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Sport in World History #2
The Country of Football: Soccer and the Making of Modern Brazil (Sport in World History)
Soccer is the world’s most popular sport, and the Brazilian national team is beloved around the planet for its beautiful playing style, the jogo bonito . With the most successful national soccer team in the history of the World Cup, Brazil is the only country to have played in every competition and the winner of more championships than any other nation. Soccer is perceived, like carnival and samba, to be quintessentially Brazilian and Afro-Brazilian.
Yet the practice and history of soccer are also synonymous with conflict and contradiction as Brazil continues its trajectory toward modernity and economic power. The ongoing debate over how Team Brazil should play and positively represent a nation of demanding supporters bears on many crucial facets of a country riven by racial and class tensions.
The Country of Football is filled with engaging stories of star players and other key figures, as well as extraordinary research on local, national, and international soccer communities. Soccer fans, scholars, and readers who are interested in the history of sport will emerge with a greater understanding of the complex relationship between Brazilian soccer and the nation’s history.
Yet the practice and history of soccer are also synonymous with conflict and contradiction as Brazil continues its trajectory toward modernity and economic power. The ongoing debate over how Team Brazil should play and positively represent a nation of demanding supporters bears on many crucial facets of a country riven by racial and class tensions.
The Country of Football is filled with engaging stories of star players and other key figures, as well as extraordinary research on local, national, and international soccer communities. Soccer fans, scholars, and readers who are interested in the history of sport will emerge with a greater understanding of the complex relationship between Brazilian soccer and the nation’s history.
344 pages, Paperback
First published June 12, 2014
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
August 13, 2014
This is an academic work, looking at soccer in Brazil and how it ties into the culture and socio-political arena. Kittleson is an expert on Brazil who, for the most part, does a really good job telling the story of Brazilian soccer, with emphasis on star players and critical tournaments, while fitting it into a broader context.
Indeed, to some extent, writing about the Brazilian team and ignoring the political context would be difficult, as throughout most of this history, military dictatorships ruled the country and controlled the associations that ran national soccer. Kittleson puts much more emphasis on this political context than a pure sportswriter would, while doing a fine job on the more pure sporting aspects of the history.
For some, anything other the soccer might be boring. I'm no Brazilian expert, but I did read about race relations in the country for a college class many years ago, and Kittleson's writing about the rise of Afro-Brazilian players in a country where they weren't fully embraced is very interesting.
The one area where the book fell short is that it never explained when democracy came to Brazil and what impact that did or didn't have on the team. This is a shame, as one of the coolest stories in the book is where he talks about a local club, Corinthians, where the players actually, for a few years, got to take part in the some of the decision making, and, for a brief time, had political slogans on the back of their jerseys.
I found that some of the areas of this book could have supported whole books themselves, and perhaps other writers, academic or otherwise, will build on this informative work.
Indeed, to some extent, writing about the Brazilian team and ignoring the political context would be difficult, as throughout most of this history, military dictatorships ruled the country and controlled the associations that ran national soccer. Kittleson puts much more emphasis on this political context than a pure sportswriter would, while doing a fine job on the more pure sporting aspects of the history.
For some, anything other the soccer might be boring. I'm no Brazilian expert, but I did read about race relations in the country for a college class many years ago, and Kittleson's writing about the rise of Afro-Brazilian players in a country where they weren't fully embraced is very interesting.
The one area where the book fell short is that it never explained when democracy came to Brazil and what impact that did or didn't have on the team. This is a shame, as one of the coolest stories in the book is where he talks about a local club, Corinthians, where the players actually, for a few years, got to take part in the some of the decision making, and, for a brief time, had political slogans on the back of their jerseys.
I found that some of the areas of this book could have supported whole books themselves, and perhaps other writers, academic or otherwise, will build on this informative work.
January 1, 2018
If you read David Goldblatt's Futebol Nation, then none of the information in this book should be relatively new. While this book is centered more around soccer than the history of the country, a lot of the information presented in the book was the same. This went into a little more biographical information of some of the countries biggest stars like Pele, Zico, Cuja, Socrates, and others, as well as more stories of the World Cup's. It is a more academic reading than Futebol Nation, which was a more narrative account of Brazil. While Futebol Nation dove into the social and political aspects of Brazil, this touched on them as it related to soccer. Chose one or the other unless you want to read both. Good read however, very interesting subject to read about.
June 16, 2021
Excellent survey of Brazilian history through the lens of soccer. Provides a great introduction to the concept of "tropical modernity" where Brazil used soccer to attempt to enter the international market and compete with European superpowers. This book combines history, economic analysis of neo-liberalism, and great profiles of some of Brazil's soccer greats, the "craques."
July 4, 2014
A great history of Brazil, race, soccer and success.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews