Laurent Dubois

"A collection of wisdom gleaned from a lifetime of reading about his beloved sport...If your soccer fandom needs a tuneup before the World Cup, this book will more than suffice. But the real pleasure comes in Dubois's attempt to arrive at a kind of philosophical ideal for each position he describes."―New York Times Book Review

"An impassioned fan's perceptive observations about the sport's history, tactics, and drama."―Christian Science Monitor

"Thoughtful and eye-opening...Fans and neophytes alike will appreciate this eclectic offering and its passionate view of soccer's global influence."―Library Journal

"An enjoyable and thought-provoking read."―Booklist

“Dubois attempts to trace the evolution of the modern instrument from its African antecedents to the present day, prudently noting that a linear account is likely to be misleading… There is enough anecdote and lore to satisfy both the casual and the specialist reader.”—Lou Glandfield, The Times Literary Supplement

“Dubois illuminates the banjo’s complicated cultural history… This lively account is not without surprises.”—The New Yorker

“Dubois relates here a history of the instrument that is both learned and entertaining. His enthusiasm shines through every page.”—John Check, The Weekly Standard

“[A] riveting history of the banjo… While the story Dubois tells is primarily historical and sociological, it is also musical, and he never lets us forget the magical hum that distinguishes the banjo from the guitar and other stringed instruments… Dubois combines erudition with obvious enjoyment. His limpid prose easily bears the weight of his impressive research.”—Tom Gilling, The Australian

“An intriguing tale of soccer within the matrix of France’s history of colonialism.” —Library Journal, STARRED REVIEW

“Drills down to uncover the relationship among politics, race and the legacy of empire.”—The New York Times

“Excellent”—Chronicle Of Higher Education

“hThe tale of how even the most seemingly apolitical institutions in a society can become the battlegrounds for its most pressing questions of identity and ambition -- and give us a really fun game to boot.”—Salon.com

“The best, most important contribution to soccer scholarship to date. . . .A timely and wonderful book.”—A.-P. Durand Choice

“Soccer Empire has a heart that beats louder than most, and is all the better for it.”—Times Literary Supplement (TLS)

“The book is both readable and well presented. B&W illustrations are generous and nicely chosen. Documentation (in endnotes) is quite detailed, extensively comprising both scholarly and journalistic-ephemeral sources.”—Victor Castellani European Legacy

“Well-written, authoritative history… enriched by careful attention to what Haitian intellectuals have had to say about their country over the last two centuries.” —The New York Times Book Review

“A sweeping, passionate history of Haiti... Smart, honest, and utterly compelling, this book is the national biography this country and its people deserve.” —Boston Globe

“A book as welcome as it is timely: a lucid one-volume history of the nation, from Toussaint to the present, anchored in scholarship but rendered as a comprehensive-but-swift narrative for the general reader.” —The Nation

“This excellent, engaging history seeks to strip away centuries of mocking and reductive bias. Dubois's Haiti is a land of ceaseless activity, a ferment of suppression and insurrection exacerbated by the mercenary intrusions of foreign powers--in the past century, chiefly the United States. Dubois also traces a parallel history of bold social experiments on the part of everyday Haitians… Throughout, he makes clear how economic pressures and political crises have left even the county's better leaders hamstrung, without downplaying their failures in fulfilling Haiti's great promise.” —The New Yorker