Books by Thomas Fensch

First published in 1970, The Lions and the Lambs profiles the best pool players of that time. It followed the release of The Hustler, a highly acclaimed-and financially successful film-starring Paul Newman and Jackie Gleason. Until 1970, there has been no book about pool/billiards that separated the facts from the legends of this timeless sport. Shakespeare mentions billiards in Anthony and Cleopatra; Mary Queen of Scots played the game and Lord Bryon also mentioned billiards. Lions, in the language of the game, are gamblers or hustlers; those who can win when there is money on the table; Lambs are tournament players, but not necessary gamblers. The book includes both categories of players; each chapter is a comprehensive profile of the player-his (or her) attitudes toward the game and comments about other players. Also included is a Introduction about pool in the United States; a section about the film The Hustler and a lexicon of terms. It is illustrated with a wide variety of photographs, many taken by the author. The book went out-of-print after its original printing and the book publisher also disappeared. Copies available on the internet have listed at $200-$250 or more; this is a reprint of the 1970 edition.

After the Spanish Civil War, thousands of Spanish fascists immigrated to Cuba. With financing by the American Embassy in Havana, Hemingway recruited a ragtag band to spy on the fascists. He called them the "crook factory." The FBI became enraged that he was poaching on their territory.

"e;at the dangerous edge of social justice"e; is a searing indictment of reprehensible - and often -- murderous racism in America -- from Huck Finn and Nigger Jim on the Mississippi, to the murder of Emmett Till in in Mississippi, in 1955, the murder of Medgar Evers in 1963, Malcolm X in 1965, Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968, James Byrd Jr., in Texas in 1998 and Trayvon Martin in 2012. Other chapters include pioneers who survived the Civil Rights years, such as Rosa Parks. This is stark, unvarnished history. Highly important for understanding 20th century American culture.

This revised edition covers the process of sports writing. Topics include: observation; interviewing techniques and various structures of articles; types of "leads"; and other style and technique points.