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Among The Thugs
Among The Thugs
Apr 20, 2025 1:22 PM

Author:Bill Buford

Among The Thugs

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THE BESTSELLING ACCOUNT OF FOOTBALL VIOLENCE

Welcome to the world of football thuggery.

They have names like Bonehead, Paraffin Pete and Steamin’ Sammy. They like lager, football, the Queen, and themselves. They love England. They dislike the rest of the known universe.

The beautiful game remains ugly.

From following Manchster's Red Army to drinking with skinheads, acclaimed writer Bill Buford enters this alternate society and records both its savageries and its sinister allure with the social imagination of George Orwell and the raw personal engagement of Hunter S. Thompson.

Among the Thugs is a terrifying, malevolently funny, supremely chilling book about the experience, and the eerie allure, of crowd violence and football culture.

Reviews

The definitive guide to hooligan culture

—— joe.co.uk

Superbly written ... darkly exhilarating ... a sort of rollercoaster chamber of horrors

—— Guardian

Compelling, intelligent and fully engaged

—— Martin Amis

[Buford] gatecrashes a social world that most of us have spent some portion of our lives avoiding and brings it to life on the page with a ferocious relish that only someone who was a foreigner to soccer could manage, or stomach

—— Jonathan Raban

Buford's reportage is vivid and racy, dropping you in the thick of the madness with a Wolfe-like immediacy

—— Daily Telegraph

The excellence of his writing takes the reader to the centre of the mob... His words have the fragmented accuracy of a hand-held television camera in a war zone

—— John Stalker , Sunday Times

Possesses something of the quality of A Clockwork Orange

—— The Times

This is an absorbing read, and another winner from Buford, who writes so very, very well

—— Buzzfeed

Among the Thugs is, by some distance, the best book ever written about football violence. Intelligent, succinct, and always in the thick of it, it reads as a blood-fuelled ode to English football, and as a primer for what will be when Russia hosts the World Cup. It grabs the readers attention like a headbutt to the cakehole.

—— Tony Parsons

Sizzling writing to rival the best of white-heat gonzo journalism

—— New Statesman

An extraordinary and powerful cautionary cry.

—— Kirkus

Brilliant. . . one of the most unnerving books you will ever read

—— Newsweek

Buford creates with the majesty of a Tom Wolfe the ultimate price paid by so many for this footballing fever - the Hillsborough disaster, recalled with electrifying eloquence and power

—— Time Out

A grotesque, horrifying, repellent and gorgeous book; A Clockwork Orange come to life.

—— John Gregory Dunne

A very readable, often funny, book.

—— The Economist

His prose is tough and vivid

—— ID

Buford pushes the possibilities of participatory journalism to a disturbing degree . . . Among the Thugs does severe damage to the conventional wisdom that England and Europe are bastions of civilization.

—— New York Times

Buford's book is important in that it offers a far more compelling explanation for the football violence than any offered by the pundits of Left and Right . . . Had Buford's account been written by a tabloid reporter or an academic sociologist it might be more easily dismissed. That is comes from a highly intelligent observer, and a neutral outsider with no axe to grind, makes his book all the more powerful and yet troubling.

—— Michael Crick , Independent

Buford’s accounts of the thugs he moved with are by turns amazing, repugnant, stunning, horrid and exhilarating.

—— Howler

The defining book on England’s hooliganism

—— Simon Parkin , Guardian

Filled with wry humour, this is a wonderfully uplifting and touching book

—— Guardian

This is a wonderful, heart-gladdening, life-affirming read. It will make you want to walk. What a gem.

—— Kate Riordan, author of The Girl in the Photograph

Luminescent. A literary phenomenon

—— Mail on Sunday

Utterly inspirational

—— The Times

The Salt Path broke my heart and put it back together again over and over. Beautiful writing, and such a sharp eye - both for nature and for people. It's hopeful and sad and honest and I LOVED it.

—— Maggie Harcourt, author of Unconventional and The Last Summer of Us

Harnesses the wildness of rock, sky and coastal walking in life-affirming prose

—— Emma Stonex , Guardian

Radiant, soaring, heartstring-tugging

—— BBC Countryfile

A remarkable account of the healing power of landscape and the resilience of the human spirit. I felt the rain on my face and heard the waves pounding on the sand.

—— Phillipa Ashley

Inspirational

—— Good Housekeeping

The Salt Path pummelled me like Atlantic winds. It carried me along on a rain-soaked, sun-burnt, despair-infused, hope-driven walk. The writing is at times raw, poetic, funny, shocking. It is consistently honest, vulnerable, clear. I finished the book reminded of the importance of really hearing people's stories, of the healing power of the natural world, and of our individual and collective now.

—— The Ecologist

A thoughtful, lyrical story of homelessness, strength and endurance

—— The Week

A moving true story

—— i Paper

By turns inspirational and horrifying . . . [Winn] writes with a detail and a joy that tugs at the reader, lifting this beyond a mere travel memoir and all the privations and hardship to be something truly meaningful

—— Times Higher Education

Beautiful, sad, erudite and uplifting

—— The New European

An uplifting tale

—— Cornish Times

Vivid . . .This is a book essentially about hope, but also about sheer gritty determination not to give in, to survive extreme discomfort, danger and sometimes disillusionment

—— Kibworth & District Chronicle

An inspirational true story

—— Top Sante

It's a heart-warming, heart-wrenching story, told by Raynor in vivid yet plain prose. There are so many wonderful passages

—— Church Times

Raynor's writing is beautiful. It's a heart-wrenching read at times, but you won't be able to put it down

—— Mirror

We walk with Ray and Moth every step of the way, sharing the hunger, exhaustion, blazing heat and freezing rain in an account that is both lyrical and inspirational

—— Guardian, Top 10 books about walking in Britain

An extraordinary memoir - moving, funny and uplifting

—— Open Up

An inspirational and lyrically observed memoir on the regenerative power of walking in nature, as well as a reminder that material things are much less important than we sometimes think. If you love the landscape of the British coastline and are drawn to the philosophies of mindfulness and minimalism, this is a moving and reflective book to read during a break from your everyday life

—— Gill Walker, Newham Books , Guardian

Raynor Winn's glorious memoir tells the real-life story of her hike along the South West Coast Path, which she embarked upon with her husband after they lost their home. It's raw yet uplifting - and guaranteed to inspire your next adventure

—— Huffington Post UK

A thoughtful reflection on ageing and infirmity, home and homelessness, hope and survival

—— Dr Michael Fitzpatrick , Daily Telegraph

A life-affirming story that examines grief and the power of nature

—— Liz Earle Wellbeing

Poignant . . . It's far from a book without hope, and you'll be with Raynor and Moth every step of their walk along the South West Coast Path

—— Country Walking

A heart-wrenching, inspiring tale of one couple's enduring love for each other in the face of calamity and of their accidental odyssey along England's South West Coast Path

—— Advnture

A love story of resilience and optimism, brimming with heart and humanity

—— Ruth Jones , Prima

A gripping domestic disaster story turned celebration of survival

—— Country Walking

A true story of hope in a dire situation

—— Daily Express
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