . . . Several chapters stand alone as surgical strikes of intelligent reporting. . . . Franklin Foer is that rare thing: a homegrown soccer pundit.” — Mother Jones
“Foer picks 10 different stories, each of which is fascinating and teaches us something small but important. . . . Mr. Foer is a terrific storyteller, with sharp eyes and a charming, ironic tone.” — The New York Sun
“Foer’s formidable prose only reinforces his central premises. So, soccer might not explain it all, but it can serve as a starting point for understanding shifts in global economies, politics and religion, as we fall toward an ever-shrinking world.” — The Oregonian (Portland)
“Terrific. . . . A travelogue full of important insights into both cultural change and persistence. . . . Foer’s soccer odyssey lends weight to the argument that a humane world order is possible.” — Washington Post Book World
“Foer is an accomplished journalist. His sketches of historical background are deftly done. His skills as a narrator are enviable. His characterizations, many of them based on interviews, are comparable to those in Norman Mailer’s journalism.” — Boston Globe
“Franklin Foer has mapped, delightfully, the ways in which soccer’s emerging international brands and symbols clash with stubborn local tribalisms. . . . Artfully told. . . . Foer’s book is horrifying, and terrific.” — Washington Monthly
ESPN.com
Sensational. . . . The smartest sports book of the summer.
Stefan Fatsis
An insightful, entertaining, brainiac sports road trip.
Ron Rosenbaum
I’ve always admired Franklin Foer’s smart, insightful reporting, but here he does something I couldn’t have predicted: took me into a world I was completely unfamiliar with and brought it alive with wit, a sense of adventure — and cultural and geopolitical ramifications I wouldn’t otherwise have imagined.
Adam Gopnik
Franklin Foer has written a book that is significantly entertaining if you like soccer, and entertainingly significant if you do not.
Walter Isaacson
What a brilliant idea! Franklin Foer provides a personal yet richly-reported look at how approaches to soccer tell us so much about different societies and their cultural attitudes. He even uses the game to dissect the ideological and class divides in America. The result is both amusing and revealing — and delightfully provocative.
Aleksandar Hemon
Franklin Foer’s book shows that soccer is much more than just kicking the ball around — it is about the way soccer exists in people’s lives. 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.
Boston Globe
Important. . . . Foer’s book sets one thinking about the great American isolation. If we want to understand the world, we should probably try to understand soccer.
Strobe Talbott
Important and controversial as the subject of globalization is, it’s not often much fun to read about. This book is a dazzling exception — and no less a contribution to serious study of the issue for being a delight. It’s full of lively tales, colorful characters, and humor — all on behalf of explaining, clearly and convincingly, how the world is changing in momentous ways.
Robert D. Kaplan
Most people who write about globalization never leave the world of fancy hotels and conferences. Franklin Foer actually went out and did a day’s work. His reporting among soccer’s lumpen proletariat illuminates the dark complexities of globalization.
Robert Lipsyte
A wildly entertaining romp through the world with a smart, nervy guide. Tucked into this amazing snapshot of unconventional wisdom is a brilliant description of the chilling interface of sports and politics and how it’s used to manipulate our lives.
Washington Post Book World
Terrific. . . . A travelogue full of important insights into both cultural change and persistence. . . . Foer’s soccer odyssey lends weight to the argument that a humane world order is possible.
Bruce Arena
Franklin Foer has penetrated the global game of soccer in all its forms and at the deepest level. 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.
The Oregonian (Portland)
Foer’s formidable prose only reinforces his central premises. So, soccer might not explain it all, but it can serve as a starting point for understanding shifts in global economies, politics and religion, as we fall toward an ever-shrinking world.
Robert Kagan
Step aside Tom Friedman, Sam Huntington, and Amy Chua. Franklin Foer’s dark and witty tale of the soccer world reveals the meaning of globalization in all its joys and horrors.
Slate
A great new guide. It combines a diary of an obsessive with some penetrating thoughts on globalism. It’s as if Nick Hornby, author of the brilliant soccer book Fever Pitch, commandeered Tom Friedman’s laptop.
Mother Jones
Funny and terrifying. . . . Several chapters stand alone as surgical strikes of intelligent reporting. . . . Franklin Foer is that rare thing: a homegrown soccer pundit.
The New York Sun
Foer picks 10 different stories, each of which is fascinating and teaches us something small but important. . . . Mr. Foer is a terrific storyteller, with sharp eyes and a charming, ironic tone.
New York Times Book Review
An eccentric, fascinating exposé of a world most of us know nothing about. . . . Bristles with anecdotes that are almost impossible to believe.
The Washington Monthly
Franklin Foer has mapped, delightfully, the ways in which soccer’s emerging international brands and symbols clash with stubborn local tribalisms. . . . Artfully told. . . . Foer’s book is horrifying, and terrific.
Slate
A great new guide. It combines a diary of an obsessive with some penetrating thoughts on globalism. It’s as if Nick Hornby, author of the brilliant soccer book Fever Pitch, commandeered Tom Friedman’s laptop.
