View source for The Soccer War by Ryszard Kapuscinski

{{infobox1
|title=The Soccer War
|sort=Soccer War
|author=Ryszard Kapuscinski
|reviewer=Keith Dudhnath
|genre=History
|summary=A thoughtful and insightful piece of reportage, taking in the sights and sounds of revolutions in Africa, Latin America and Asia. Personal stories and the global context are both appropriately considered, giving a great snapshot of historical events. Highly recommended.
|rating=4
|buy=Yes
|borrow=Yes
|pages=256
|publisher=Granta Books
|date=June 2007
|isbn=978-1862079595
|cover=1862079595
|aznuk=1862079595
|aznus=0679738053
}}
Ryszard Kapuscinski spent 40 years reporting for the Polish Press Agency.
In that time, he saw 27 revolutions throughout Africa, Latin America and
Asia. ''The Soccer War'' is reportage at its best: it gets close
enough to the action to give an accurate impression of the realities of
war, whilst still having its eye on the bigger picture, to provide context
and insight.

Kapuscinski strikes the correct tone throughout. He includes himself in
the events that occur, without dominating proceedings; he offers his
opinion without passing judgement or obscuring facts. His human touch
gives a credibility to his reporting, whilst retaining an awareness of his
duties as a journalist. His passage explaining the detailed pictures,
sights and sounds that each journalist intends to capture when they get to
the front should be required reading for all journalists: tell what is,
not what you hope to see.

William Brand's translation from the Polish is top notch - so much so that
if you didn't know differently you'd swear the book had been written by a
native speaker. The translation is neither too strict nor too loose,
retaining an engaging writing style that keeps the pages turning at a fair
old lick.

The only criticism of ''The Soccer War'' is that it lacks a certain
cohesion. Many chapters are linked by Kapuscinski's plans for a book,
condensing a wide range of events into a few paragraphs. Such is the
quality of the full chapters that you're left craving more from these
partial chapters.

Coups and revolutions are, by their very nature, often quick, snap events.
This is perfectly captured in the chapter on Dahomey. The Soccer War
between El Salvador and Honduras lasted just 100 hours. It would be
grossly unfair to call the book light, but there is often a yearning for
just a little more flesh on the bones - nothing much, just a page or two
more per chapter to link everything together and make a better whole.

The greatest strength of ''The Soccer War'' is that it's never
patronising. It understands, and impresses upon its readers, that this
myriad of former colonies in the third world are (well, were, as we're
talking about the 1960s primarily) nascent states who are finding their
feet. They're not inferior nations to be looked down upon, or politely
patted on the head and reminded what things were like when their first
world masters ran the show.

This refreshing perspective is partially borne of Kapuscinski being
Polish, and thus having no empire to hearken back to, and partially from
the man himself: he was a thoughtful, intelligent and considerate person,
whose eye-witness accounts provide fascinating insights into people, war
and nations, that are still as relevant today as they ever were.

Thanks to Granta for sending the book.

If you enjoyed ''The Soccer War'', you might also like [[:Category:David Loyn|David Loyn's]] [[Frontline]].

{{amazontext|amazon=1862079595}}
{{amazonUStext|amazon=0679738053}}

{{commenthead}}
{{comment
|name=Magda
|verb=said
|comment=Kapuscinski is a quality for himself, certainly. I think this is not his best, though. ''Shah of Shahs'' (Iran) and ''The Emperor'' (Ethiopia) are really, really classics. And Imperium is good too (Russia), though I only read parts when they were printed in a newspaper, so can't vouch for the cohesion of the whole.
}}

[[Category:Politics and Society|Soccer War]]