Product DescriptionWith an Orwellian social imagination, Granta editor Buford offers a terrifying record of his passage through an alternate society--that of England's soccer thugs--in this malevolently funny, supremely chilling document of the allure of crowd violence. Author reading tour.
What Others Say
true football lovers
it's an awesome book and I havnt even finished. I would have never bought Among the Thugs but I need it in one of my classes in college, "intro to world history through soccer" man, my class is like 3 weeks from now but I' just started reading the book a week ago so that I could go to bed faster but it's really interesting and makes you wanna read a lot more...
so far, it tells you about the first hand experience about football hooligans in england, specially man utd.
A Good Starter on Football Hooliganism
I'd highly recommend American Bill Buford's book on the ultra-violent and alcohol-drenched world of English soccer hooligans. Like many of the reviewers, I'd have to agree that Buford doesn't really get down to "brass tacks" as far as providing a psychological and sociological explanation for the absolutely criminal behavior of these "fans", but then, he's neither a sociologist nor a "trick cyclist", but a journalist.
I found the book fabulously entertaining and a great read. Buford actually insinuated his way into the ranks of some of the legendary groups of supporters, drank with them, traveled with them, witnessed firsthand, and yes--even participated in--some of the punchups, the assaults, the pillaging, the burning, the looting ... Read More
Don't Believe Pretentious Twits
This is a fantastic book, and what's more, it has served as a model and inspiration for the many (many, many) football hooligan books that followed.
I won't really comment on the absolute cliched tripe served up by one reviewer who gave Among the Thugs one star, but I would point out that he might want to take some time out from an all-knowing banality spouting, error decrying, schedule, and consult a calendar.
Among The Thugs - 1993. Most of the others? 1999 and later, including the 2005(!) Gardner tome. Among the Thugs, almost alone, spawned a veritable minor industry of Football Hooligan memoirs and reportage. Don't believe me? Head over to amazon.co.uk and check it out all the related items with Among the Thugs over there.
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Readable Yet Overwrought - Thought Provking
Bill Buford offers an engaging narrative about violent British soccer fans, yet one does begin to suspect some exaggeration and ornamentation. Saying that these fans behave the way they do because they lack a solid home base is reductionist and not helpful at all. Many millions around the world live in conditions that leave a great deal to be desired--indeed far worse than the living conditions of a violent soccer fan--yet they don't engage in what the British call "antisocial behavior."
There is no excuse for hooliganism and bad behavior. To find "causes" for lawbreaking, be it soccer violence in Europe or drug dealing in America, is a step toward tolerating and even forgiving it.
Generations of black Americans have been ... Read More
Weak and patronizing. Can't respect the author.
There's a lot to hope for in Among the Thugs, but it fails badly. The author never comes across as even remotely credible. His writing reflects his snobbish background and beliefs. He went to college at Berkeley, then elite Cambridge, and he clearly feels that he is above the subjects of the book in every way. The jacket says he edits a literary magazine, and now he thinks he can ingratiate himself with football thugs? Please. He may be American, but he's apparently been infected with that classic British class thing. His book is full of comments on how stupid and ugly the people he is interviewing are. He talks at length about how he tries to get the "animals" at various pitches to let him interview them. Too bad he was posing the whole time, trying to be "cool" ... Read More
