When I brought home 100 Years of Soccer in America (Rizzoli, $45), my husband and son—one a coach, the other an avid player—both lunged for it at the same time, and we spent the next hour looking through the pictures of the crucial matches together. Can there be a better endorsement? This coffee table book by the U.S. Soccer Federation is a necessary artifact and a graceful survey of the diverse and crucial history of the sometimes-beleaguered U.S. soccer landscape. Its general nature makes it a keepsake for players and soccer-lovers of all ages, and it strikes a beautiful balance in coverage of both the men’s and women’s teams. The chapters detailing the early immigrant leagues are especially fascinating. You can be sure that no soccer fan on your holiday list already has a book like this because, a hundred years in the making, there never has been a book like this.