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Barca: A People's Passion
Product Group: Book
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC (2000-03-23)
ISBN: 0747545545
EAN: 9780747545545
Dewy Decimal #: 790
Paperback: 383 pages
Edition: New Ed
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Editorial Reviews
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Amazon.co.uk Review
From the English businessmen who founded the club, through Cruyff, Maradona, Lineker, Venables, Robson and Ronaldo, FC Barcelona, European football giant and quintessential embodiment of Catalonian pride, has been built on the efforts of foreign mercenaries.In interview and analysis, Jimmy Burns uses the experiences of these outsiders as his own passport to the heart of the Camp Nou, returning with a hugely enjoyable history of the team and it's fanatically nationalistic support. Unique among the world's biggest clubs, Barcelona has stayed true to its origins as a quasi-democratic institution. It is effectively a private members club, made up of the 120,000 supporters whose subscriptions bankroll the team, but a sense of ownership extends across Catalonia itself. At the heart of the book is the struggle for this unique identity to survive the commercial colonisation of the sport. Burns is a sensitive and intelligent interpreter of what is becoming, for better and worse, a forgotten language of regional tribalism in football. It may not be many years before his study of this enigmatic club is regarded as a definitive memorial to the last great love affair of what was once a people's passion. --Alex Hankin
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Customer Reviews
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A Homage to Poor Prose
Rating  (2)
Date: 2005-05-08
2 out of 3 customers found this reveiw helpful
I was expecting to read a book which was comparable to David Winner's excellent study of Dutch football, Brilliant Orange.
Instead of taking the opportunity to analyse the relationship between football and society in Catalonia, Burns resorts to anecdotes and over-long interviews.
A huge disapointment
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Stylised froth
Rating  (1)
Date: 2002-12-04
3 out of 10 customers found this reveiw helpful
If you like your books written in the format of Sunday magazine supplements, all stylised froth...then this is the book for you. I pesonally found this style irritating and did no service to the subject matter. A disappointment. The author should just tell the story.
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makes you cry...
Rating  (5)
Date: 2001-12-19
Football Club Barcelona is much more than just a soccer club. It is the personal identity of the Catalan people, their pride and glory. The book by Jimmy Burns is a guide throught the history of Barca and shows why and how a small club has become one of the most popular clubs in Europe and not only, but what is more important, the author tries to analyze what it is for the Catalan people. The beautiful language and style will leave nobody untouched. Whether you are a football fan or not, this book will make you cry and laugh.
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A history of Catalonia as much as of FC Barcelona
Rating (5)
Date: 2000-12-31
2 out of 2 customers found this reveiw helpful
Jimmy Burns explains just how FC Barcelona has become the symbol of the Catalan nation. Burns takes the reader on a crash course through twentieth-century Spanish history and leaves the reader in no doubt that FC Barcelona enjoys a local status far removed from most clubs. This book is well worth a read, and will appeal to general football lovers as well as people interested in twentieth-century Spain.
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Barca
Rating  (4)
Date: 2000-12-04
This is an excellent book, very well written by Jimmy Burns. However, as other people have said, he does tend to drag things on a little and some bits tend to be a tad boring. Saying that, football fan or not, you'll certainly be captivated by the history of this proud club. A reasonably good purchase. PS High understanding of English required!!! Recommended age - 17+
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Retail Price: £7.99
Amazon.com's Price:£0.01
That's 100% Off!
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