Synopses & Reviews
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 globalbut especially an Americanphenomenon. It describes how early Americans took a French parlor game and, with a few extra cards and an entrepreneurial spirit, turned it into a national craze by the time of the Civil War. From the kitchen-table games of ordinary citizens to its influence on generals and diplomats, poker has gone hand in hand with our national experience. Presidents from Abraham Lincoln to Barack Obama have deployed poker and its strategies to explain policy, to relax with friends, to negotiate treaties and crises, and as a political networking tool. The ways we all do battle and business are echoed by poker tactics: cheating and thwarting cheaters, leveraging uncertainty, bluffing and sussing out bluffers, managing risk and reward.
Cowboys Full shows how what was once accurately called the cheaters game has become amostly honest contest of cunning, mathematical precision, and luck. It explains how poker, formerly dominated by cardsharps, is now the most popular card game in Europe, East Asia, Australia, South America, and cyberspace, as well as on television. It combines colorful history with firsthand experience from todays professional tour. And it examines pokers remarkable hold on American culture, from paintings by Frederic Remington to countless poker novels, movies, and plays. Braiding the thrill of individual hands with new ways of seeing pokers relevance to our military, diplomatic, business, and personal affairs, Cowboys Full is sure to become the classic account of Americas favorite pastime.
James McManus has covered poker for The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Harpers Magazine, Card Player, ESPN.com, and The NewYorker. Positively Fifth Street, his memoir of finishing fifth in the World Series of Poker championship event, was a New York Times bestseller and is already considered a classic. Winner of the Society for Midland Authors Best Nonfiction Award
Cowboys Full is the story of poker, from its roots in China, the Middle East, and Europe to its ascent as a globalbut especially an Americanphenomenon. It describes how early Americans took a French parlor game and, with a few extra cards and an entrepreneurial spirit, turned it into a national craze by the time of the Civil War. From the kitchen-table games of ordinary citizens to its influence on generals and diplomats, poker has gone hand in hand with our national experience. The ways we all do battle and business are echoed by poker tactics: cheating and thwarting cheaters, leveraging uncertainty, bluffing and sussing out bluffers, managing risk and reward.
McManus's history shows how what was once accurately called the cheaters game has become amostly honest contest of cunning, mathematical precision, and luck. It explains how poker, formerly dominated by cardsharps, is now the most popular card game in Europe, East Asia, Australia, South America, and cyberspace, as well as on television. It combines colorful history with firsthand experience from todays professional tour. And it examines pokers remarkable hold on American culture, from paintings by Frederic Remington to countless poker novels, movies, and plays. Braiding the thrill of individual hands with new ways of seeing pokers relevance to our military, diplomatic, business, and personal affairs, Cowboys Full is sure to become the classic account of Americas favorite pastime.
"McManus writes with verve and knowledge . . . The thoughts on poker terms and principles in global politics, and on the application of game theory to fields like cancer research, are interesting, although McManus does sometimes exaggerate or stretch a point . . . Cowboys Full is so entertaining, informative and genial that McManus can be forgiven for occasionally overplaying his hand."Robert Pinsky, The New York Times
"[McManus] tracks the evolution of poque, a French parlor-game that made landfall in 19th-century New Orleans, from Mississippi steamboats to Civil War battlefields to American kitchen tables, the White House and the Internet . . . [McManus] is a reliable guide to a pastime that . . . seems less like subculture than culture."Justin Moyer, The Washington Post
The story of poker is that of risk-loving America and, recently, the rest of the world. Here is that crazy ride in unparalleled detail, driven by wit, wisdom, true love, and sizzling style. As analyst, historian, devotee, and no mean player, James McManus is pokers most eloquent advocate.”Anthony Holden, author of Big Deal, Bigger Deal and Holden on Holdem
Mr. McManus writes about our American love of poker like James A. Michener describing the Plains Indians discovery of the buffalo: Wait a second . . . I can eat it, wear it, make it into a drum . . . Theres nothing I cant do with this sonofabitch. I would throw in A joy for poker players and non-players alike, but, of the second group, who cares what they readand I dont think there are enough of them to affect Mr. McManuss royalties.”David Mamet
Before the burst of a million online geniuses, James McManus was already writing the best material on poker, and Cowboys Full proves that nothings changed. A must-read!”Antonio Esfandiari, professional poker player
Poker now has what must surely be its definitive history in this excellent, comprehensive account of the game from the author of the widely hailed poker memoir Positively Fifth Street. In tracing the game from its early 19th-century roots in New Orleans to todays global phenomenon, McManus does more than present a history of poker: My goal is to show how the story of poker helps to explain who we are. The national card game, he asserts, embodies essential American qualities. Its an ambitious objective, but the book achieves it by connecting the game to American culture. Poker, it turns out, is inextricably linked with history, from the Civil War to the cold war, and with politics . . . The book also outlines the re-emergence of poker in recent years as a pastime for many millions and, for a select few, a reasonably legitimate profession.” Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Like Leonard Cohen said, no man wants to give up the holy game of poker. Fortunately, James McManus is staying in. While writing 2003's Positively Fifth Street, McManus famously parlayed a magazine article assignment into a seat at Binion's World Series of Poker. Now he delivers a history that tells the classic card game's story via the lives of larger-than-life players, from Wild Bill Hickok to Barack Obama . . . It doesn't hurt the book's authenticity that McManus knows the game inside and out."Kirkus Reviews
Review
"[A] deal-me-in delight. Starting with a sweeping survey of the history of the game and its role in American culture, McManus ends with a smart, insiders' analysis of how poker has been — and should be — played." The Boston Globe
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"A satisfying, useful overview — given poker's popularity, this is sure to be a prominent book this holiday season." Kirkus Reviews
Review
"McManus writes with verve and knowledge, though his book is a little sprawling....Cowboys Full is so entertaining, informative and genial that McManus can be forgiven for occasionally overplaying his hand." Robert Pinsky, The New York Times Book Review
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"McManus has a writer's eye for anecdotes and details that bring the material to life. The book covers a lot of ground, but thanks to McManus' particular blend of skills, it does so with insight, clarity and credibility." Seattle Times
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"While nonplayers may need to come up to speed on the basics, McManus devotes substantive consideration not just to poker's technical aspects but also to its philosophical disposition." Denver Post
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"Not a page of Cowboys Full goes by without a crackerjack yarn, as McManus shows how the game, like the country, grew in respectability even as its nature remained fundamentally freewheeling. He compares steamboat cardsharps of the 1830s to the bling-sporting rappers of today and makes a case for poker as the true national pastime, capable of righting baseball's wrongs: Arnold Rothstein, the mobster who fixed the 1919 "Black Sox" World Series, was shot dead after refusing to pay his losses in a stud game he thought was rigged." Aaron Mesh, The Wilson Quarterly (read the entire )
Synopsis
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, turned it into a national craze by the time of the Civil War. From the kitchen-table games of ordinary citizens to its influence on generals and diplomats, poker has gone hand in hand with our national experience. Presidents from Abraham Lincoln to Barack Obama have deployed poker and its strategies to explain policy, to relax with friends, to negotiate treaties and crises, and as a political networking tool. The ways we all do battle and business are echoed by poker tactics: cheating and thwarting cheaters, leveraging uncertainty, bluffing and sussing out bluffers, managing risk and reward.
Cowboys Full shows how what was once accurately called the cheater's game has become amostly honest contest of cunning, mathematical precision, and luck. It explains how poker, formerly dominated by cardsharps, is now the most popular card game in Europe, East Asia, Australia, South America, and cyberspace, as well as on television. It combines colorful history with firsthand experience from today's professional tour. And it examines poker's remarkable hold on American culture, from paintings by Frederic Remington to countless poker novels, movies, and plays.
Braiding the thrill of individual hands with new ways of seeing poker's relevance to our military, diplomatic, business, and personal affairs, Cowboys Full is sure to become the classic account of America's favorite pastime.
Synopsis
From the author of the bestselling Positively Fifth Street comes the definitive story of poker from its roots in China, the Middle East, and Europe to its ascent as a global — but especially an American — phenomenon.
Synopsis
A NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW EDITORS' CHOICE
Cowboys Full traces the story of poker from its roots in China, the Middle East, and Europe, through the back rooms of saloons and the parlors of U.S. presidents to its evolution as a global phenomenon. It describes how early Americans took a French parlor game and turned it into a national craze by the time of the Civil War. It explains how poker, once dominated by cardsharps, is now the most popular card game in Europe, East Asia, Australia, South America, and cyberspace, as well as on television. Along the way, James McManus examines the game's remarkable hold on American culture, seen in everything from Frederic Remington's paintings to countless poker novels, movies, and plays. Cowboys Full is raucous and fascinating, a lively, definitive history of the game that, more than any other, explains who we are and how we operate.
Synopsis
Cowboys Full is the story of poker, from its roots in China, the Middle East, and Europe to its ascent as a global phenomenon.
Synopsis
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, turned it into a national craze by the time of the Civil War. From the kitchen-table games of ordinary citizens to its influence on generals and diplomats, poker has gone hand in hand with our national experience. Presidents from Abraham Lincoln to Barack Obama have deployed poker and its strategies to explain policy, to relax with friends, to negotiate treaties and crises, and as a political networking tool. The ways we all do battle and business are echoed by poker tactics: cheating and thwarting cheaters, leveraging uncertainty, bluffing and sussing out bluffers, managing risk and reward.
Cowboys Full shows how what was once accurately called the cheaters game has become amostly honest contest of cunning, mathematical precision, and luck. It explains how poker, formerly dominated by cardsharps, is now the most popular card game in Europe, East Asia, Australia, South America, and cyberspace, as well as on television. It combines colorful history with firsthand experience from todays professional tour. And it examines pokers remarkable hold on American culture, from paintings by Frederic Remington to countless poker novels, movies, and plays. Braiding the thrill of individual hands with new ways of seeing pokers relevance to our military, diplomatic, business, and personal affairs, Cowboys Full is sure to become the classic account of Americas favorite pastime.
About the Author
James McManus has covered poker for the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Harper's Magazine, Card Player, ESPN.com, and The New Yorker. Positively Fifth Street (FSG, 2003), his memoir of finishing fifth in the World Series of Poker championship event, was a New York Times bestseller and is already considered a classic.