This is a far more substantive book than you’d expect from something called Rock ‘n’ Roll Soccer: The Short Life and Fast Times of the North American Soccer League, but then the NASL was a far more substantive operation than history has acknowledged. If it’s remembered at all these days, it’s for garish disco-era uniforms, gimmicky promotions, and overpaid, over-the-hill stars from overseas. All of that is at best only partly true, as author Ian Plenderleith shows. In fact, the NASL was in many ways well ahead of its time, a league run by visionaries who set the fuse for a later explosion of soccer popularity. Anyone with an interest in the sport, but especially fans of the Northwest’s own Portland Timbers, Seattle Sounders, and Vancouver Whitecaps, will want to read Rock ‘n’ Roll Soccer to learn how this part of the world caught football fever.
–James Crossley, Island Books, Mercer Island, WA
Whether you’re a Sounder ’til you die, part of the mental and barmy Timbers Army, or a Whitecaps fan, you can find this fantastic football volume at Island Books or another independent bookstore near you. Publication date is September 22, 2015.