Book Review: How Soccer Explains the World

Not REALLY About Soccer...
I have to admit to being a fan of any author who can take a fairly dull topic - like political science, anthropology or business - and write an engaging book. I find that in most cases where this is achieved, it is done with the use of a more interesting subject as a lens through which the story is told. How Soccer Explains The World by Franklin Foer does an excellent job of just this. The generally dull topic that he has chosen to write about is globalization. The reason you're reading about this book on a soccer site, is that he uses soccer as the backdrop to describe how the liberalization of global trade and the proliferation of brands from Nike to AC Milan have impacted the world and in many cases not impacted the world where we thought they might. If you're looking for stories of football heroics and celebrity gossip, then this probably isn't the book for you but if you are interested in learning a little something about the world around you with the beautiful game as the backdrop all wrapped up in an easy-to-read package then I heartily recommend this book.

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