"Step aside Tom Friedman, Sam Huntington, and Amy Chua. Franklin Foer's dark and witty tale of the soccer world reveals the meaning of globalization in all its joys and horrors."-Robert Kagan
Just in time for the 2026 World Cup in North America-a new edition of the bestselling sports classic, featuring a new introduction from the author.
With the 2026 World Cup in all three nations of North America, the power and scope of soccer has truly become global. In this remarkably insightful, wide-ranging work, Franklin Foer argues that soccer is much more than a game, or even a way of life. It is a unique window into the crosscurrents of modern globalization, with all of its benefits and pitfalls. Soccer clubs don't represent geographic areas; they stand for social classes and political ideologies. Unlike baseball or tennis, soccer is freighted with ancient hatreds and history. It's a sport with real stakes-a catalyst capable of ruining regimes and launching liberation movements.
Foer takes us on a surprising tour through the world of soccer, shattering myths and dire predictions. Instead of destroying local cultures, as the left warned, globalization has revived tribalism. Far from the triumph of capitalism that the right anticipated, it has entrenched corruption. From Brazil to Bosnia, Italy to Iraq, How Soccer Explains the World is an eye-opening chronicle of how a beautiful sport and its fanatical followers can illuminate the fault lines of a society, whether it's terrorism, poverty, anti-Semitism, authoritarianism, or radical Islam-issues that continue to affect all of us. At a time when globalization is under attack and many Americans yearn for retrenchment and retreat from the world, this remarkable book-filled with blazing intelligence, colorful characters, wry humor, and an equal passion for soccer and humanity-continues to make sense of our troubled times.
"Important. . . . Foer's book sets one thinking about the great American isolation. If we want to understand the world, we should probably try to understand soccer." - Boston Globe
"An insightful, entertaining, brainiac sports road trip." - Wall Street Journal
"Sensational. . . . The smartest sports book of the summer." - ESPN.com
"What a brilliant idea! Franklin Foer provides a personal yet richly-reported look at how approaches to soccer tell us so much about different societies and their cultural attitudes. He even uses the game to dissect the ideological and class divides in America. The result is both amusing and revealing-and delightfully provocative." - Walter Isaacson, author of Benjamin Franklin
"A great new guide. It combines a diary of an obsessive with some penetrating thoughts on globalism. It's as if Nick Hornby, author of the brilliant soccer book Fever Pitch, commandeered Tom Friedman's laptop." - Slate
"Foer's book shows that soccer is much more than just kicking the ball around-it is about the way soccer exists in people's lives. Brilliantly written and well thought out, it is required reading not just for soccer lovers, but anyone who wants to understand what is going on in the world today." - Aleksandar Hemon, author of Nowhere Man and The Question of Bruno
"A wildly entertaining romp through the world with a smart, nervy guide. Tucked into this amazing snapshot of unconventional wisdom is a brilliant description of the chilling interface of sports and politics and how it's used to manipulate our lives." - Robert Lipsyte, New York Times contributing columnist and author of In the Country of Illness
"Important and controversial as the subject of globalization is, it's not often much fun to read about. This book is a dazzling exception-and no less a contribution to serious study of the issue for being a delight. It's full of lively tales, colorful characters, and humor-all on behalf of explaining, clearly and convincingly, how the world is
