nationbooksprojectofnation
large_book

Buy It Online
    Amazon >
    Barnes & Noble >
    IndieBound.org >
    Powells.com >

Soccer Against the Enemy

How the World's Most Popular Sport Starts and Fuels Revolutions And Keeps Dictators in Power



Simon Kuper
June 2006     ISBN: 1560258780

Soccer is much more than just the most popular game in the world. For millions, it is a matter of life and death, an international lingua franca.

Simon Kuper traveled to twenty-two countries to discover the sometimes bizarre effect soccer can have on politics and culture. At the same time, he tried to discover what makes different countries play a simple game so differently.

Soccer Against the Enemy introduces the remarkable variety of fans Kuper encountered along the way, from the East Berliner persecuted by the Stasi for supporting his local team, to the Argentine general with his own views on tactics. It also illuminates the frightening intersection between soccer and politics, particularly in the wake of the attacks of 9-11, where soccer is obsessed over by the likes of Osama bin Laden. The result is one of the world's most acclaimed books on the game, and an astonishing study of soccer and its place in the world.

About the Authors

Simon Kuper has lived (and played and watched soccer) in France, Holland, Germany, the USA and England, and has written on soccer for publications all over the world, including at The New York Times. He now works for the Financial Times. He studied history and German at Oxford University and supports Ajax Amsterdam, but not all that passionately. His book, Soccer Against the Enemy won the William Hill Prize for sports book of the year in Britain. He lives in Paris.



Watch the video from our past conversations, interviews and events. Includes items from The Nation Institute and TomDispatch. Click here.



Follow us on twitter at @nationbooks or @nationinstitute



Become a fan of Nation Books on Facebook

signup

for our FREE e-mail newsletter, a monthly dispatch of events, excerpts, commentary by Nation Books and Nation Institute writers.



Marfa Dialogues/Diálogos en Marfa: Politics and Culture of the Border

undef 0 | Marfa, Texas

See acclaimed Nation Books authors Charles Bowden and Mark Danner speak at Marfa Dialogues: Politics and Culture of the Border, three days of art, film, music, and literature. Presented by Ballroom Marfa and The Washington Spectator, in collaboration with The Big Bend Sentinel, Marfa Public Radio and Marfa Book Company.

September 9 - October 22
Robert Scheer: Author Tour
(West Coast, United States)
Please join Nation Books author Robert Scheer as he travels to Washington, California and Oregon on an author tour to discuss his latest book, The Great American Stickup. MORE

September 16 | 5:30 pm
Investigating Impunity After Katrina
(New York University, New York City)
Please join us for "Investigating Impunity After Katrina," the launch event for The Backstory, a new monthly series of public conversations with investigative reporters and nonfiction authors affiliated with The Nation Institute. Investigative Fund reporter A.C. Thompson will discuss his award-winning reporting in New Orleans. (See Katrina's Hidden Race War and Body of Evidence, published in The Nation in January 2009.) MORE

September 18 | 1 pm
Author Talk: Wayne Karlin
(Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library, Washington, D.C.)
Please join Nation Books author Wayne Karlin as he discusses his book, Wandering Souls: Journeys With The Dead And The Living In Viet Nam at Washington, D.C.'s Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library on September 18 at 1 p.m. MORE

September 24 - October 5
Fatima Bhutto: Author Tour
(Across the United States)
Please join Fatima Bhutto as she travels from New York to Massachusetts, Oregon and California on an author tour to discuss her new memoir, Songs of Blood and Sword. MORE

October 5 | 7 pm
Herding Donkeys: Howard Dean and Ari Berman on the Future of the Democratic Party
(92Y Tribeca, 200 Hudson Street, New York City)
Nation Institute Fellow Ari Berman talks about his new book, Herding Donkeys: The Fight to Rebuild the Democratic Party and Reshape American Politics, with former Governor of Vermont, Howard Dean. MORE

October 23 - January 16
Eugene Richards: Photo Exhibit
(Exhibition around the world)
Institute Fellow and award-winning photographer is the winner of the 2010 World Press Photo of the Year contest. Every year following the World Press Photo Contest, the winning images go on tour. The exhibition is officially opened in Amsterdam as part of the award ceremony in April and can be seen at venues around the globe until the next year. The tour program takes in approximately 100 cities in 45 countries and is still expanding. MORE