Soccer in Spain - (Scarecrow Soccer) by Timothy J Ashton (Hardcover)

About the Book

In the last few years, Spanish soccer has surged to the forefront of the sport, with the national team winning the last two European Championships and the 2010 World Cup. Soccer has long been a global social phenomenon that captivates the masses, and this is clearly evident in...

Book Synopsis

In the last few years, Spanish soccer has surged to the forefront of the sport, with the national team winning the last two European Championships and the 2010 World Cup. Soccer has long been a global social phenomenon that captivates the masses, and this is clearly evident in the people of Spain. Since the formation of Spain's first club teams at the turn of the 20th century, the sport of soccer has long been connected with Spain's internal historical and socio-political disputes. In Soccer in Spain, Timothy Ashton not only details the strong relationship between soccer and politics in Spain, but also demonstrates the multifaceted connection the sport has with other aspects of Spanish society, namely literature and film. This book opens the doors into Spanish literature, film, and politics as they pertain to soccer, and will be especially worthwhile and significant for soccer fans and scholars alike.

Review Quotes

As he suggests in this book's subtitle, Ashton divides his study into three parts, treating the role soccer has played in Spanish political history, Spanish literature, and Spanish cinema. Though the first part, 'Tackling Spain's National Identity Crisis, ' is based on a dated, shallow historiography and is unsatisfactory, the subsequent two parts offer much of merit. . . . By creating a straw man out of intellectual titans like Jorge Luis Borges, who was unabashed in his soccer antipathies, Ashton seeks to proclaim the legitimacy of kick-lit and kick-flicks as modern genres while also demonstrating how soccer has long been a subject of enthusiasm in the writings of some of Spain's cultural elite. Ashton's primary informant is Argentine-born soccer champion Jorge Valdano, who not only was a forward and general manager for Real Madrid (a Madrid soccer club) but is also a kick-lit author and very clearly an ambassador of Spanish soccer who crosses many of Spain's class and cultural demarcations. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates and above; general readers.

About the Author

Timothy J. Ashton is assistant professor of Spanish literatures and cultures at the University of South Carolina Aiken.