Bill Buford with Granta, between 1979 and 1985. Photograph by Bernard Gotfryd, courtesy of the Library of Congress. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

This month, we’re rolling out a new web series, One Book, which is more or less what it sounds like—an interview with an author about the making of just one of their books, not because that book has just been published (it could be decades old) or is in the news (though we’d be thrilled if it was), but because it is very good. This is the first installment. — Tarpley Hitt, online editor.

In 1984, Bill Buford, an American literary editor in his late twenties, began devoting his spare time to following “football hooligans”—a distinctive tribe of fans known for committing acts of violence and vandalism on match days. English soccer in those days was associated with brutality on the “terraces” (the standing area at stadiums) and in the streets before and after matches. Hooliganism was the so-called British disease, a source of national shame. Buford started going around with the Manchester United “firm,” or gang, known as the ICJ, or the Inter-City Jibbers. Later, he sought danger at a disco organized by the far-right group the National Front, and while traveling among England’s supporters at the World Cup. Read More