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How Soccer Explains the World - An Unlikely Theory of Globalization

4 stars (Good writing and reporting, though the title's a stretch) - Reader Derrick Peterman's review here on these pages nails it squarely on the button for me: while these 10 essays by Franklin Foer are good writing and reporting, to say for each of them "How Soccer Explains..." is really quite a stretch. Who knows if Foer himself came up with this hook or whether it got foisted on him by editors and PR types, but it really doesn't do the book or its well-meaning author justice. For example, in the chapter "How Soccer Explains the Jewish Question," we get some good reporting on the anti-Semitic overtones of some teams and well as the Jewish roots of others. But to say, therefore, that soccer 'explains' the 'Jewish Question'? Ummm...No. But don't let that dissuade you from picking up a copy of Foer's work. Again, there's terrific reporting here - standouts include chapters on "The Black Carpathians" (my personal favorite) which focuses on a Nigerian import to a top Ukranian club team, and "The New Oligarchs," an excellent overview on soccer's shift from paternalistic industrialists like the Agnellis (owners of Juventus) to new-styled "oligarchs" like Silvio Berlusconi (owner of AC Milan). By using a term like 'oligarch,' I was hoping for some red meat on Chelsea's Roman Abramovich. The oligarch's oligarch, he gets only passing mention in "The Sentimental Hooligan" chapter. Still, Foer's discection of the machinations and interactions of Italian media, business interests and the game are fascinating. And, for those of you wondering: yes, Franklin Foer is the brother of novelist Jonathan Safran Foer, author of "Everything Is Illuminated." 4 stars (The book I wish I had written!) - This is a work based on an interesting concept and complemented by well-researched journalism, with the exception of a few overt inaccuracies such as this one: "Celebrations for Romania's 1990 World Cup qualification carried over into the Bucharest squares, culminating in a firi...
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