Jonathan Wilson, "The Power and the Glory: The History of the World Cup" (Bold Type Books, 2025)

Feb 8, 2026

Jonathan Wilson, writer and broadcaster specializing in football history and author of The Power and the Glory (2025). He traces the World Cup’s origins and its rise as a global spectacle. He digs into politics on display, from Mussolini to Qatar, and the costs and consequences of hosting. He explores expansion, Africa’s footballing ascent, migration’s impact on national teams, and how the tournament might change going forward.

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INSIGHT

Digital Research Transformed World Cup History

Jonathan Wilson argues new digital archives and translation tools let modern writers access sources across languages like never before.
This broad access enabled a fresh, global history of the World Cup beyond older English-centric accounts.

INSIGHT

Rimet's Professional Vision Realized By 1954

Gilles Rimet created the World Cup to free football from Olympic amateurism and to widen participation through professionalism.
The tournament reached Rimet's broad vision only by 1954 when most major nations actively pursued World Cup involvement.

ANECDOTE

Mussolini's 1934 World Cup Pageantry

Jonathan Wilson recounts Mussolini using the 1934 World Cup to project Italy as modern, efficient, and fascist-powered.
Mussolini subsidized travel, organized broadcasts, and produced branded merch to shape global perception.

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As the world prepares for the 2026 World Cup, Jonathan Wilson’s new book, The Power and the Glory: The History of the World Cup (Bold Type Books, 2025), presents a new history of what has become the greatest celebration of humanity on earth, and reveals how the World Cup has grown hand in hand with the political, economic, and social forces of our time.

Since 1930, the World Cup has become a truly global obsession. It is the most watched sporting event on the planet, and 211 teams competed to make it into the 2022 tournament. From its inception, it has also been a vehicle for far more than soccer. A tool for self-mythologizing and influence-peddling, The World Cup has played a crucial role in nation-building, and continues to, as countries negotiate their positions in a globalized world.
The Power and the Glory is a comprehensive history of the matches and goals, the tales of scandal and triumph, the haggling and skullduggery of the bidding process, and the political and cultural tides behind every tournament. Jonathan Wilson details not merely what happened but why, based on fresh interviews and meticulous research. The book is as much about the legends of the sport, from Pelé to Messi, as it is about the nations that made them, from Mussolini’s Italy to partitioned Germany to controversy-ridden Qatar.
Brimming with politics, heart, and drama, on and off the pitch, The Power and the Glory is the definitive story of the greatest cultural event of our time.

Dr. Andrew O. Pace is a historian of the US in the world who specializes in the fog of war. He is currently a DPAA Research Partner Fellow at the University of Southern Mississippi and a co-host of the Diplomatic History Channel on the New Books Network. He is also working on his first book which examines why the United States pursued victory at practically all costs during World War II. He can be reached at andrew.pace@usm.edu or via his website here. Andrew is not an employee of DPAA, he supports DPAA through a partnership. The views presented are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of DPAA, DoD or its components. 

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