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.