Cowboys Full: The Story of Poker (Hardcover) ~ James McManus (Au... Cover Art

Cowboys Full: The Story of Poker (Hardcover)

By: James McManus (Author)


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Review

"COWBOYS FULL is 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."

"McManus writes with verve and knowledge, though his book is a little sprawling....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."

"Poker now has what must surely be its definitive history in this excellent, comprehensive account of the game....The 'national card game,' [McManus] asserts, embodies essential American qualities. It's an ambitious objective, but the book achieves it by connecting the game to American culture." (starred review)

Publisher's note

Traces the history of poker from its origins in China, the Middle East and Europe to its ascent as a global phenomenon, offering additional insight into the game's considerable role in American culture. By the best-selling author of Positively Fifth Street. 75,000 first printing.

Traces the history of poker from its origins in China, the middle east, and Europe to its ascent as a global phenomenon, offering additional insight into the game's considerable role in American culture. By the best-selling author of Positively Fifth Street. 75,000 first printing.

Annotation

James McManus, who memorably chronicled the genesis of his own poker obsession in POSITIVELY FIFTH STREET, expands his analysis to examine the history of the poker's evolution and to reveal how the game came to represent the essence of American culture. McManus identifies possible roots of poker from all over the globe, but shows that the game developed into its most popular form in the United States, primarily on Mississippi river boats and among Civil War soldiers. He places the game directly in history by documenting many of its most famous enthusiasts, including several U.S. presidents, from Abe Lincoln to Richard Nixon to Barack Obama. One of McManus's more fascinating focal points is how poker has gone from a game dominated by cheaters, who employed an astounding array of innovative and amusing techniques, to a legitimate enterprise which privileges charisma, cunning, and calculation.

For almost two hundred years, poker has been America's favorite game. From the kitchen-table games of ordinary citizens to the stratagems of generals and diplomats, poker has gone hand in hand with our national experience. Presidents from Abraham Lincoln to Barack Obama have deployed it 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, managing risk and reward." ""Cowboys Full "traces the story of poker from its roots in China, the Middle East, and Europe to its ascent as a global 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. It shows how what was once accurately called the cheater's game has become a mostly honest contest of cunning, mathematical precision, and luck. It explains how poker is now the most popular card game in Europe, East Asia, Australia, South America, and cyberspace, as well as on television. Along the way, it examines poker's remarkable hold on American culture in countless poker novels, movies, and plays."" James McManus, the author of the bestselling "Positively Fifth Street," combines colorful history with firsthand experience from today's professional tour. He introduces the reader to every major poker variant. He profiles the game's most famous (and notorious) players. And he marries the thrill of individual hands with new ways of seeing poker's relevance to our military, diplomatic, business, and personal affairs. "Cowboys Full "is the definitive story of the game that, more than any other, explains who we are and how we operate.



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