Perseus Academic: Winning at All Costs by John Foot

In 2006, three billion people—including 20 million in the United States—watched Italy's extraordinary victory over France in the World Cup final. It was a down and dirty game, marred by French superstar Zidane's headbutting of Italian defender Materazzi. But millions of Americans were also exposed to the poetry, force and excellence of the Italian game. As operatic as Verdi and as cunning as Machiavelli, the Italian game seemed to open a window into the Italian soul.

John Foot's epic history of Italian soccer shows what makes Italian soccer and Italy itself so unique. Mixing serious analysis and comic storytelling, Foot tells the story of Italian soccer from its humble origins in northern Italy in the 1890s to its present day incarnation, where, in a country riven by regional rivalries, soccer is the national civic religion. As Foot writes, It is impossible to comprehend Italy without understanding soccer, and vice-versa.

In 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 the book 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, the great managers and players who still manage to show that Italian soccer is as irresistible as Italy itself.

John Foot teaches modern Italian history at University College London. He writes for the Guardian, the London Review of Books, and the Times Literary Supplement and is the author of books on Milan and modern Italian history.

John Foot teaches modern Italian history at University College London. He writes for the Guardian, the London Review of Books, and the TLS and is the author of books on Milan and modern Italian history.