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The Miracle of Castel di Sangro: A Tale of Passion and Folly in the Heart of Italy | 
 enlarge | Author: Joe Mcginniss
Publisher: Broadway
Category: Book
List Price: $15.95
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Avg. Customer Rating:  108 reviews
Sales Rank: 171072
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 416
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 7.8 x 5.2 x 1.2
ISBN: 0767905997
Dewey Decimal Number: 796.3340945
EAN: 9780767905992
ASIN: 0767905997
Publication Date: June 6, 2000
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Amazon.com Review
We already knew Joe McGinniss could chill our blood (Fatal Vision) and arouse both our pity and distaste for the Kennedys (The Last Brother), but who knew he could be so funny? (Well, maybe readers who remember The Selling of the President back in 1968.) Even those who have no interest in soccer--the majority of Americans, he ruefully admits--will relish the author's vivid account of a team from Castel di Sangro, a tiny town in Italy's poorest region, that against all expectations made it to the national competition. Whether he's chronicling his ordeal at possibly the least-inviting hotel in Italy (the heat doesn't come on until October, no matter the temperature; he is assigned to a room up four flights of stairs though there are no other guests), or sketching a colorful cast of characters that includes the team's sinister owner and an utterly unflappable translator, McGinniss prompts roars of laughter as he reveals an Italy tourists never see. He also saddens readers with a shocking final scene in which he confronts the nation's casual corruption, which taints men he's come to respect and even love. Although not a conventional memoir, this stirring book reveals as much about the author's passionate character as about the nation and the players who win his heart, then break it. --Wendy Smith
Product Description
Master storyteller Joe McGinniss travels to Italy to cover the unlikely success of a ragtag minor league soccer team--and delivers a brilliant and utterly unforgettable story of life in an off-the-beaten-track Italian village.
When Joe McGinniss sets out for the remote Italian village of Castel di Sangro one summer, he merely intends to spend a season with the village's soccer team, which only weeks before had, miraculously, reached the second-highest-ranking professional league in the land. But soon he finds himself embroiled with an absurd yet irresistible cast of characters, including the team's owner, described by the New York Times as "straight out of a Mario Puzo novel," and coach Osvaldo Jaconi, whose only English word is the one he uses to describe himself: "bulldozer."
As the riotous, edge-of-your-seat season unfolds, McGinniss develops a deepening bond with the team, their village and its people, and their country. Traveling with the miracle team, from the isolated mountain region where Castel di Sangro is located to gritty towns as well as grand cities, McGinniss introduces us to an Italy that no tourist guidebook has ever described, and comes away with a "sad, funny, desolating, and inspiring story--everything, in fact, a story should be" (Los Angeles Times).
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| Customer Reviews: Read 103 more reviews...
 An absolute must read book October 10, 2008
I must admit, this is one of my all-time favorite books. I have read this close to a dozen times, and I try to re-read it once a year generally. Call me biased, being a lover of both soccer and my own Italian heritage, but this book is masterful.
The thing is that this is not so much a story of soccer, though it turns around the fortunes of this soccer team. This is much more a socio-cultural look at life in this small Italian town, and to an extent to life in Italy in general. It is the story of "Western European" (I'm fitting American's in this mould) encounter with a very different mediterranean/Italian culture which views life and many things very differently.
The love/hate/love relationship Joe develops with the town, players, and others is mesmerizing. Yes at times Joe is an idiot. Yes he sticks his nose at times where it doesn't belong. And absolutely some of his observations show how complete his ignorance of the inner workings of the game is. He may have come to love it, but clearly he does not have so great an understanding of it.
Nonetheless this book is charming, at times funny, engaging and at time tear-jerking (for me at least). What a masterful book.
WHAT A COOL BOOK (couldn't stop reading it!) March 8, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This book really grasped my attention. The story throughtout the chapters captured my imagination.
The book gave a realistic impression of an amazing country. "Joe" really explored the life of the team and the "Calcio" and every action was convincing in an unpredictable manor.
The style of sentences and the chosen words really made up the base of an absoloutely fantastic book!!!delightful and inspiring journey through the football season.
This is an exciting new addition to anyone's library.
Honest and enjoyable book January 31, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I enjoyed this book. McGinnis was honest about his experiences and even about his own shortcomings. Just like there are no true fairy tales, there are no people without shortcomings. McGinnis portrayed himself and others in this manner.
I applaud him and his book as a man who had the guts to experience something few would do and the skill to write it up artfully and truthfully.
Fantastic October 5, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Even though it is written for the football novice and can be facile at times - A WONDERFUL BOOK!
An All-Time Great Sports Book May 31, 2007
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
It's fitting that even after hearing about this book because of soccer, I ended up stumbing across it in the travel section. Soccer may be the glue of the book, but it's a travelogue at heart. McGinness starts with his newfound madness for soccer bringing him to Italy, yet quickly lets the game recede into the muddle of everyday life. The writing quickly becomes part Simon Kuper and part Bruce Chatwin. The book thankfully takes in as much lush description and hilarious anecdotes as it does tactical decisions and game descriptions. Instead of just an Italian version of a John Feinstein book, we get a truly unique story that evokes real and lasting emotion rather than the passing interest of locker room voyuerism.
Much of criticism here seems to miss the point. It's true that McGinniss makes himself the main character, but it's not a weakness (some arrogance, maybe, but not mere narcissism). The book, after all, is mainly about the shock of the outsider looking in: on soccer, on the village, on Italian society as a whole, and especially the repulsive compromises between love of the game and its seedier elements. If McGinniss doesn't quite succeed at making some grand assessment of Italy or a master's analysis of soccer, who cares? The story he tells is fascinating, emotive, and tragic nontheless. It reaches far beyond the world of the game and its fans, and should be a must-read for anyone.
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