Spartak Moscow: A History of the People’s Team in the Worker’s State by Robert Edelman is the definitive history of Russian soccer. It is a complicated history to say the least, but it is also a fascinating one. This academic title is brilliantly written, full of player biographies and match highlights, from all periods of that country’s soccer rollercoaster. It is a story of brilliance amongst tyranny and beauty amongst despair. Spartak represented the best of Russian soccer even though it was far from
