The Age of Chance: Gambling in Western Culture [Paperback]

Gerda Reith (Author), Harvey Ferguson (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0415263093 | ISBN-13: 978-0415263092 | Publication Date: March 2002 | Edition: 1st

This fascinating and extensive study, enlivened by interviews with British and American gamblers, will be enthralling reading not just for those interested in the cultural and social implications of gambling - researchers in sociology, cultural studies and the history of ideas - but for anyone interested in how we create meaning in an increasingly insecure world.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'The Age of Chance is a wonderful book, scholarly and at the same time compulsive reading'
- Heather Worth, University of Auckland

'...one of the great strengths of The Age of Chance is that it reads well and is certainly a cover to cover read.'

'...a comprehensive and intriguing look at what actually happens when we gamble and why gambling is so popular. Reviewing this book now, more than ten years after first being published, shows that it’s certainly a worthwhile read because, at the risk of sounding cliché, it’s passing the test of time.'
4/5 Stars
-www.casinoonline.co.uk

Product Details

• Paperback: 232 pages
• Publisher: Routledge; 1st edition (March 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0415263093
• ISBN-13: 978-0415263092
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,712,537 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Most authoritative modern text on the subject, January 7, 2002

By 

Bob LeCapetain (Manchester, UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Age of Chance: Gambling in Western Culture (Routledge Studies in Social and Political Thought) (Hardcover)

This is the most illuminating, up-to-date, and entertaining history of gambling in the West that has yet been published. I was a student at the University of Salford (UK) when I had to read this as part of a course on the sociology of gambling. Reith's style is scholarly, yet accessible. This text stands as an example of how interesting and diverse the historical/ cultural development of gambling has been, and of how much gambling can tell us about modern society and, as such, stands as a riposte to the yawn-inducing tedium of the 'problem gambling' school of books on this topic, which consists of a bunch of safety-merchants/salesmen who (presumably) aspire to scholary wisdom, yet fail miserably to say anything useful about one of the most fundamental of human traits: the itch for play. In short, Gerda Reith's book should be required reading for anyone who is interested in why anyone would take a chance on anything (and not just gambling).