The Passion

Football and the Story of Modern Turkey

By: Patrick Keddie

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Hardcover | 6 January 2018 | Edition Number 1

At a Glance

Hardcover
320 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
21.8 x 14.2 x 2.9

Hardcover

$81.75

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`In 1982 a young professional footballer - known as `Beckenbauer' for his aggressive and fearless style of play - was forced by a military dictatorship to shave his beard, his football team disbanded by the state. His name was Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and three decades later he rules Turkey....' Turkey is a nation obsessed with football. From the glowing red and blue flares which cover the pitch with multi-coloured smoke and often brings play to a halt, to the `conductors' - ultras who lead the `walls of sound' at matches, Turkish football has always been an awesome spectacle. And yet, in this most political of countries, caught between the Middle East and the West, football has also always been something more. From the fan groups accused of attempting to assassinate the president, to the World-Cup players fighting corruption, football in Turkey is a encompasses politics, anger and resistance Journalist and football obsessive Patrick Keddie takes us on a wild journey through of the world's most popular game. He travels from the streets of Istanbul, where simit sellers compete with water cannons for the attentions of the fans, to the deserts of Anatolia, where Islamic teams show their devotion through soccer. He meets gay referees facing death threats, women fighting for the right to wear shorts on the pitch and Kurdish teams playing for the human rights. In doing so he lifts the lid on a new side to the story of modern Turkey. Blood and Martyrs also tells the story of the biggest recent scandal in European football, the fixing of the Turkish first division, and sketches the scandals murky connections to the country's leadership. Funny, touching and beautifully observed, this is the story of Turkey as we have never seen it before.

Industry Reviews

"Patrick Keddie takes us inside the unceasing Turkish football conversation. The game turns out to be a great device to explain this little understood, football-mad country and its football-mad ruler (who recently banned the foreign word "arena", forcing many Turkish stadiums to be renamed). The Passion is an energetically researched history of Turkey through football." * Simon Kuper, Financial Times columnist and author of Football Against the Enemy *
"I found The Passion a captivating account of modern Turkey, its passions and frustrations; perhaps it won't make you fall in love with Turkish football, but it will help you see why it is so central in understanding Turkey's soul." * Kaya Genc, author of Under the Shadow: Rage and Revolution in Modern Turkey *
the writer's own passion for his subject is obvious throughout a highly readable and impressively far-reaching work that deserves attention from followers of football and Turkey alike. -- Michael Mackenzie * Ahval News *
The depth of research undertaken by Keddie is laudable and what could have easily have turned out to be a dry, academic, turgid tome is thankfully anything but. The book is well thought out and structured and commendably offers a voice to parties who would otherwise struggle to be heard outside of the country. -- Paul McParlan * The Football Pink *
Turkish football is an exemplar of a world where football is ever more reflective of our social conditions, and ever more politicised. It now has an exemplary chronicler and interpreter in Patrick Keddie whose The Passion is a fabulous guide to everything from President Erdogan's football obsession to Kurdish resistance through the game. * David Goldblatt, author of The Ball is round: A Global History of Football and The Game of Our Lives: The Meaning and Making of English Football *

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