Download or read book Calcio written by John Foot and published by HarperPerennial. This book was released on 2006 with total page 680 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Calcio is John Foot's love letter to Italian football and its absorbing history. 'Calcio' tells the story of Italian football from its origins in the 1890s to the present day. It takes us through a history of great players and teams, of style, passion and success, but also of violence, cynicism, catenaccio tactics and corruption. We meet the personalities that have shaped this history - from the Italian heroes to the foreigners that failed, the model professionals to the mavericks. 'Calcio' evokes the triumphs (the 1982 World Cup victory) and the tragedies (Meroni, the 'Italian George Best', killed by his number one fan), set against a backdrop of paranoia and intrigue, in a country where the referee is seen as corrupt until proven otherwise. Calcio is no longer a game. It is sometimes difficult to define it as a sport. It is certainly big business and a fanatical civic religion. There is no moral code here. Winners are always right, losers always wrong. This history of Italian football - the first written in English - is a mix of serious analysis and comic storytelling, with vivid descriptions of games, goals, dives, missed penalties, riots and scandals in the richest and toughest league in the world.

Download or read book Winning at All Costs written by John Foot and published by Bold Type Books. This book was released on 2007-08-24 with total page 626 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The 2006 World Cup final between Italy and France was a down-and-dirty game, marred by French superstar Zidane's head-butting of Italian defender Materazzi. But viewers were also exposed to the poetry, force, and excellence of the Italian game; as operatic as Verdi and as cunning as Machiavelli, it seemed to open a window into the Italian soul. John Foot's epic history shows what makes Italian soccer so unique. Mixing serious analysis and comic storytelling, Foot describes its humble origins in northern Italy in the 1890s to its present day incarnation where soccer is the national civic religion. A story that is reminiscent of Gangs of New York and A Clockwork Orange, Foot shows how the Italian game -- like its political culture -- has been overshadowed by big business, violence, conspiracy, and tragedy, how demagogues like Benito Mussolini and Silvio Berlusconi have used the game to further their own political ambitions. But Winning at All Costs also celebrates the sweet moments -- the four World Cup victories, the success of Juventus, Inter Milan, AC Milan, the role soccer played in the resistance to Nazism, and the great managers and players who show that Italian soccer is as irresistible as Italy itself.

Download or read book A Season with Verona written by Tim Parks and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2012-01-23 with total page 452 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Is Italy a united country, or a loose affiliation of warring states? Is Italian football (which we Americans know as “soccer”) a sport, or an ill-disguised protraction of ancient enmities? After twenty years in the bel paese, Tim Parks goes on the road to follow the fortunes of his hometown soccer club, Hellas Verona, to pay a different kind of visit to some of the world’s most beautiful cities, and to get a fresh take on the conundrum that is national character. From Udine to Catania, from the San Siro to the Olimpico, traveling with the raucous and unruly Verona fans—whose conduct is a cross between that of asylum inmates and the Keystone Kops—Tim Parks offers his highly personal account of one man’s relationship with a country, its people, and its national sport. The clubs are struggling, as always, to keep their heads above water in Series A. The fans, as always, are accused of vulgarity, racism, and violence. It’s an election year and politics encroaches. The police are ambiguous, the journeys exhausting, the referees unforgivable, the anecdotes hilarious. And behind it all is the growing intuition that in a world stripped of idealism and bereft of religion, soccer offers a new and fiercely ironic way of forming community and engaging with the sacred.

Download or read book Football Italia written by Mark Doidge and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2015-05-21 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is available as open access through the Bloomsbury Open Access programme and is available on www.bloomsburycollections.com. Football has undergone a period of transformation over the last thirty years. Despite these global processes, different national leagues have adapted in different ways. After an initial period of success directly after Italia '90, Italian football has gone through a period of sustained crisis. It has been blighted by financial mismanagement, corruption scandals and fan violence. This has impacted Italy's ability to compete on a global stage. Football Italia accounts for the development of Italian football in relation to the wider global transformations impacting football and addresses the reasons for Serie A's initial success and current malaise. Theoretically, this book locates Italian football within the wider power network of the state and how this has impacted political engagement. After an historical overview of the Italian political economy, Football Italia highlights how football is part of the wider political network. Football clubs are owned by powerful businessmen (and they are all men) who are also politicians. This centralisation of power within a small hegemonic group inhibits change. Within this broader structure, wider corruption scandals continue; from regular match-fixing scandals to doping. Meanwhile, stadiums are crumbling and police over-aggressive. It is within this context that we must place the fans. Both the ultras and supporters who attend official supporters' clubs are disaffected and without the power to change the status quo. Consequently, Italian football has been in decline throughout the 21st century.

Download or read book Football Fandom in Italy and Beyond written by Matthew Guschwan and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2018-10-11 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Football fans are passionate and devoted followers. They are also creators and dissenters, performers and producers. This volume analyses football fandom through the media that fans use to construct fandom itself. Media is the lifeblood of modern life; it is the canvas on which ideas are spread, communities are formed and identities are expressed. Today’s fan has an unprecedented variety of tools in which to express their passion, commune with others, and become a fan in front of local, regional and global audiences. The football stadium has always been rife with symbolism. Colourful scarves and communal songs and chants evoke and display local pride and distinguish us from them. The Italian football stadium has a particularly rich history as a place of collective celebration, mourning, support and political dissent. Over time, Italian fans have integrated print, radio and television into their rituals of fandom while modern digital media allows fans to publicise their identities to global audiences. This volume addresses the beauty and humour as well as the fear and anger that are conveyed in the spectrum of media as fans attempt to assert themselves as material and spiritual ‘owners’ of the club of their affection. This book was originally published as a special issue of the journal Soccer & Society.

Download or read book Forza Italia written by Paddy Agnew and published by Random House. This book was released on 2012-02-29 with total page 354 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When journalist Paddy Agnew and his girlfriend Dympna touched down in Rome in 1985 in search of adventure, sunshine and the soul of Italian football (well, Paddy was looking for that), they were travelling into the uncharted terrain of a country they did not know and a language they did not speak. It soon became clear that neither Italy nor Italian football would be boring. In that first week in Italy, Michel Platini and Juventus won the Intercontinental Cup, whilst just days later the PLO killed 13 people in a random shooting at Rome's Fiumicino airport. Paddy covered both stories. The coming years saw the rise of TV tycoon Silvio Berlusconi, as he became owner of AC Milan and then Prime Minister of Italy, naming his political party 'Forza Italia' after a football chant. In that same period, Argentine Diego Maradona became the uncrowned King of Naples, leading Napoli to a first ever Scudetto title in 1987, notwithstanding a hectic, Hollywood-esque lifestyle that mixed footballing genius with off-the-field excess. Forza Italia is a fascinating tale of inspired players, skilled coaches, rich tycoons, glitzy media coverage, Mafia corruption, allegations of drug taking and fan power - culminating in the 2006 World Cup victory that delighted a nation and a match-fixing scandal that shocked the world. It is also a personalised reflection on the consistent and continuing excellence of Italian football throughout a period of huge social, political and economic upheaval, offering a unique insight into a society where football has always been much more than just a game.

Download or read book The Age of Football Soccer and the 21st Century written by David Goldblatt and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2020-02-18 with total page 560 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A monumental exploration of soccer and society in our time—by its preeminent historian. The Age of Football proves that whether you call it football or soccer, you can’t make sense of the modern world without understanding its most popular sport. With breathtaking scope and an unparalleled knowledge of the game, David Goldblatt—author of the best-selling The Ball Is Round—charts soccer’s global cultural ascent, economic transformation, and deep politicization.

Download or read book A History of the World Cup written by Clemente A. Lisi and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2015-03-06 with total page 533 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There is no sporting event more popular than the World Cup. For one month every four years, billions of people around the world turn their attention to the tournament. Fans call in sick to work, pack into bars to watch games, or stay home for days at a time glued to their TV sets. Nothing else seems to matter. In A History of the World Cup: 1930-2014, Clemente A. Lisi chronicles this international phenomenon, providing vivid accounts of individual games from the tournament's origins in 1930 to modern times. It features a glossary of terms, statistics for each competition, photos, and profiles of the most memorable—and controversial—figures of the sport, including Diego Maradona, Juste Fontaine, Franz Beckenbauer, Mario Kempes, Ronaldo, Zinedine Zidane, and, of course, Pelé. Though other histories of the World Cup largely ignore the United States' contribution to the competition, this volume highlights the progress of the American teams over the last several decades. Updated with a new chapter on the 2014 World Cup, profiles of those players who stood out in the latest competition, and revised statistical information, A History of the World Cup provides a fascinating read for fans of the game.

Download or read book A History of the World Cup 1930 2010 written by Clemente Angelo Lisi and published by Scarecrow Press. This book was released on 2011 with total page 495 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Lisi chronicles the most popular sporting event in the world, providing vivid accounts of individual games from the tournament's origins in 1930 to modern times.

Download or read book Football and Fascism written by Simon Martin and published by Berg 3pl. This book was released on 2004-09 with total page 318 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is a cultural history of Italian Fascism viewed through the lens of soccer. The 1930s were the zenith of achievement for Italian football--Italy hosted and won the 1934 World Cup and retained the trophy in 1938. At club level, Calcio was reorganized into a national league, after which the first Italian club teams emerged to dominate European competition. It was at this time that Mussolini's party institutionalized soccer as a fascist game. Italian Fascism fully exploited the opportunities football provided to shape public opinion, penetrate daily life, and reinforce conformity. By politicizing the game, Fascism also sought to enhance the regime's international prestige and inculcate nationalist values. Football and Fascism is an original look at the appropriation of sport to serve political ends during a dark period of Italian history.

Download or read book 100 Places in Italy Every Woman Should Go written by Susan Van Allen and published by Travelers' Tales. This book was released on 2009-10-01 with total page 458 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Imagine creating your Italian dream vacation with a fun-loving savvy traveler girlfriend whispering in your ear. Go along with writer Susan Van Allen on a femme-friendly ride up and down the boot, to explore this extraordinarily enchanting country where Venus (Vixen Goddess of Love and Beauty) and The Madonna (Nurturing Mother of Compassion) reign side-by-side. With humor, passion, and practical details, this uniquely anecdotal guidebook will enrich your Italian days. Enjoy masterpieces of art that glorify womanly curves, join a cooking class taught by revered grandmas, shop for ceramics, ski in the Dolomites, or paint a Tuscan landscape. Make your vacation a string of Golden Days, by pairing your experience with the very best restaurant nearby, so sensual pleasures harmonize and you simply bask in the glow of bell’Italia. Whatever your mood or budget, whether it’s your first or your twenty-first visit, with 100 Places in Italy Every Woman Should Go, Italy opens her heart to you.

Download or read book The Complete Idiot s Guide to Italian History and Culture written by Gabrielle Euvino and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2001-10-01 with total page 414 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Offers an introduction to Italy's history and culture, from ancient Rome and the power of the Vatican to Mussolini's rise to power, Milan's fashion designers, and Italian cuisine.

Download or read book AC Milan written by Kevin Snow and published by Cavendish Square Publishing, LLC. This book was released on 2020-07-15 with total page 64 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For more than one hundred years, AC Milan has been considered one of the top soccer clubs in Italy. This book charts the team's rise to become the most valuable team in the nation and one of the richest in the world. In its early years, it faced local class rivalries and threats from fascism, while more recent challenges have often been financial in nature. Yet AC Milan continues to push forward as a global icon. This book explores these aspects and more to define what has made the club the powerhouse it is today.

Download or read book Sports around the World 4 volumes written by John Nauright and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2012-04-06 with total page 2668 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This multivolume set is much more than a collection of essays on sports and sporting cultures from around the world: it also details how and why sports are played wherever they exist, and examines key charismatic athletes from around the world who have transcended their sports. Sports Around the World: History, Culture, and Practice provides a unique, global overview of sports and sports cultures. Unlike most works of this type, this book provides both essays that examine general topics, such as globalization and sport, international relations and sport, and tourism and sport, as well as essays on sports history, culture, and practice in world regions—for example, Latin America and the Caribbean, the Middle East and North Africa, Europe, and Oceania—in order to provide a more global perspective. These essays are followed by entries on specific sports, world athletes, stadiums and arenas, famous games and matches, and major controversies. Spanning topics as varied as modern professional cycling to the fictional movie Rocky to the deadly ball game of the ancient Mayans, the first three volumes contain overview essays and entries for specific sports that have been and are currently practiced around the world. The fourth volume provides a compendium of information on the winners of major sporting competitions from around the world. Readers will gain invaluable insights into how sports have been enjoyed throughout all of human culture, and more fully comprehend their cultural contexts. The entries provide suggestions for further reading on each topic—helpful to general readers, students with school projects, university students and academics alike. Additionally, the four-volume Sports Around the World spotlights key charismatic athletes who have changed a sport or become more than just an outstanding player.

Download or read book The Italian Job written by Gianluca Vialli and published by Bantam Press. This book was released on 2007 with total page 452 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From Vialli, one of Italy's most famous footballers as well as a former manager of England's Chelsea F.C., and Marcotti, the UK correspondent for Corriere dello Sport and football columnist for The Times, comes this unique journey to the heart of two great soccer cultures.

Download or read book Strategies for Combating Right Wing Extremism in Europe written by Bertelsmann Stiftung and published by Verlag Bertelsmann Stiftung. This book was released on 2010-07-30 with total page 567 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Right-wing extremism is a phenomenon that can be found throughout Europe. All democratic societies are threatened by racist, anti-pluralistic and authoritarian ideas. Even though the so called "radical right" differs in character and ideology in the various European countries it strives to restrict civic and human rights as well as to change the constitutional structures that are based on the principles of democracy and liberty. Individual European countries deal with this challenge differently. The various policy approaches found in these countries are a good source for developing improved practices for fighting rightwing extremism in Germany and worldwide. With this publication the Bertelsmann Stiftung presents an overview of the radical right in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden and Switzerland. It also includes the most successful strategies against right-wing extremism found in these countries. The main focus of this publication is the actions pursued by the governments, political parties and actors of the civil society. Judicial provisions are highlighted as well as the implementation of laws, special action programs, the effectiveness of prosecution of right-wing crimes, cooperation of parties, institutional responsibilities, cooperation of authorities with NGOs and civil commitment against right-wing extremism.

Download or read book Culture and Customs of Italy written by Charles L. Killinger and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2005-05-30 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Americans have a voracious appetite for Italy. It remains a primary destination for travel, art history, cuisine, and more. Like no other source, Culture and Customs of Italy engagingly explains the scope of Italy and Italians today to students and general readers in one volume. As well, this book provides the needed context to understand the enormous contributions of Italian Americans in shaping the cultural heritage and current popular culture of the United States. It clearly summarizes the land, people, and history and relates the highlights of a culture that has excelled in so many areas, such as food, sports, literature, the arts, architecture and design, and cinema. The powerful roles of religion and thought, family and gender, holidays, leisure, and media in Italian life are treated in-depth in individual chapters as well. Crucial regional aspects and historical framing of all topics add to the authoritativeness. A chronology, glossary, photos, and maps round out the coverage.