Backgammon, The Cruelest Game (by Barclay Cooke & Jon Bradshaw)

Backgammon is a cruel game. It's not really unkind in the same way that Ghengis Kahn was mean. This was a man who used his enemies as piņatas; Backgammon is cruel in the same, pitiless way the Rubick's cube was. Backgammon is a game that can tug on your emotions. After a few bad roles in a row even the closest of friends will find themselves accusing each other of cheating while checking the dice for weights. Chuck Bower was well aware of how hard the game could be when he penned his strategy book, Backgammon, The Cruelest Game.

When Random House published this book back in 1974, there were not many books in existence on the subject of Backgammon. The ones that were in print generally dealt with the basic strategic approach to the game. Bower's book was pretty much the first published work to deal with the concept of advanced strategy. More than thirty years later this book has stood the test of time and has managed to still be relevant.

Back when this book was written, people treated the backgammon board like Main Street in the Old West. They would hit their opponents with same bloodlust and reckless abandon of a classic gun fighter. The Cruelest Game advocated a defensive style that turned the tables on those who lived in attack mode, and turned their aggression against them. Eventually play turned around, and because of the impact that Bower's tome had on the game, suddenly everyone was playing defensively. Today the game is back to playing a daredevil style of offense, so the book is now as powerful as it was back on its original publishing date.

If you have mastered the basics, this book is a must read to advance your game to the next level of play.