At a Glance: The Soccer War

The Soccer War
(The Soccer War by Ryszard Kapuściński)

Ryszard Kapuściński, a Polish journalist, worked as a reporter in Africa and Latin America during the 1960s and 1970s.  He witnessed the numerous transitions of power during these two decades from the fall of European colonial control across Africa to the 1979 Iranian Revolution.  In The Soccer War, also known as the Hundred Hours’ War, Kapuściński chronicles not only the brief conflict between Honduras and El Salvador, sparked by a World Cup qualifier, but also encounters in Kenya, the DRC, Nigeria and Ghana. Kapuściński books have attracted a great deal of controversy.  He’s both been a contender for the Nobel Peace Prize as well as accused of fictionalizing his writing.   Having claimed to have rubbed elbows with many major revolutionaries, including Che Guevara and Patrice Lumumba, it’s not surprising that many have questioned his legitimacy.  Despite that, The Soccer War provides an engaging account of the 1960s-70s revolutionary moment.

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