Titanic Thompson
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4.8 • 5 Ratings
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- $8.99
Publisher Description
Titanic Thompson' is a rollicking biography of one of the most charismatic characters in twentieth-century America. Like Howard Hughes or Bonnie and Clyde, Alvin 'Titanic' Thompson was one of the great figures of this freewheeling era; the difference between them: hardly anyone knows Titanic's name today.
Travelling only with his golf clubs, a .45 revolver, and a suitcase full of cash, this is the legendary story of a man who was married five times to five different girls, the oldest just eighteen on her wedding day; of a man who murdered five men, though he'd say 'they'd all agree they had it coming to them'; and of a man who won and lost millions - when a pro golfer would earn $10,000 a year, he was playing single holes for $20,000.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Cook (Tommy's Honor), a former Sports Illustrated editor, introduces his portrait of the larger-than-life "Titanic" Thompson (1892 1974) as a self-made man from the Ozarks who loved games of chance and had a knack for winning incredible sums of money. In a lyrical account of the gambling legend who inspired Damon Runyon's character Sky Masterson (Guys and Dolls), Cook describes Thompson as a "rogue wind that lifted girls' skirts and turned gamblers' pockets inside out." Thompson possessed the steel nerves of a card shark, the bravado of an outlaw, and the staying power of a satyr, preferring his girls young and pretty. Rumor has it that he drove a swank Pierce-Arrow (driving from town to town to ply his hustling trade), carried a gun (he reportedly killed five men) and a suitcase full of cash, and rubbed elbows with Houdini, Capone, and gamblers Arnold "the Brain" Rothstein and Nick the Greek. Thompson excelled at golf before PGA Tours began, competing with professional golfers Ben Hogan and Sam Snead. Cook's raucous narrative introduces readers to an eccentric, fascinating personality. 20 illus.
