Books
Inside Qatar: Hidden Stories from one of the Richest Nations on Earth (Icon 2022)
Just 75 years ago, the Gulf nation of Qatar was a backwater, reliant on pearl diving. Today it is a gas-laden parvenu with seemingly limitless wealth and ambition. Skyscrapers, museums and futuristic football stadiums rise out of the desert and Ferraris race through the streets. But in the shadows, migrant workers toil in the heat for risible amounts.
Inside Qatar reveals how real people live in this surreal place, a land of both great opportunity and great iniquity. Ahead of Qatar's time in the limelight as host of the 2022 FIFA World Cup, anthropologist John McManus lifts a lid on the hidden worlds of its gilded elite, its spin doctors and thrill seekers, its manual labourers and domestic workers.
The sum of their tales is not some exotic cabinet of curiosities. Instead, Inside Qatar opens a window onto the global problems — of unfettered capitalism, migration, growing inequality and climate change — that concern us all.
‘If you want to understand Qatar read this very readable book. It is wise, well informed, fair-minded and honest about what it is like to live in this tiny city state.’ Peter Oborne, journalist and author of The Assault on Truth
‘John McManus is a remarkable, compelling writer – wry, alert to incongruencies, an elegant prose stylist – with an anthropologist's concern for hidden structures, and a photographer's eye for detail’. Rory Stewart, author of The Places In Between
Welcome to Hell? In Search of the Real Turkish Football
(Weidenfeld & Nicholson 2018)
Ask a British football fan what they know about Turkish football, and they are unlikely to describe scenes of camaraderie, hospitality and humour. They are more likely to mention banners proclaiming 'Welcome to hell'. Or Leeds United supporters stabbed to death on an Istanbul street.
Frustrated by the game's distorted image back home, John McManus set out to show the Turkish football that he knew — the rich, funny, obsessive, fan culture that he had encountered on the terraces. But he hadn't accounted for the politics. Travelling from the elite training facilities of Istanbul to dusty pitches on the Syrian border, taking in visits to far-flung clubs, encounters with characterful players and experiences at riotous matches along the way, Welcome to Hell? offers a unique perspective on an alluring yet troubled football culture.
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What people say
'McManus's triumph is to combine thorough research with readability. A fascinating history of Turkish football, and a model for other books of this type' -- Jonathan Wilson, author of Inverting the Pyramid
'A book as rich and complex as the extraordinary worlds of Turkish football it explores' -- David Goldblatt, author of The Ball is Round: A Global History of Football
'John McManus is one of the very few writers in English who actually knows Turkey. This crucial but poorly understood country may be best interpreted through football — and he is perfectly placed to do it. McManus thinks like a good academic but writes like a good journalist. He captures the Turkish game with love, in all its beauty and darkness. For all the country's problems, in the midst of its current crisis, this book makes you want to get straight on a plane to catch a match there' -- Simon Kuper, author of Football Against the Enemy
'I really enjoyed Welcome to Hell? By John McManus. A heartfelt look at Turkish football culture, which challenges some stereotypes about it, explains others, and smells a little bit of cordite . . . excellent' -- Rory Smith, The New York Times
'Excellent' ― Irish Sun
'McManus heads off in search of colour and character across the country. He serves up both in ample measure. Nationalist agitators, left-wing ultras, Kurdish fanatics and Syrian ex-professionals . . . all provide fascinating insight into the complex relationship between politics and football at all levels of the Turkish game' -- Rob Kemp ― When Saturday Comes
'An engaging book about football and Turkish society' ― Economist
'A perceptive and compelling account of how to understand football in Turkey through the eyes of someone who has lived there' ― The Football Pink
'The book takes us on a tour of the beautiful game in Turkey, a window through which to examine society, history and contemporary politics. McManus is a sensitive and astute guide with an eye for the telling detail . . . Full of humor as well as insight . . . Welcome to Hell? is a terrific read' -- William Armstrong ― Hurriyet Daily News
For academic publications, see my academia.edu profile.