War Minus the Shooting – revisiting the 1996 World Cup through a classic book
In the latest episode we revisit War Minus the Shooting, Mike Marqusee’s book on his journey through the subcontinent during the 1996 World Cup.
Buy War Minus the Shooting in:
Australia (paperback and e-copy)
Germany (paperback and e-copy)
For the rest – please check your country-specific Amazon pages.
Talking Points:
- The difficulty of finding the book
- Marqusee’s ability to “get” the subcontinent
- The importance for a writer to immerse themselves in a culture
- The “relaxed hedonism” of Aravinda de Silva and Arjuna Ranatunga
- Marqusee’s love for Sri Lanka in the World Cup
- Kenya beating West Indies in one of the great cricket upsets
- The Cola wars and how surgically it is tackled in the book
- The perceptive passages regarding cricket capitalism and Indian commercialism
- The original cricket writing in the book
- Marqusee’s ability to understand crowds – whether it was in protests or at cricket matches
- A prescient look at Imran Khan and his political career
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Participants:
Sharda Ugra
Fidel Fernando (@afidelf)
Siddhartha Vaidyanathan (@sidvee)
Mahesh Sethuraman (@cornerd)
Related:
War Minus the Cliches – Rob Steen’s review of War Minus the Shooting
Why Cricket? – Mike Marqusee
Mike Marqusee’s website with many of his writings
Madras Machinations – Benjamin Golby on Mike Marqusee’s novel – The Cricket Monthly
The lion’s fairlytale – Andrew Fidel Fernando – The Cricket Monthly
Those little gladiators – Ramachandra Guha – The Outlook
Mike Marqusee – An American Who Figured Out Cricket – Abhishek Mukherjee – cricketcountry.com
England cricket captain in retro mode – Mark Marqusee
‘You Little Beauty’ – 81allout podcast on the 1996 World Cup
Books discussed:
War Minus the Shooting – Mike Marqusee
Anyone But England – Mike Marqusee
Slow Turn – Mike Marqusee
Pundits From Pakistan – Rahul Bhattacharya
Beyond a Boundary – CLR James
Levels of the Game – John McPhee
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Lead image from here.