World Cup! History Politics and Art of the Beautiful Game

<p>This collection of essays provides a multidimensional interdisciplinary creative and colorful view on the meanings and possibilities of thinking football-'the beautiful game'-and its paramount event: the World Cup. It is intended to appeal to academics as well as to everyday experts those for whom football is more than a sport. But it also wants to be a source that stirs the interest of those who see football just as a curious experience; those who may have heard in passing that a new World Cup will be played in the U.S. Canada and Mexico in 2026. </p><p>This book has like a football team eleven chapters. The approaches styles and perspectives differ considerably: From how football is a center piece in politics to its representations in poetry from gender issues to nationalism from fictitious wars to real ones provoked by a football match and from exile to the neo-liberalization of the sport the authors provide us a multicolor and global fresco of football and the World Cup. Likewise the selection provides a global perspective on football and the World Cup: views from powerhouses such as England or Argentina as well as from countries with a very incipient football tradition such as India and Israel. </p><p>'World Cup! History Politics and Art of the Beautiful Game' is an invitation to continue to understand and think about one of the most important cultural manifestations of our times; a book that particularly in the context of the next World Cup in 2026 will appeal to a broad readership all around the world. </p>