Rating: 
Summary: Hypocracy for lunch
Review: First, I'd like to draw attention to the very interesting fact that the vast majority of reviews posted on this book are written by Americans. I find this "interesting" because it is indicative of a class of sordid fascination that many Americans have with violence as a spectator sport, so long as they do not have to experience it personally. Fan-based violence is in many ways a concept alien to American culture. Perhaps the closest thing we have to it is the "Raider Nation," which consists of a handfull of Oakland Raiders fans who, when their team is in the NFL playoffs, are from time to time inclined to burn and pillage a few city blocks in Oakland. Too, there are Chicago Bulls fans who have been known, during NBA playoffs, to do the same. The point here is, that it's the degree and commonality of these episodes that differentiate them from English Football violence. Major sporting events in the US are not typically surrounded with the potential for crowd violence. This is not a part of our culture, and this is something that readers of Buford's work need to understand.That said, it is useless and self-defeating to even attempt to apprehend what Buford writes of from an American perspective. We do not have a cultural analog to the English football firm. This being the case, as a professional journalist with a background in anthropology, I can assure readers of Buford's work, that he comes as close to objectivity in his reporting as is possible. --It should be noted here that objectivity is a goal, something to be strived for, and not an end in and of itself, for it is ultimately unattainable. It is through the process of seeking objectivity, and not through its actual attainment, that we accomplish truly fine journalism.-- All of the above being so, it is my measured opinion that Bill Buford is successful in "Among The Thugs." While there are portions of the book that are cumbersome, do not read easily, for the most part it is a powerful and telling account of what Buford was able to find, one that is written and reported with the greatest degree of objectivity possible given the circumstances.
Rating: 
Summary: How can you people be fooled by this garbage?
Review: Quite how or why this book has come to in any way regarded as a meaningful work on the culture of soccer hooliganism escapes me because it is quite simply laughable.
The quality of the writing is fine (as it should be for a former editor of Granta) but as anyone who knows anything about soccer in England will be aware, outsiders are rarely, if ever, tolerated by the gangs and journalists are universally hated which calls into question just how factual some of this book really is. As an Englishman, I actually found some of it quite insulting. Read the excellent Barmy Army or Everywhere We Go (Doug Brimson) or Guv'Nors (Micky Francis) to read what really makes English hooligans tick.
Rating:
Summary: How can you people be fooled by this garbage?
Review: Quite how or why this book has come to in any way regarded as a meaningful work on the culture of soccer hooliganism escapes me because it is quite simply laughable. The quality of the writing is fine (as it should be for a former editor of Granta) but as anyone who knows anything about soccer in England will be aware, outsiders are rarely, if ever, tolerated by the gangs and journalists are universally hated which calls into question just how factual some of this book really is. As an Englishman, I actually found some of it quite insulting. Read the excellent Barmy Army or Everywhere We Go (Doug Brimson) or Guv'Nors (Micky Francis) to read what really makes English hooligans tick.
Rating: 
Summary: Awesome
Review: This is the definitive book on hooligans. The writing is intelligent, and Bill Buford often breaks down the society he's studying with an amusing and deprecating wit. On the back of the book it says that _Among the Thugs_ is never condescending, which is the diametric opposite of the truth. The thing that makes this book amusing is its ability to portray the sheer insanity of hooliganism as the circus freak show that it is. Other writers treat this subject with a been-there-done-that sort of nonchalance. Bill Buford, on the other hand, sees the phenomenon through the lens of a mild mannered American who is justifiably shocked and horrified by what he is witnessing. For the American reader, this is the ideal standpoint because it is important to emphasize just how utterly ridiculous, alien, and unfathomable hooligan behaviour is to a civiized American. I highly recommend this book as a fast, entertaining, action- packed, and often hilarious read.
Rating:
Summary: Compelling, but disturbing
Review: Extremely interesting, well-told story of the author's experience of the culture of football holligans in the UK. Disturbing to learn about the level of violence. It was an entertaining and compelling read, but ultimately left me a little sadder about human nature (and maybe a little wiser).
Rating:
Summary: Hooligans???
Review: Bill Buford makes a laughable attempt to write a hooligan book. I thought this book was terrible. I wanted to read about hooligans, instead I read about his philosophical ideas on crowds and people. What a joke! A waste of money, I recommending not buying this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Disturbing, but for different reasons
Review: An account of an American intellectual who submerges himself in the common rubble to learn their horrible violent, racist ways. Interestingly, each chapter is preceded by a small clippet from Victorian accounts that define and demonize the mob, i.e., the working people. Equally disturbing are author's metaphors that consistently compare people with animals. This book is exaggerated and indeed fabricated for the most part. Does violence occur during football matches--yes it does. But the author makes no attempt to explain this behaviour on a personal level; he views it as mob mentality. Furthermore, it downright insulting to the British public, which may or may not be a good thing. It is interesting, but the tone of the book is not objective--it's an elitist account, written in inflated diction, of an upper class professional "trying" to understand the vulgar culture of the masses--culture that is made of thugs, Nazis, and alcoholics, according to the writer.
Rating:
Summary: An entertaining, close-up view at football hooligans
Review: Bill Buford slowly worked his way into a loose club of football hooligans. He witnessed, firsthand, football riots at away games and the daily lives of his subjects-- Britain's disaffected and alienated working class. This book is remarkable document. It pulls no punches-- I felt a lot of sympathy and kinship with many of the hooligans. They are simply people who are bored by all the trivial entertainment around us and want a more visceral and demanding set of experiences from life. Their crime? Too much passion. Too much patriotism. Too much of a desire to leave the everyday world of dead-end jobs behind. This book is much better than something like 'Fight Club'. I recommend it to any amateur anthropologist interested in the modern human condition.
Rating:
Summary: Great work of fiction
Review: I think the author here either has some major issues ne needs to deal with . The kind of people described here in the book are about 1 1,000th of how british soccer fans are .This is a very insulting to anyone born in the Uk
Rating:
Summary: Too dated and unbelievable
Review: Although good in its day, the simple truth is that this book has been overtaken by the explosion of hooligan related books in Britain. More importantly, anyone who knows anything about the hooligan scene will quickly realise that this book is simply too far fetched to be taken seriously. People just do not gain access to these type of groups that easily as I know from experince in my younger days. A far better book on this subject is one which is sadly not available in the US but is entitled Barmy Army by Dougie Brimson.
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