Oh Mother, Mother I'm in love with a gamblin' man

I bought Kevin Cook's biography on the great American gambler and proposition man, Titanic Thompson for £1 in a GQ book sale the a few weeks ago. I picked it up because I only really read biographies and autobiographies now; they're a lot easier to dip in and out of on various tube and train journeys, plus I read enough 'real' books during my English Lit degree. And look how appealing the cover is:
What also appealed was that Titanic's life began in frontier times, in rural Arkansas, and he then led an almost nomadic life, travelling around America tricking and conning and gambling his way to notoriety. He was gambling with the gangsters of the prohibition era, who I have become deeply fascinated with. I am so interested in America and its history, which is inextricable from his life story. Titanic was at the high stakes poker game which resulted in the murder of Arnold Rothstein, and subsequently was called to trial, which is where he was thrust into the public eye. It is easy to forget that, in the time before the internet, mobile phones, camera phones etc that a man could travel around the States as an unknown and hustle in every town; nowadays all you would need is someone with a camera phone to record a man like Titanic seemingly throwing a lemon over a five story building and he would be an internet star within hours. Rothstein is mentioned in 'The Godfather' (he was the guy who fixed the 1919 Baseball World Series) and I caught some of 'Boardwalk Empire' the other night (a programme I wish I could watch but a stunning and frequently naked Paz de la Huerta means I can't face it, that show has tits all over the shop, boo) and he was mentioned all the time, but I don't know if he is ever seen. I think I will track down a biography on him to read at some point.

I won't go in to too much detail but despite all of his faults and the fact he was clearly crooked and perhaps somewhere on the autistic spectrum with his obsessive repetitions and lack of emotional connections, I still came away liking him; for all of his fakeness in the way he tricked people, he was very honest when it came to his relationships with his wives - they knew the score and he looked after them financially when it didn't work out. He seems almost superhuman in his varied competences, he was a master of all trades. He inspired the character Sky Masterson in Guys and Dolls and I really hope Cook's book is being adapted to a screenplay as we speak as it would make a great movie. This book is so well written and engaging, I read it in less than a week (daily tube journeys and two train journeys). I bet money you would love it.