The Big Book of Thugs: Tough as Nails True Tales of the World's Baddest Mobs, Gangs, and Ne'er do Wells!

Paradox Press series of Big Books

by Joel Rose

Tough as nails true tales of the world's baddest mobs, gangs, and ne'er do wells, this entry in the popular BIG BOOKS series focuses on gangs from ancient India to the mean streets of New York, from the Revolutionary War to the Wild West.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Nonfiction, Crime, History, True Crime, Anthologies

192 pages, Paperback

First published November 14, 1996

Reviews

[Quentin Wallace · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 Stars

Another great volume in the Big Book series. This one wasn't quite as interesting to me as some other volumes, partly due to the fact it seemed very similar to the Big Book of Little Criminals which I read not long before reading this one. Still, some very interesting facts about early American gangs and criminals. Until I saw the film Gangs of New York, I never realized gangs had controlled the city back in the 1800s-turn of the century period. (And even after seeing the movie, wondered how accurate the facts were.) But it seems there was a lot of truth to it and gangs really did run wild back then. Not to mention the gangs of the wild west, and even gangs of the early 1900s. Warren Harding's presidency seems to have basically been controlled by a gang.

Overall another great volume of interesting facts with entertaining art. What a great series.

[Kenny · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent collection of fascinating factoids

[tony dillard jr · Rating 4 out of 5]

This entry in 'The Big Book Of' series focuses on many of the lesser known gangs of primarily American history. But first, this book starts with an account of the origin of the word THUG from the history of the thuggees, a murderous cult from India.

Journalist Joel Rose looks at gangs from all eras of American history. From it's colonial era days that in ways ignites the spark of American Independence through the old West to the gang wars of New York City. We see glimpses of Mafia's origins in Chicago, L.A. and Las Vegas. Lastly, we see how even the political parties of the United States used corruption, racism and patriotism to become some of the most vicious gangs in American history.

This wasn't my favorite entry in the series. But I did enjoy it. I think the Big Books are best when they deal with the strange and macabre. There are some characters in this book. And they are the ones I liked best. The lengthy account of the Warren G. Harding administration was rather good too!

Once again, some of the industries most legendary artists join together to bring fans of history, crime and graphic novels an eclectic look at the darker sides of America. The Big Book of Thugs may not be pretty with it's lynchings, riots and killing. But it's a visually stunning book!

[Daniel A. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Truth be told, there's not much that can be said about The Big Book of Thugs—largely written by crime historian Joel Rose with assistance from a few dozen other comics creators—that can't be said about other, similar entries in DC Comics/Paradox Press' Big Book Of . . . series: The Big Book of Thugs is fun as well as entertaining; it provides glimpses into areas of history with which many readers may not be familiar, digested into bite-size portions; and the art is generally nice to look at and treats the subject matter with the gravitas it generally deserves. Where The Big Book of Thugs stands out, perhaps, is that, unlike, say, The Big Book of Little Criminals, an earlier entry in the series, this volume is probably more straightforward in its subject matter—which perhaps befits the more straightforward tactics of the criminal elements described therein, as Rose makes clear in his introduction. All in all, a worthy addition to the Big Books Of . . . series.

[Mati · Rating 2 out of 5]

The thugs bands were roaming cities trough the history and this book is full of stories about such bands. Sadly only few stries are from the another part of the world then America, which made this book little bit dull for non American reader. The most interesting story was about Indian sect, which gave thugs the name.

[Elusive.Mystery · Rating 3 out of 5]

After seeing this book at some friends’ cabin, I was delighted to find a copy at Powell’s Book. Strange tales told in graphic novel format. Looks like the U.S. was a crazy place to live in its early days…

[T. Smith]

"Big Book of..." is great illustrated series on a wide variety of topics with lots of top-notch artists and authors.