Has anyone read Morbo or White Storm: 100 Years of Real Madrid? I was thinking of importing the two books since they are not available on retail in India and want to know what people think of them. Does anyone recommend a better book on Real Madrid (in English)?
I thought Morbo was pretty good. He switches between anecdotes and straight history quite a bit. The section on the Real-Barca rivalry is the best part IMO. The photographic history book sold by Real Madrid has captions in English. If you like looking at old photos then it's a good buy. I think it's about $23 plus shipping. I'd also like to hear whether White Storm is worth buying.
Morbo is good - a really nice way into knowing a it about everything in Spanish football. It has got its faults, mind you, but is well worth reading. White Storm is, on the other hand, very very disappointing indeed. Really poor and with lots of errors. It's hard to believe that it's the same writer. I would buy Morbo but not White Storm, definitely.
http://www.ussoccerplayers.com/rno/reading072003.html check out my review of White Storm, I mention Morbo also. Tony
Tony: agree with your reviews (it's a nice article) but/and would add a few points: I think in White Storm there is slightly less on the Franco years and Di Stefano transfer than I expected. For a history of Real Madrid, it perhaps needed more judgement and depth. Burns is more profound, I think. Agree on the comments about the editing, too - there's a few really obvious errors in White Storm, some of them really annoying. Read your review of Morbo and have to agree with the comment on the Seville chapter: go to some games! Don't just trust taxi drivers! And - as I already posted - you're right: if you're going to buy one Spanish football book, it should be Morbo. Beyond that, Barça comes before White Storm, definitely. An Atletico Madrid book would be interesting. And the arrival of David Beckham is bound to spark some more books on him/Madrid.