Reddit reviews Offside: Soccer and American Exceptionalism.

Though dated (pub date 2001) due to the rise in popularity of soccer in America, as well as the rise of quality in MLS, etc., this was a great read: Offside: Soccer and American Exceptionalism

If you are interested in this subject of why soccer failed while other sports succeeded in the US, I'd highly recommend the book Offside: Soccer and American Exceptionalism. It's very interesting for soccer fans in the US.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/069107447X?pc_redir=1404571777&robot_redir=1

There is actually a whole bunch of sociology books look at the issue of America and soccer. The "soccer mom" (which is a very American idea) is the perfect example of how soccer became established in a completely different way in America than the rest of the world, with baseball and american football being the traditional conservative sports that make up the American identity, and soccer associated with the liberal globalists.

http://www.amazon.ca/Offside-American-Exceptionalism-Andrei-Markovits/dp/069107447X

This excellent book tries to answer that question: http://www.amazon.com/Offside-American-Exceptionalism-Andrei-Markovits/dp/069107447X

The basic idea is that there is only so much space for sports, and as other "major" sports solidified their positions, minor sports like soccer ended up getting pushed to the margins.

Personally, I'd say that the American Soccer League, which persisted on a smaller scale after the Soccer War / Great Depression, lacked ambition and organization and was happy to occupy a minor league role. Starting around 1960, people started to notice soccer again, due to growing internationalization, television, the world cup, etc.

Some titles that come to mind:

• Soccer in a Football World: The Story of America's Forgotten Game
  by David Wangerin
  
  
• Distant Corners: American Soccer's History of Missed Opportunities and Lost Causes
  by David Wangerin
  
  
• The Encyclopedia of American Soccer History
  by Roger Allaway, Colin Jose and David Litterer
  
  
• Corner Offices & Corner Kicks
  by Roger Allaway
  
  
• North American Soccer League Encyclopedia
  by Colin Jose
  
  
• Offside: Soccer and American Exceptionalism
  
  by Andrei S. Markovits and Steven L. Hellerman
  
  
• Long-Range Goals: The Success Story of Major League Soccer
  by Beau Dure
  
  
• Star-Spangled Soccer: The Selling, Marketing and Management of Soccer in the USA
  by Gary Hopkins
  
  
• Once in a Lifetime; the Incredible Story of the New York Cosmos
  by Gavin Newsham
  
  
• Love Thy Soccer (pre-order)
  by Sean Reid

Soccer is gay and uncool in America, sorry rest of the world. We hate this stupid gay sport.