The Hooligans

Do not panic. Lord Thistlebottom's Book of Pitfalls and How to Survive Them has taught Roxie Warbler how to handle all sorts of situations. If Roxie's ever lost in the desert, or buried in an avalanche, or caught in a dust storm, she knows just what to do. But Lord Thistlebottom has no advice to help Roxie deal with Helvetia's Hooligans, the meanest band of bullies in school. Then Roxie finds herself stranded on a deserted island with not only the Hooligans but also a pair of crooks on the lam, and her survival skills may just save the day -- and turn the Hooligans into surprising allies.

A gripping and authentic World War II naval adventure by a master storyteller The Hooligans fictionalizes the little-known but remarkable exploits of “The Hooligan Navy” that fought in the Pacific theatre of World War II. Loosely-organized in fast moving squadrons, PT (patrol torpedo) boats were the pesky nemesis of the formidable Japanese navy, dubbed “the mosquito fleet” and “devil boats” for their daring raids against warships, tankers, and transport ships. After the Pearl Harbor raid plunges America into war, young surgical resident Lincoln Anderson enlists in the Navy medical corps. His first deployment comes in August 1942 at Guadalcanal, when after a brutal sea battle and the landing of Marines on the island, Anderson finds himself triaging hundreds of casualties under relentless Japanese air and land attacks. But with the navy short of doctors, soon Anderson is transferred to serve aboard a PT boat. From Guadalcanal to the Solomon Islands to the climactic, tide-turning battle of Leyte Gulf, Anderson and the crew members of his boat confront submarines and surface ships, are attacked from air by the dreaded Kawanishi flying boats, and hunted by destroyers. In the end, Anderson must lead a division of boats in a seemingly-impossible mission against a Japanese battleship formation—and learn the true nature of his character. Informed by P. T. Deutermann’s own experience as a commander of a patrol gunboat in Vietnam, The Hooligans is first-rate military adventure fiction.

Explore the history of football violence on the UK's rail network.

In the notorious 1980s, football violence was rife. The yobs were rampant, crowds were falling and the Government was near despair. One of the worst gangs was identified as a multi-racial crew of thugs and thieves who followed Birmingham City FC. They looted shops, ransacked pubs and butchered rivals. They called themselves the Zulu Warriors. In 1987, after a bloody assault on one of their own, West Midlands Police set up a secret unit to infiltrate the Zulus and bring them down. Michael Layton, an ambitious and determined detective, assembled a small team in a secret location and set out to gather evidence on scores of targets. Operation Red Card was born. It was fraught with danger. A key informant played a deadly game to pass on vital intelligence about the gang. Undercover officers faced the constant threat of exposure and reprisal, on one occasion being locked in a pub and interrogated by a hostile crowd. Others faced arrest by unwitting colleagues when caught up in brawls while posing as would-be hooligans. The climax came with co-ordinated dawn raids to round up the ringleaders and their footsoldiers. But similar mass trials had collapsed in court amid claims of improper evidence-gathering. Would the case stand up? Hunting The Hooligans is the first ever inside account of an anti-hooligan operation by the man who ran it, and of the brave cops who pushed it to the limit. REVIEWS "Forget your I.D.s and your Green Streets - this is real football hooliganism: how the West Midlands Police brought the notorious Birmingham Zulu Warriors to book. Detective Michael Layton's first-hand tale is an often-harrowing insight into 1980s' organised crime."

A thrilling look at how hooliganism continues to blight the beautiful game

Hooligan-turned-acclaimed author Dougie Brimson is the UK's most respected authority on soccer hooligan-ism. Now, in a book written specifically for an American audience, he tells the astonishing story of the rampant hooliganism among European soccer fans and how it could spread to the United States. Written in the raw, in-your-face style that has won considerable acclaim in Europe--the Daily Mail (London) said Brimson had written probably the best book ever on soccer violence--March of the Hooligans is a powerfully intimate look at what hooliganism has become and where it is headed.

“An undeniably enjoyable read.” —Booklist “A charming sequel.” —School Library Journal Roxie and the Hooligans are back and this time, Smoky Jo is swiped by a kidnapper who is as blunder-prone as Roxie, Uncle Dangerfoot, and Lord Thistlebottom are clever. Roxie is back! And that means the Hooligans are not far behind. The last time we saw the lot of them, they were being honored as town heroes for thwarting a bank robbery. Now these friends find more trouble afoot…that is, Uncle Dangerfoot to be exact. Roxie’s most beloved uncle is taking her on vacation to a beach house, and of course the Hooligans sneak along. But their little beach vacation is not what it seems when the Hooligans unveil the secret invention Uncle Dangerfoot has been hiding from his nemesis, who would do anything to get his hands on it. So when one of those rowdy, messy, trouble-making Hooligans goes missing, the suspect is obvious. But, when it comes to those LOUD, mess-making, rambunctious, always-hungry, ill-mannered Hooligans, what’s worse: Missing a Hooligan? Or staying sane while keeping her hostage?!

Swearing, drunkenness, promiscuity, playing loud music, brawling—in the Soviet Union these were not merely bad behavior, they were all forms of the crime of "hooliganism." Defined as "rudely violating public order and expressing clear disrespect for society," hooliganism was one of the most common and confusing crimes in the world's first socialist state. Under its shifting, ambiguous, and elastic terms, millions of Soviet citizens were arrested and incarcerated for periods ranging from three days to five years and for everything from swearing at a wife to stabbing a complete stranger. Hooligans in Khrushchev's Russia offers the first comprehensive study of how Soviet police, prosecutors, judges, and ordinary citizens during the Khrushchev era (1953–64) understood, fought against, or embraced this catch-all category of criminality. Using a wide range of newly opened archival sources, it portrays the Khrushchev period—usually considered as a time of liberalizing reform and reduced repression—as an era of renewed harassment against a wide range of state-defined undesirables and as a time when policing and persecution were expanded to encompass the mundane aspects of everyday life. In an atmosphere of Cold War competition, foreign cultural penetration, and transatlantic anxiety over "rebels without a cause," hooliganism emerged as a vital tool that post-Stalinist elites used to civilize their uncultured working class, confirm their embattled cultural ideals, and create the right-thinking and right-acting socialist society of their dreams.