McGoorty: The Story of a Billiard Bum.

Byrne, Robert (author).

Danny McGoorty was a hard-drinking, unreconstructed billiards hustler, and his as-told-to autobiography (Byrne would go on to become pool’s preeminent author) is a rollicking and completely unexpurgated journey through Capone-era Chicago and beyond. McGoorty describes smoky pool halls, bootleg whiskey, and willing women with a flamboyant, joyful obscenity that is as ingratiating as it is intemperate. Those fooled by sepia-toned photographs into thinking that the past was a more innocent time will change their minds after reading this.