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The Story of Poker
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
November 2009
On Sale: October 27, 2009
528 pages
ISBN: 0374299242
EAN: 9780374299248
Hardcover
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Non-Fiction
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.
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