- ISBN13: 9780374299248
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
Product Description
From James McManus, author of the bestselling Positively Fifth Street, comes the definitive story of the game that, more than any other, reflects who we are and how we operate.Cowboys Full is the story of poker, from its roots in China, the Middle East, and Europe to its ascent as a global—but especially an American—phenomenon. It describes how early Americans took a French parlor game and, with a few extra cards and an entrepreneurial spirit, turn… More >>
Cowboys Full: The Story of Poker
Tags: american phenomenon, ascent, Cowboys, definitive story, entrepreneurial spirit, french parlor, Full, james mcmanus, parlor game, Poker, remainder mark, Story
#1 by Lolly Hellman on March 26, 2010 - 1:53 am
Aside from the Gardena chapter, I thought this book was extremely well written. James McManus has also writing “Positively Fifth Street” and ladies this is a book we should all have in our tote bag besides your gun. Lots to learn. Writing a book about poker can not be an easy task, I certainly am not up to the task and I hope everyone will excuse my previous ill review of this book. I am re-reading it right now and have already found insights that have pique my interest. I am 57 and have been playing poker since I was 14. I sneaked into a Gardena casino, lied about my age, and played poker so I would have money to get a room for the night. I moved to Vegas and started playing with the “Big Dogs” and they took me under their wing and taught me all they knew. I am an old time poker player, a satisfied old time poker player, but if you want to be up-to-date on what is happening in the poker world than “Cowboys Full” is mandatory reading. When my father raped me at age 14 and said “you’re dead tomorrow,” I left that night, hitchhiked to Gardena, met Charlie Ventura, and was on my way to a new life, with no regrets. James McManus has followed poker for The New York Times (my favorite) the L.A. Times, Harpers, [...] and The New Yorker. I have only been published in Vanity Fair and Readers Digest, so who am I to judge this author. Read the book, you will learn a lot. Read about Stu Ungar’s life and learn from it. Stu was a great friend and it’s hard not to cry just thinking about him. Mea Culpa to James McManus. Keep up the good work. Lolly Hellman ilovebleu@hotmail.com
Rating: 3 / 5
#2 by H. E. Nelson on March 26, 2010 - 3:55 am
Picked this up in the bookstore, flipped through it, and was interested enough to buy it. That’s the good news. The bad news is that after reading the first chapter, I threw it away.
McManus spends the chapter detailing his affection for Obama, while denigrating GW and McCain. I kept checking to see if Keith Olbermann was the author.
I am of course accustomed to liberal bias in the “arts”, and have learned to live with it, but it took me aback in a book detailing the history of poker. It is akin to watching what would be a PG movie, and suddenly being barraged with cursing only inserted to give an R rating. It’s not so much what is said, but it’s inappropriateness in the setting.
Why an author would deliberately alienate half his readers in the first chapter is a mystery to me. His feelings must run very deep. I persisted, however, until he stated that “Geneticists have now learned there is literally such a thing as American DNA…”
That was enough for me. Between his politics and his science, I knew there was nothing of value to me in this 488 page book.
I have never written any review of any kind before, but I hope that I can spare someone else the disappointment I felt reading this drivel.
Rating: 1 / 5
#3 by Jeffrey Roughgarden on March 26, 2010 - 4:01 am
Given the positive reviews this book has gotten, and given my love of poker, I really thought I’d like this book. But the first 100 pages put me to sleep. I really don’t care about the history of playing cards (they started out as pieces of silk and have had up to 10 suits and 100 cards or as few as 20 cards) or the names of the games that may have been ancestors to poker. The writing syle is ponderous. Really disappointing.
Rating: 2 / 5
#4 by Douglas W. Hansen on March 26, 2010 - 6:39 am
Wow. I bought a book on the history of poker and got a cliched contemporaneous critique of the Bush administration and its Middle East strategy in the bargain, along with fawning adoration of a President whose administration is not yet one year old in the very first chapter.
Anyone who aspires to being a historian should stick to analyzing history when it becomes history rather than going all-in in the very first hand with his opinion about events and politicians whose history and contributions thereto are still unfolding.
After that opening stumble we are presented with a compelling and exhaustively researched book on poker’s rich context in history. Like the games of pool and billiards, poker’s stigma keeps it’s role in history as a strategic metaphor from being recognized by the shapers of history who are also avid poker players.
Poker is probably a more widely played and purely cerebral game than the cue games but often avid players of one are also avid players of the other.
Do these great historical figures play poker because they are avid strategists or vice versa? Probably more the former than the latter.
Also to be fair, re: above, the author gives a fascinating inner glimpse of the genius and pluck behind Richard Nixon. Who knew Nixon financed his first campaign largely from poker winnings?
Rating: 3 / 5
#5 by sean crowley on March 26, 2010 - 8:51 am
I am both a poker and a history buff and I thought this book would be right up my alley. There are half a dozen worthwhile chapters. But even those really could have used the services of an editor. The unnecessary asides, attempts to be cute and the incessantly relayed belief that somehow poker introduced the idea of bluffing into the American psyche combine to make this the most laborious of reads. The author and his editors seem to have no way of separating the critical information for the rest of the information. Just endlessly aggravating.
Rating: 2 / 5