- Paperback: 256 pages
- Publisher: Fourth Estate; Revised edition edition (5 May 2003)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 000716291X
- ISBN-13: 978-0007162918
- Product Dimensions: 19.4 x 12.8 x 1.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 755,053 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
 Trade In this Item for up to £2.55
Get an extra £5 when you trade in books worth £10 or more until June 30, 2012. Trade in Football in Sun and Shadow: An Emotional History of World Cup Football for an Amazon.co.uk gift card of up to £2.55, which you can then spend on millions of items across the site. Trade-in values may vary (terms apply). Find more products eligible for trade-in.
|
Product details |
More About the Author
Product Description
Review
‘A global history with the poetic flair of a Pele free kick.’ The Face
‘Galeano can run rings round our own glamorous football intelligentsia.’ When Saturday Comes
Product Description
Eduardo Galeano’s acclaimed classic of ‘the beautiful game’ has been fully updated to include the 1998 and 2002 World Cup.
To the pure football fan even winning and losing is of secondary importance to those moments when a glimpse is afforded of footballing perfection, made more perfect still by the long and unpredictable hours spent waiting for it, and often the parade of tragicomic errors that has preceeded it. Such instincts, of exultation and despair, are brilliantly recounted in ‘Football in Sun and Shadow’, a parade of all shades of international football.
Beckenbaur, Yashin and Zico are here with their balletic dazzle. Here too are the tragic Escobar, guilty of an own goal for Colombia and gunned down in the streets of Medellin as a consequence; the English Captain Neille who led a World War I charge on a trench by kicking a football across no man’s land; and the Dynamo Kiev team who, although warned not to win a game against the Nazis could not resist the temptation on the football pitch to overrun their oppressors: all eleven were shot in their Kiev shirts after the ‘game’.
It is also a story of muses and spells: of the Argentinian manager who wouldn’t feed his team chicken because it would bring bad luck, of the Russian goalkeeper who prepared his mind and his nerves with a cigarette and a dash of spirits before each game. This is the glory of football in all its vivid international hues, with its multilingual cries of despair, victory and sheer passion.
This is Viva Pitch!
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
It's not just the wonderfully interwoven snippets of world history that keep the reader glued to this book, or even the graceful, poignant, and musical prose that mesmerizes and transports you into the fascinating world of Galeano's view of football, it's more the sheer beauty of the facts, the myths, and the rich, short summaries of legends and moments in world football that make this book a must for any lover of sport, and literature.
There's just about everyone in here (from the origins of the game to the mid nineties), organised chronologically in short chapters which are more like articles really. Some are half a page long such as "Greaves" ("...rather than run, he would explode..."), or two to three pages long like "Maradona" ("He played, he won, he peed, he lost.").
The brief stories presented here make this book a perfect read at any time: queues, buses, bed, and naturally, the loo!
I haven't seen the latest version and don't know if it includes contemporary football (after 1995), however, the book is brilliant for what it is (and for what was).
There's just about everyone in here (from the origins of the game to the mid nineties), organised chronologically in short chapters which are more like articles really. Some are half a page long such as "Greaves" ("...rather than run, he would explode..."), or two to three pages long like "Maradona" ("He played, he won, he peed, he lost.").
The brief stories presented here make this book a perfect read at any time: queues, buses, bed, and naturally, the loo!
I haven't seen the latest version and don't know if it includes contemporary football (after 1995), however, the book is brilliant for what it is (and for what was).
13 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is a splendid read. A brief history of football written by an acclaimed author who loves his sport. This book is made up of short sketches that chart football's major moments since its origins. Especially effective are the essays on the World Cup competitions since 1930, which allude to the world's events in other spheres besides sport. This helps place the game into an economic and political perspective with a delightful Latin American slant. Lovers of the game of football support their teams, both local and national, but Galeano is searching for a "pretty move" or "good football" from any player or team that can provide it. Such moments may be few and far between, but they keep us hooked. Anybody remembering Michael Owens goal for England against Argentina in the 1998 World Cup will empathise with Galeano. A gem of a book in which Galeano uses his considerable writing skills to exhibit his passion for football. A must read for fans of the "beautiful game".
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is the most beaustiful book on the beautiful game I have ever read. It is wonderfully translated, making the description of the players sound almost poetic. It is also facinating to read about both club and international football from a south american perspective. I find my self continually re-reading the short stand alone chapters.
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
