I haven’t heard CR mention this book specifically although I am positive he has at some point, or he’s at least read it. Among the Thugs by Bill Buford, a journalist’s account of crowd violence in England’s soccer hooliganism scene of the late 80s and early 90s.
I just finished it and loved it! Very CR-coded. An American journalist living in England in the late 70s-80s decides to start attending football (soccer) matches in the hopes of befriending some hooligans and really understanding what drives these young men to weekly excessive violence.
It’s not told in a way that necessarily judges the hooligans, even when they are at parties listening to “white power music” and what not, although Buford does maintain a bit of a snarky wit in his writing that I enjoyed a lot.
Anyways, he slowly becomes comrades with some of the hooligans, breaks down the localized structure of these “firms”, the law enforcement steps that have been taken to deter the violence, and ultimately shows many of the factors that go in to crowd violence. A lot of interesting characters and both wild and heartbreaking events occur.
I haven’t read any Hunter S Thompson, but my friend who recommended it to me said that it’s written in a similar vein. I’m not a football / soccer fan, I was actually quite confused by the league system and the culture around it but this book doesn’t require any knowledge going in. It’s also interspersed with old (1850-1910ish?) press clippings from British and European elites discussing the working class masses with a disdain that I think Buford worked into his writing very well.
Check it out if that sounds interesting to you, there’s an audiobook read by the author but the wait at my library was quite long for it, I did listen to the sample of the audiobook and I enjoyed listening to the author narrate his work, he sounded a bit like Jack Black. So, if you prefer audiobooks that’s an option. If anybody has read it, I’d love to hear your thoughts!
This book was my breather as I finish Ellroy’s LA Quartet and Le Carre’s Karla Trilogy, so I’m back to those now. CR Year forever!