Africa United: How Football Explains Africa - Tapa blanda

More than a sports book, Africa United tells how soccer keeps hope alive in across a troubled continent. It is an inspiring story of spirit, skill and doggedness in the face of hellish difficulties - in short it is the story of Africa itself * * Tim Butcher, author of BLOOD RIVER * * Reading this book makes you want to pack your bags and light out for the territory, however dangerous the territory may be . . . required reading for anyone visiting Africa for the world cup next month. -- Giles Foden * * Conde Nast Traveller * * [Bloomfield] carefully weaves an intricate web showing how national politics and football intertwine, and that the whole continent is brought together by its passion for the beautiful game . . . the perfect balance of passionate prose and informed accounts of key moments both on and off the pitch. * * Waterstone's Books Quarter * * A fascinating account of how football lies at the very heart of African consciousness. * * Waterstone's Books Quarterly * * The ideal bluffer's guide to African football, history and culture. * * Waterstone's Books Quarterly * * Precise, succinct and empathetic, this is a fine addition to football's internationalist canon. -- Jonathan Wilson * * Four Four Two * * [Bloomfield] has the experience and anecdotes to make his first book stand alone, World Cup or not . . . well researched, thought-provoking . . . quite brilliant. -- Ben East * * Metro * * The contradictions of Africa - the extremely in glitter and poverty, the violence, the dramatic weather cycles and the wonderful, unbreakable optimism of so many people - lift through this book. * * Irish Times * * A journalist's continental odyssey . . . a beautiful piece of writing. -- Simon Kuper * * Financial Times * * A fascinating account of how football lies at the very heart of African consciousness...the ideal bluffers guide to African football, history and culture. * * Waterstone's Books Quarterly * * Football, along with births, deaths and marriages, is a universal human rite. In Africa, it is also inescapable...Africa United goes off the beaten track to visit some of the continent's footballing minnows. -- Daniel Howden * * Independent * * Well-researched, insightful and sometimes shocking . . . this fascinating book stands as a fine snapshot of a turbulent sport in transition on the continent. -- Doug Johnstone * * The Scotsman * * A must for football fans with more than a cultured left foot. * * Independent on Sunday * * A superior travelogue. * * Independent * *

A superb, modern-day portrait of Africa, told through the game that unites it. Football inspires competition and inflames passions nowhere as strongly as in Africa. Travelling across thirteen countries, from Cairo to the Cap, Steve Bloomfield meets players and fans, politicians and rebel leaders, and discovers the role that football has played in shaping the continent. He recounts how football has helped to prop up an authoritarian regime in Egypt, end a conflict in Cote d'Ivoire and provide a tiny ray of light in war-torn Somalia. Meanwhile, the influence of African football continues to spread rapidly through Europe. Today, no Premiership team is complete without a major African star - Drogba, Essien, Toure, Adebayor, and Kanu. Countless African players are now enriching English football and becoming household names. Steve Bloomfield's wide-ranging and incisive book investigates Africa's love of football, its increasing global influence, the build-up to the 2010 World Cup and the social and political backdrop to the greatest show on earth.