{"product_id":"a-season-with-verona-travels-around-italy-in-search-of-illusion-national-character-and-goals","title":"A Season With Verona: Travels Around Italy in Search of Illusion, National Character, and Goals","description":"\u003cp\u003eFrom Udine to Catania, from San Siro to the Olimpico, traveling with the fans and the players from the tip to the toe of Italy, Tim Parks offers a highly personal account of his relationship with a country, its people, and its national sport. Verona, recently elevated to the top-rank teams -- Series A -- is struggling to stay there. The fans, as always, are accused of vulgarity, racism, and violence. The police are ambiguous, the journeys exhausting, the referees unforgivable, and the anecdotes hilarious. In a world stripped of idealism and increasingly bereft of religion, Parks suggests that soccer offers a new, and fiercely ironic, way of engaging with the sacred.\u003cbr\u003e-- Combines the tension of cliff-hanging narrative with the pleasures of travel writing.\u003cbr\u003e-- Does for soccer what John Feinstein did for golf.\u003cbr\u003e-- A profound, insightful, and often hilarious analysis of one country's way of keeping itself entertained.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cdiv class=\"sb-details\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/tim-parks-books\"\u003eTim Parks\u003c\/a\u003e (all their books in stock)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFormat:\u003c\/strong\u003e Hardback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePublished:\u003c\/strong\u003e 2002\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 447\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/strong\u003e Arcade Publishing\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eISBN:\u003c\/strong\u003e 9781559706285\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Arcade Publishing","offers":[{"title":"Poor Condition — £15.05","offer_id":47916475318449,"sku":"SB-1559706287-C4","price":15.05,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0618\/2669\/5345\/files\/1559706287_26750785-9e24-4cfa-84bd-716f58d542ff.jpg?v=1790300203","url":"https:\/\/sellbooks.co.uk\/products\/a-season-with-verona-travels-around-italy-in-search-of-illusion-national-character-and-goals","provider":"Sell Books .co.uk","version":"1.0","type":"link"}