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The Power and the Glory: The History of the World Cup Audiobook
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Publisher Description
A definitive new history of the world’s most watched sporting event—just in time for the 2026 tournament
"Wilson is the game’s pre-eminent popular historian."—Observer (UK)
An Irish Times Best Sports Book of the Year
Since 1930, the World Cup has become a truly global obsession. It is the most watched sporting event on the planet, and 211 teams competed to make it into the 2022 tournament. From its inception, it has also been a vehicle for far more than soccer. A tool for self-mythologizing and influence-peddling, The World Cup has played a crucial role in nation-building, and continues to, as countries negotiate their positions in a globalized world.
The Power and the Glory is a comprehensive history of the matches and goals, the tales of scandal and triumph, the haggling and skulduggery of the bidding process, and the political and cultural tides behind every tournament. Jonathan Wilson details not merely what happened but why, based on fresh interviews and meticulous research. The book is as much about the legends of the sport, from Pelé to Messi, as it is about the nations that made them, from Mussolini’s Italy to partitioned Germany to controversy-ridden Qatar.
Brimming with politics, heart, and drama, on and off the pitch, The Power and the Glory is the definitive story of the greatest cultural event of our time.
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About Jonathan Wilson
Jonathan Wilson is the author of eight books and has 119,000 Twitter followers. Inverting the Pyramid was named NSC Football Book of the Year in 2009 and won the Premio Antonio Ghirelli prize as Italian soccer book of the year in 2013. His books Behind the Curtain: Travels in Eastern European Football, The Anatomy of England, and The Outsider: A History of the Goalkeeper were shortlisted for the NSC award in 2007, 2011, and 2013. Wilson is the founder and editor of the soccer quarterly the Blizzard, writes for the Guardian, SI.com, FoxSoccer, and Sports Illustrated, and is a columnist for World Soccer. He was voted Football Writer of the Year by the Football Supporters Federation in 2012. He lives in London.
About Paul Thornley
Paul Thornley is an actor who has appeared in several television shows, including Agatha Christie’s Poirot, Foyle’s War, and Ashes to Ashes, as well as the feature films Les Misérables and Alibi. He is also an audiobook narrator who is most noted for his reading of the Rojan Dizon series by Francis Knight.