The Power and the Glory

Wilson is football’s pre-eminent popular historian * Observer *Meticulously researched and well-organised - an informative account of how the World Cup became the global event it is today * Jamie Carragher *Essential… rich in political and cultural content – David Goldblatt * New Statesman *A history of the World Cup that is also a four yearly temperature check on the history of the entire world. Epic in scope, awesomely rich in detail, and compulsively entertaining * Tom Holland *An outstanding book by a truly outstanding writer. Jonathan Wilson understands not only the long history of the game, and the characters who gloriously shaped it, but also the essentials of the game itself. Once you’ve finished reading The Power and the Glory, you’ll want the next World Cup finals to kick off tomorrow * Duncan Hamilton *Unfailingly lucid and objective, as well as packed with fascinating characters and anecdotes, Jonathan Wilson’s The Power and the Glory is the authoritative history we have long needed about football’s ultimate tournament * David Kynaston *Jonathan Wilson is a master at telling football’s greatest ever stories… Breathtaking. Wilson’s eye for detail and his elegant writing brings the World Cup to life like no other book on the topic I have ever read * Elis James *For the biggest show in sport, that has almost everything, this was the book the World Cup long needed. The definitive history, told through the elevation of the tournament’s compelling storylines, as well as brilliant new details * Miguel Delaney *So much of what we know of football’s history we know thanks to Wilson, and he tells it so engagingly, with an eye for personality and story as well as the deeper structures. He sees the connections between football and everything else, and is dazzlingly international. The game is lucky to have him * Simon Kuper *Magisterial… the definitive account of the world’s greatest sporting festival – Michael Taylor * Literary Review *

Jonathan Wilson is the editor of the Blizzard and a freelance writer for the Guardian, World Soccer and Sports Illustrated. He is the author of twelve books, including Inverting the Pyramid: The History of Football Tactics, Behind the Curtain: Football in Eastern Europe, Angels with Dirty Faces: The Footballing History of Argentina, The Barcelona Legacy, The Names Heard Long Ago and Two Brothers.