Not really a travel book, like the rest of the Vintage Departures line, but an examination of another culture just the same. Bradshaw profiles six men with something in common–they are all hustlers, that is, gamblers who make a living by their wits. The range here is great, including the tennis player Bobby Riggs and backgammon great Tim Holland, as well as more “traditional” gamblers Minnesota Fats (pool), Pug Pearson and Johnny Moss (poker), and Titantic Thompson (proposition). But these were just what these men were best at–they all exceeded at almost every game they undertook, golf being an extremely common one for each. Bradshaw was a gifted writer. His style makes this book difficult to place down; the subject makes it nigh impossible.

[Finished 22 March 1993]