The Soccer War

In 1964 the Polish Press Agency made Ryszard Kapuściński its only correspondent abroad. Over the following ten years he was in charge of fifty countries. In Bolivia he became friends with Che Guevara, in Chile with Salvador Allende, and in the Congo with Patrice Lumumba. He covered the 1969 clashes between Honduras and El Salvador, which grew out of matches deciding which side would reach the 1970 World Cup. By the time he went back to Poland, he had seen twenty-seven revolutions and coups. This book is his eyewitness account of defining moments in twentieth-century history.

Why You Should Read?

• Discover how a single correspondent reported from fifty countries over a decade for Poland's press agency.
• Meet the leaders he came to know, among them Che Guevara, Salvador Allende and Patrice Lumumba.
• Follow the clashes between Honduras and El Salvador that arose from matches deciding a World Cup place.
• Learn about the twenty-seven revolutions and coups the correspondent saw before he returned to Poland.

About the Author

Ryszard Kapuściński was a journalist, photographer and author from Poland. He won many important prizes and was seen as a possible candidate for the Nobel Prize in Literature. His personal journals in book form drew controversy as well as admiration, because he blended the conventions of reportage with allegory and the magical realism of literature. During decolonization he served as the Polish Press Agency's sole correspondent in Africa for the Communist era, and he also worked across South America and Asia. Between 1956 and 1981 his reporting covered 27 revolutions and coups, until his support for the pro-democracy Solidarity movement at home led to his dismissal.