Among the Thugs (Hardcover)

by Bill Buford (Author)

Editorial Reviews

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.

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.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 317 pages
• Publisher: W W Norton & Co Inc (May 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393033813
• ISBN-13: 978-0393033816
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.8 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (72 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #727,596 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Rude, Brittania, April 4, 2000

By	Fez Monkey (Santa Monica, California USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Among the Thugs (Paperback)

Bill Buford, a naive American adrift in England, tackles a very dicey subject: Mob violence by English football fans. He starts out innocently enough, trying to find the allure, cause, nature, basis, and form of England's notorious football hooligans, but soon has difficulty separating himself from his subject matter.

As he relates his journey into the world of the yobs, we get a vivid picture of the people and the events, but no real glimpse into what is behind the football mob violence -- even after Buford spends most of the second half of the book trying to work it out. The only real insight were provided is that the mob becomes greater than the sum of its parts, and that there is a line where a person within the mob ceases to be an individual, and becomes a compnent of a greater organism.

However, questions such as why sporting crowds in the US, Canada, or other countries never reach the level of violence or mob mentality as seen in England are never addressed, nor are questions of why this sort of violent behavior seems to be limited to a very large degree to football (soccer) crowds. Of course, that subject is beyond the scope of any one book.

Still, the snapshot into the seedy world of NF members, jingoistic supporters, drunks and felons provided by Buford is entertaining, in a voyeuristic sort of way. Besides, unless you are intimately familiar with crowds at English, or any European, football matches, Buford's book is best if taken as a sort of superficial sociological travelogue, offering a glimpse into a strange land, complete with foreign customs, traditions, uniforms and etiquette.

Reading 'Thugs' won't provide too much enlightentment on sports violence or the psychology of mobs, but it will entertain. And with the coming Euro2000 tournament, reading this may prove timely, as well.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Worthy Read!, April 13, 2005

By	Diana Mivelli (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Among the Thugs (Paperback)

When my friend recommended this book, I was skeptical. I didn't believe an American journalist could successfully infiltrate a gang of European football hooligans. I was introduced to the notoriety of hooligans when I attended a match in Turkey. There I witnessed 200 soldiers armed with assault rifles and riot gear, lined up behind the goalie. This severity made me believe what I'd heard about fans ending up trampled, stabbed, beaten, and killed in the aftermath of a match.

Starting with a few lukewarm leads, Bill Buford, a true journalist, is relentless. He transports the reader to England, Germany, and Italy as he tries to understand what fuels hooligans. You experience the helplessness of being caught in a body-crushing crowd, being ambushed by the brutal mobs after the match, and riding the fan-crammed trains. His characterizations are so vivid, you can almost smell the charged atmosphere in the streets and in the stadiums.

This book is about violence. The descriptions are fierce and don't let up. The history behind the European football fury is discussed. Even if you aren't a fan of football (better known to Americans as soccer), this book is an excellent read on the sociology of mob mentality. You become aware of what propels crowd violence and its devastating effects on the victim, whose only blunder might be unfortunate proximity and timing.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The View From Inside the Mob, May 2, 2000

By	Dale Keiger (Baltimore) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Among the Thugs (Paperback)

Bill Buford is now fiction editor for The New Yorker. But for many years he lived in Cambridge, England, where he revived the literary quarterly Granta and brought it to prominence. While residing in Britain, he became fascinated with soccer hooligans, who visited a dreadful wave of violence on cities all over Europe in the 1980s.

There's much to commend Buford's book. The portraits of the people he comes to know are pointed, vivid, and well rounded. He's particularly able as a narrator of violence, carrying the reader along for page after page of his accounts of riots forming and then "coming off."

Much of what's interesting about the book is Buford's account of his own recognition of the inner thug, so to speak. When he begins his story, Buford is full of smug generalities and facile answers. He's sure he knows who the thugs are -- young, unemployed, uneducated yobs -- and why they're wild in the streets -- social protest. Then he begins to meet some of them and enter their social sphere, and realizes he's wrong. Many of them are older than he'd thought, family men with children and decent jobs. They're not protesting anything -- they're fighting because it's fun. And as he gains acceptance among them, Buford realizes that he, too, feels an atavistic thrill when the combat begins.

English readers have suggested that Buford may have been taken in a few times by Brits having some fun with a gullible Yank. That might well be, but most of the book is an eyewitness account. Compelling reading.