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Among the Thugs [Paperback]

Bill Buford (Author)
4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (38 customer reviews)
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Book Description

Release Date: Oct 1 2001
The acclaimed bestseller (over 63,000 copies sold in paperback) now reissued with a new cover.

What kind of man spends his Saturday afternoons with people named Bonehead, Paraffin Pete and Steamin’ Sammy? Bill Buford’s acclaimed Among the Thugs is a book about the experience and the attractions of crowd violence.

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Customers buy this book with The Miracle of Castel di Sangro: A Tale of Passion and Folly in the Heart of Italy by Joe McGinniss Paperback CDN$ 17.29

Among the Thugs + The Miracle of Castel di Sangro: A Tale of Passion and Folly in the Heart of Italy
Price For Both: CDN$ 33.31

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Product Description

From Publishers Weekly

The American-born editor of the British literary magazine Granta presents a horrifying, searing account of the young British men who turn soccer matches at home and abroad into battlegrounds and slaughterhouses. Buford, resident in England for the last 15 years, set out to get acquainted with these football supporters--as their fellow Britons call them in more measured moments--to learn what motivates their behavior. He discovered a group of violent, furiously nationalistic, xenophobic and racist young men, many employed in high-paying blue-collar jobs, who actively enjoy destroying property and hurting people, finding "absolute completeness" in the havoc they wreak. He also discerned strong elements of latent homosexuality in this destructive male bonding. Following his subjects from local matches to contests in Italy, Germany and Sardinia, Buford shows that they are the same wherever they go: pillaging soldiers fighting a self-created war.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Buford, a native of the United States, is the editor of the London-based literary magazine Granta . In 1982 he witnessed the takeover of a train, a football special, by English soccer thugs. He reveals how fascination for this distinctly English phenomenon of "soccer hooliganism" led him to follow a group of violent supporters of the Manchester United Red Devils. Buford is accepted into the group and in time seems to develop a sixth sense about impending violence or when things, in English parlance, are "going to go off." Particularly riveting is his account of the aftermath of a match in Turin, Italy, where 200 or so Manchester supporters marched through the ancient streets leaving fire and destruction in their wake. Buford's original theories on football violence, fraught with notions about disenfranchised youth and the frustration of the working class, are forever dashed. He concludes that the English working class is dead, and what remains is a culture so vapid that " . . . it pricks itself so that it has feeling, burns its flesh so that is has smell." Public and academic libraries should have this.
- Mark Annichiarico, "Library Journal"
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Customer Reviews

Most helpful customer reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars An entertaining, close-up view at football hooligans Jan 9 2002
By Andrew Suber
Format:Paperback
Bill Buford slowly worked his way into a loose club of football hooligans. He witnessed, firsthand, football riots at away games and the daily lives of his subjects-- Britain's disaffected and alienated working class.

This book is remarkable document. It pulls no punches-- I felt a lot of sympathy and kinship with many of the hooligans. They are simply people who are bored by all the trivial entertainment around us and want a more visceral and demanding set of experiences from life.

Their crime? Too much passion. Too much patriotism. Too much of a desire to leave the everyday world of dead-end jobs behind.

This book is much better than something like 'Fight Club'. I recommend it to any amateur anthropologist interested in the modern human condition.

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1.0 out of 5 stars Too dated and unbelievable Jun 19 2001
By Mick Cooke
Format:Paperback
Although good in its day, the simple truth is that this book has been overtaken by the explosion of hooligan related books in Britain. More importantly, anyone who knows anything about the hooligan scene will quickly realise that this book is simply too far fetched to be taken seriously. People just do not gain access to these type of groups that easily as I know from experince in my younger days.

A far better book on this subject is one which is sadly not available in the US but is entitled Barmy Army by Dougie Brimson.

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4.0 out of 5 stars True to Life April 5 2001
By Randy Menk
Format:Paperback
I, like Mr. Buford, lived as a priveleged American in London during the heydey of bootboys and hooligans in the early and mid 70's. I was a teenager and a wannabe-hooligan, too young (early teens) to be a real hooligan. I travelled extensively on the "football specials" to away games, among them a 1973 FA Cup semifinal at Hillsborough (scene of the 1996 disaster that ended standing on the terraces forever), and the danger of violence was expected and palpable. I recall a lovely spring day in Southampton where hooligans in motorcycle helmets roamed the streets smashing milk bottles on heads in a completely random fashion. Unlike some readers, I found his descriptions dead-on accurate. The discussion of crowd theory and when things change right before they "go off" was fascinating, as well as absolutely true. The part of the book I found odd was the change of opinion from wanting to study his topic to throwing up his hands and deciding there was nothing to study. What's the conclusion, or are there none? I am happy to report that those days are, for the most part, over. Having recently returned from England, the ticket pricing, and all-seater stadiums, have eliminated the hooligan mobs at football matches. the reason the hooligans rampage in continental Europe is because that's all that is left (there are still terraces in much of Europe). Domestically, many of the football venues described by Mr. Buford have been torn down or rebuilt as all-seater stadia.
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Most recent customer reviews
3.0 out of 5 stars Skeptical
Bill Buford's book makes for an interesting read, no doubt. And kudos go to whoever designed the cover jacket. Read more
Published on Jun 17 2003 by Andy Orrock
2.0 out of 5 stars Great work of fiction
I think the author here either has some major issues ne needs to deal with . The kind of people described here in the book are about 1 1,000th of how british soccer fans are . Read more
Published on Aug 23 2001 by ANDY COLE
4.0 out of 5 stars Extreme Football, and I Don't Mean XFL
To say that this work of nonfiction is about football is like saying The Godfather is about the mob. Read more
Published on Mar 17 2001 by vanishingpoint
5.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining/fascinating on many different levels
Bill Buford's "Among the Thugs" is one of the most engaging books I've read in a long time. Read more
Published on Nov 23 2000 by "ragamala78"
5.0 out of 5 stars What Makes Some Peple Tick?
This book is a verbal news photo from the front. I liked it. It adequately explains and describes behaviour and people that can only be classified as perverse. Read more
Published on Oct 7 2000 by Alfred L. Hathcock
4.0 out of 5 stars Oh, come on!
Among the Thugs is highly entertaining: it's Michael Herr meets Bill Bryson--a hybrid that has produced a documentary of the British hooligan phenomenon that is at once gripping,... Read more
Published on Sep 5 2000 by Richard Singer
1.0 out of 5 stars Gullible and sensationalistic
This book is well written, and that is the only positive thing about it. The author suggests that he immersed himself in the life of English hooligans. Read more
Published on Sep 3 2000 by O. Adang
5.0 out of 5 stars Compelling, deeply disturbing, thrilling, a voyuer's trip
This book will put you into the shoes and mind of the football thug. The American author of this non-fiction book enters into the fold of British football hooligans, in an attempt... Read more
Published on Aug 27 2000 by Paris1929
4.0 out of 5 stars This story is as ugly as the lad on the cover.
Buford spent several years closely involved with various English football (soccer) hooligans. This is really the story of how his initial interest in crowd behavior developed... Read more
Published on Aug 13 2000 by W. Doyle
5.0 out of 5 stars An honest account
Buford's experiences with football (soccer) hooligans, most of them supporters of Manchester United, is an honest and brutal account of what is out there. Read more
Published on July 14 2000 by Stosh D. Walsh
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