TITLE  = Among the Thugs
AUTHOR = Bill Buford
PRICE  = US$ 14
SIZE   = 317 pages
YEAR   = 1990
SOURCE = www.amazon.com
RATING = 1 star

OK, the biggest question was whether this deserves one stars or perhaps two. Maybe one-and-a-half would be about right. This is typically what you might expect from some sensationalist journalist writing about soccer hooligans. Half the time, he's not even vaguely interested in soccer. He spends a whole chapter describing hanging out at a pub with the National Front. I suppose his "point" is that all soccer hooligans are right-wing thugs?!

Some of the writing is fairly interesting, but it fails on too many accounts. The author doesn't appear to be much of a soccer fan either, as his main objective appears to be looking for violent idiots and then smearing soccer fans as a whole.

The book is worth reading if you like sensationalist soccer-smear campaigns, otherwise don't bother.