Brazil's Dance with the Devil: The World Cup, The Olympics, and the Struggle for Democracy

by Dave Zirin

Overview

One of the Boston Globe's Best Sports Books of the Year: "Incisive, heartbreaking, important and even funny" (Jeremy Schaap, New York Times–bestselling author of Cinderella Man).
 
The people of Brazil celebrated when it was announced that they were hosting the World Cup—the world's most-viewed athletic tournament—in 2014 and the 2016 Summer Olympics. But as the events were approaching, ordinary Brazilians were holding the country's biggest protest marches in decades.
Sports journalist Dave Zirin traveled to Brazil to find out why. In a rollicking read that travels from the favelas of Rio de Janeiro to the fabled Maracanã Stadium to the halls of power in Washington, DC, Zirin examines Brazilians' objections to the corruption of the games they love; the toll such events take on impoverished citizens; and how taking to the streets opened up an international conversation on the culture, economics, and politics of sports.
"Millions will enjoy the World Cup and Olympics, but Zirin justly reminds readers of the real human costs beyond the spectacle." —Kirkus Reviews

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781608464333
Publisher:	Haymarket Books
Publication date:	02/13/2020
Sold by:	OPEN ROAD INTEGRATED - EBKS
Format:	eBook
Pages:	200
File size:	5 MB

About the Author

DAVE ZIRIN is the sports editor for the Nation and the author of Game Over: How Politics Has Turned the Sports World Upside Down. Named one of UTNE Reader's "Fifty Visionaries Who Are Changing Our World," Zirin is a frequent guest on MSNBC, ESPN, and Democracy Now! He also hosts the weekly Sirius XM show Edge of Sports Radio and has been called "the best sportswriter in the United States," by Robert Lipsyte.

Editorial Reviews

"People think speaking truth to power is easy, but if it was easy everyone would do it. This book does it... It speaks truth to the powers that be, from Brazil to the US to FIFA to the IOC. It hits you like an uppercut that rattles your brain and sets it straight. I cannot recommend this book highly enough."
—John Carlos, 1968 Olympic medalist

"Dave Zirin is not just the radical brilliant sports critic but along with Naomi Klein the investigative journalist of our neoliberal era. He has figured out that sports operates at the the nexus of capitalism, race, class, sexuality, privatization and of course spectacle. That's why his work is so important to so many of us."
—Robin Kelley, author, Africa Speaks, America Answers

"Dave Zirin has long stood on the edge of the sports writing world, exploding topics many of his colleagues are scared to approach. With Brazil's Dance with the Devil, he puts to bed any notion that the IOC and FIFA have the best interests of their host countries at heart. Brazil is a special country and Dave Zirin honors its people and history while mercilessly going after those who would undermine its people. This book is a remarkable mix of investigative sports journalism and insightful social history."
—Glenn Greenwald, author, No Place to Hide

"In a sports journalism landscape where it sometimes seems there are only those who fawn and those who pander, where curiosity about the world at large is in short supply, Zirin is an altogether different kind of presence. He does care, until it hurts, and consistently delivers unique takes on the nexus of sports and race, globalization, politics and human rights. In Brazil's Dance with the Devil, Zirin’s at his best, on familiar and fertile ground. Like so much of his work, it’s incisive, heartbreaking, important and even funny."
—Jeremy Schaap, ESPN, author of New York Times bestseller Cinderella Man

“For years, FIFA and the Brazilian government have failed to understand the complexity of the Brazilian populace, that it’s possible both to love soccer and to be outraged over the organization of the World Cup at the expense of the people. Dave Zirin, one of our great chroniclers of sports and society, spent time on the ground in Brazil interviewing those most affected by the Brazilian World Cup and Olympics, and he comes away with the truth of it all: That the brutal expense of these Mega-events isn’t worth the investment of so much public money and historical memory. Everyone who watches the World Cup should read this book.”
—Grant Wahl, senior writer, Sports Illustrated

“A vision from abroad about our Brazil from inside. It’s a vision at once critical, smart, truthful, and free of prejudices, and not sparing any criticisms of his own country, the United States. Additionally it's a generous vision that uplifts the great Brazilian people. Enthusiastically recommended!”
—Juca Kfouri, columnist, UOL Esporte

“Dave Zirin offers a great, fast-paced primer for those who want to get up to speed with what is happening on the ground in Brazil as it prepares for the World Cup and Olympics. Zirin brings the reader through years of history in order to contextualize the tumult on the streets during the 2013 Confederations’ Cup and offers perspective on what the world can expect during the World Cup and Olympics. Brazil's Dance with the Devil gives insight into the linkages between corruption, massive public spending and the folly of mega-event planning in a country with huge wealth inequalities and major infrastructure challenges. Zirin has done his homework and fieldwork, consulting the classics and experts to bring together a fast-paced, focused read for an international audience.”
—Juliana Barbassa, Former Rio de Janeiro correspondent, Associated Press

“Like everything Dave Zirin writes, this book is impassioned, deeply informed and very readable. It's also a necessary book, because Brazil is a poorly understood country entering a crucial period. Zirin backs up his opinions with good, honest reporting. Brazil has a good friend in him.”
—Simon Kuper, author, Soccernomics

"Brazil’s Dance With the Devil, is a powerful and haunting look at what’s happening behind the scenes (oft-tragically) in a nation hosting both the World Cup and the Olympics. It’s strong work."
—Jeff Pearlman, author, Boys Will Be Boys: The Glory Days and Party Nights of the Dallas Cowboys Dynasty
"This book is a great exposé of the international-mega-event industrial complex."
—rs21

"This is an entertaining and informative read, and while the rapacious neo-liberalism behind the World Cup is horrifying, the resistance, and the individuals Zirin meets, are inspiring."
—Just Books

From the Publisher

2014-04-08
How the real costs to democracy and the body politic that come from hosting a World Cup or Olympics outweigh the temporal joy that such events bring.This summer, the world's eyes will be on Brazil as it prepares to host the World Cup. Hundreds of thousands will descend, lured by the beautiful game and by promises of equally beautiful beaches and people. The same attractions will draw people (and the world's media) to Rio de Janeiro for the 2016 Summer Olympics. While the Nation sports editor Zirin (Game Over: How Politics Has Turned the Sports World Upside Down, 2013, etc.) understands the appeal of the spectacle, he is under no illusions regarding its costs. The author ruthlessly tears apart the rationale of a country like Brazil—which aspires to the top tier of world powers but has entrenched problems with poverty and service delivery and health care and providing adequate schools and myriad other issues—hosting a World Cup and Olympics that will not only fail to alleviate, but will exacerbate the country's problems. Zirin identifies the heart of the dilemma as "neoliberal plunder," whereby wealth is transferred "out of the public social safety net and into the hands of private capital." FIFA, the global body that governs football, and the International Olympic Committee are two of the chief villains in this scenario, but a range of political elites share accountability for using the events for the purpose of enriching themselves or accomplishing personal and political agendas. Zirin shows the boondoggle that are FIFA stadium demands and the flimsy pretexts behind the removals of and crackdowns on Brazil's favelas, the so-called slums that really are vibrant neighborhoods of the lower classes.Millions will enjoy the World Cup and Olympics, but Zirin justly reminds readers of the real human costs beyond the spectacle.

Kirkus Reviews