2024 the best soccer player in the world of all time review

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Traces the history of the world's most popular sport from its earliest origins to the present day, looking at the game in terms of its political, cultural, and social roles in countries around the world.

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Riverhead Books; Illustrated edition (January 2, 2008)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 1008 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1594482969
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1594482960
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.05 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.9 x 2 x 8.9 inches
Reviewer: Turhan Johnson
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: This is among the best
Review: Very well written. The information was presented clearly. Good read.

Reviewer: L Noble
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Great book!
Review: Cover was cut with a box cutter when we got it - but the book itself it great!

Reviewer: Rose DelParto
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: A tremendous history and commentary of the game
Review: Written with five major sections that examine the game's historic beginnings that date many centuries to Han China with the sport called Cuju "kick ball" in the 3rd. century. Who would have thought that a leather ball filled with feather that was kicked into a net with bamboo canes would change the way games were played and organized? Journalist David Goldblatt takes the enormous feat and examines the game of soccer within over 800 pages.The Ball is Round, A Global History of Soccer is indeed, a global trek with slopes of where it began and where it has been. As one beginnings their reading of the book, it is suggested that it be read very slowly and carefully. It is interesting to read the early history and brief insight from former FIFA president Sepp Blatter who explains how the game began in Asia and evolves by the 16th to 19th centuries to the west in England and Europe and Latin America and by the 20th century grows in interest and popularity after the Second World War to Africa and regions beyond and back to the east such as in Japan. Within the first 50 pages, Goldblatt writes with the history of the game with fine detail, but as one proceeds to the next 100 pages the chapters in the book display a thematic format despite each marked with a chronological timeline. There is no doubt, the immense detail at times meanders and for amateur readers of the game and its history, may look for additional reference books to understand the events that Goldblatt exerts in each chapter; his writing is parallel to sports commentary and readers looking for stories, which he first displayed in the early chapters may be disappointed. But aside from that, there are interesting aspects of the how the game developed within the global context and how political and social and cultural and economic factors greatly contributed to the game. England helped to mold the structure of what the game is today from the name of the sport as soccer and how it was organized and the number of players on a team. What first began as a game that attracted the intellectual elite in the 19th century English colleges saw its transformation by the turn of the century and during and after the First World War;during the war Goldblatt includes a bit of history from the Christmas Truce of 1914 to how Poet Siegfried Sasoon recalled football news to his troops before another day of strikes on the battlefront, "if you couldn't play, you could talk. If couldn't leave, you could find a memory of normality and home" (174). In addition, the sport became much liberated economically and socially, with leagues of women and overall, a game open to all classes of society, especially the working class.Goldblatt has by far has written the only book that is a cover to cover global history of the game of soccer. It is a game that he states of pleasure a it is for play without barriers between rich and poor. In essence, it is an international phenomenon that continues to evolve as more young and old continue to play the game.

Reviewer: louise
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Huge, intense, detailed book, hundreds of hours of reading!
Review: Gift for an elderly man who has followed international football for the last 70 years. He studies a chapter or two every day and reminisces.

Reviewer: Stephen
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Good read
Review: I bought this book a couple years ago when I first started getting into soccer after moving to Europe. I'll admit that, for someone only just getting into the sport, it can be a little bit tedious at times, especially the more modern sections. In general though, it's a great book. I especially found the chapters on the early history of the sport to be incredibly interesting. Another rewarding aspect is realizing how little even your die-hard sports fanatic friends know about the history of a sport they profess to love so deeply! Next time they get on your back for misunderstanding a technical rule, just throw a few questions from this book at them to put them back in their place!

Reviewer: charlie
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: I can't recommend it highly enough
Review: A truly fantastic history of the global game, placed within historical and cultural contexts. I can't recommend it highly enough. The writing is fluent and the sections are largely self-contained, so you can very easily (and profitably) dip into various sections as interest and time allows. This has pride of place on my shelves of literate football/soccer books -- if it is available on Amazon in the U.S. and has even a semi-decent review, I most likely own it, and this is one of my favorites (for what it's worth, I actually own this book both in paperback and for the Kindle, although it was only $9.99 when I bought the e-book). There are other good football books on the development of the game in various countries available on Amazon (e.g. Brilliant Orange, Calcio, Tor, Morbo), plus some that span countries (e.g. those from Simon Kuper) but none can match the global perspective of this one. (I actually think this is the best book I have found in English on the development of the game in Latin America and Asia.) Five stars.

Reviewer: Gabriele
Rating: 2.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Scritto bene e ben documentato oltre che molto dettagliato, interessante anche il parallelismo con la società e la politica nelle varie epoche del calcio. 200 pagine però purtroppo se ne vanno via soltanto con la storia delle origini, prima che il calcio nascesse: francamente avrei evitato. Soprattutto però il motivo del giudizio di sole due stellette è legato al fatto che, nonostante le tante fonti e le quasi mille pagine, di calcio in mezzo a tutto questo testo enorme ce n'è veramente poco

Reviewer: porter
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Detailed and attempting to cover absolutely everything this book succeeds and I’m happy to reread it whenever a major tournament is on.

Reviewer: Christoph Wagner
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Globale Fußballgeschichte in einem Band, was will man mehr?! Goldblatt beschreibt in schöner Sprache die Verbreitung des Fußballsports. Für Studienzwecke oder zum Lesen im Alltag ist dies ein Standardwerk; Pflichtlektüre!

Reviewer: Chris Widgery
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: First things first, this is a massive book. 978 pages long(including index), it weighs about half a hundredweight. But it does precisely what it says on the tin - it is a global history of the global sport. It starts off exploring the roots of the game, how different versions developed and eventually coalesced into the sport we know today. How the sport took off and developed in each continent, how tactics and cultures developed, the impacts of television, sponsorship and the global media environment. It ends up at the 2006 world cup, as billions of people prepare to watch, the game having shrunk the world to one set of fans.It's very thorough, very detailed. It puts football into an historical context - showing how it can both respond to and lead wider and greater events. Crucially, it's also very very readable. It doesn't get boring (unless you don't like football, of course. In that case, it must be one of the dullest books imaginable) at all and is all very easily digested. You can read in long sittings or dip in and out.Highly recommended. If you have strong enough wrists.

Reviewer: Cliente Amazon
Rating: 2.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Il libro è arrivato con uno strappo sulla parte alta della copertina. Nulla che ne comprometta la piacevole lettura, ma fastidioso.