Books by David Goldblatt
The Ball is Round
by David Goldblatt
He has written the definitive history. Not just the games and the goals but what it means all over the world. God knows how long it took him or if he planned for it to be quite this all-encompassing when he started. It really is an incredible achievement. He takes you from how it was played as a working-class sport in Britain in the late 1800s and how the colonialists from Britain, France and Portugal took it with them to the rest of the world, obviously to Africa, but to other parts of the world as well.
“This book is incredible. I want to show you exactly how big it is. It’s enormous. It’s 1,000 pages, give or take. Huge. Heavy as a brick. It’s a global history of football and it really is as in-depth as that. The thing I love about it is the scale. He could have done a 300-page book on this that gave you a flavour of it and his publishers would probably have been happier about it. Easier to sell. But instead he has written the definitive history. Not just the games and the goals but what it means all over the world. God knows how long it took him or if he planned for it to be quite this all-encompassing when he started. It really is an incredible achievement.” Read more...
The best books on World Football
Steve Bloomfield, Journalist
Interviews where books by David Goldblatt were recommended
The best books on World Football, recommended by Steve Bloomfield
The author and journalist makes his selection of the best books on World Football. Features volumes from Simon Kuper and Alex Bellos, as well as a cracking investigation into FIFA corruption
The best books on Soccer as a Second Language, recommended by John Turnbull
When the World Cup comes around, many of us think of our national teams and their chances of winning. But the beauty of football is how international it is, and its ability to cut across borders. John Turnbull of the Global Game blog introduces us to football (or soccer) ‘as a second language.’
