Hustlers, Beats, and Others

A classic is back in print and the new materials show Polsky to be at the top of his game. Bravo! The work will likely influence yet another generation of sociologists--who will be delighted to find that keen observation, critical thinking, thoughtful analysis and fine writing need not be mutually exclusive. Students have always enjoyed this book as much as their professors have been proud of having assigned it. I'm glad to see that this tradition will continue.

As one familiar with the 1969 edition, I am impressed with the amount of valuable new material in this reissue. The author has added about 23,000 words to the original. The additions deal with the current poolroom revival and its causes, the further decline of the old bachelor subculture and of pool hustling, the entry of women into the formerly all-male preserve of the poolroom, the great increase of coin-operated tables in bars, and recent books on pool and pool history. Polsky also announces his discovery of the only surviving copy of the first English book on billiards, and gives us the first reproduction of the title page. He updates the books earlier essays on the Beats and their influence in American society, on research methods for studying crime, and on pornography's producers, consumers, and opponents. Back-cover blurbs from reviews of the original book call it a classic. A new blurb from novelist David Markson says that the additions alone are worth the price of this expanded new edition. I strongly agree.

Hustlers, Beats and Others is Ned Polsky's fascinating examination of the underground life of pool hustlers, and how hustlers fit (or don't) into larger society. The book discusses how pool players see themselves, the milieu in which they operate, and the connection between poolroom life and single men. One of Polsky's central points is that pool halls, historically, have been exclusive clubs for some of life's outcasts. And within the confines of a poolhall, a shoeshine boy, if he can run balls, is often king. As a companion to this fascinating bit of interpretive anthropology, read David McCumber's Playing off the Rail, which chronicles the exploits of a modern day hustler