If you don't know anything about Spanish soccer prepare to be bombarded with the names of many Spaniards and Englishmen you will soon forget. This is a very comprehensive look at the growth of soccer in Spain, at times enthralling and at other times sleep inducing. I wish there were more pictures of some of the characters described in this book and by characters I really mean characters. The coach who brought two national rivals together for the World Cup win in 2010, Vincente Del Bosque, lots of kudos to him but no picture. I wanted to read more about the cultural and political aspects of the game vis a vis Franco and that is there too. Burns is a good observer and chronicler of the game as we go from the English mining companies who brought it to Spain through the Civil War and ultimately a democratic Spain. This is a book that doesn't stimulate one to race through it but to attack it slowly.