More Than Just a Game: Soccer vs. Apartheid: The Most Important Soccer Story Ever Told

This is a fascinating footnote to the struggle against apartheid. Condemned in the 1960s to Robben Island, a harsh prison off the coast of South Africa, the young political prisoners fought for and won the right to play soccer. The sport became popular, giving participants and spectators alike a much-needed sense of self-esteem while offering diversion from an otherwise monotonous existence. In a Hollywood version of this story, prisoners and guards would learn to respect one another despite their differences--and some of that happened, but the authors don't stop there. Drawing on first-person accounts and an archive of prisoners' writings, they detail the infighting that later racked the astonishingly well-organized league. Sports can be uplifting and they can cause pettiness, too. If there's a flaw with the book, it's the way, after the first chapters, soccer madness allows us to forget too often the brutality of prison conditions. But it's well worth reading, even by those who don't know a thing about soccer. And, given that South Africa is hosting this year's World Cup, the authors' timing couldn't be better. --Keir Graff