At the Fights: American Writers on Boxing: A Library of America Special Publication Contributor(s): Kimball, George (Editor), Schulian, John (Editor), McCann, Colum (Introduction by) |
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ISBN: 1598530925 ISBN-13: 9781598530926 Publisher: Library of America OUR PRICE: $31.50 Product Type: Hardcover - Other Formats Published: March 2011 |
Additional Information |
BISAC Categories: - Sports & Recreation | Boxing - Literary Criticism | Short Stories - Sports & Recreation | Essays |
Dewey: 796.83 |
LCCN: 2010930474 |
Series: Library of America |
Physical Information: 1.31" H x 6.37" W x 9.29" (1.81 lbs) 560 pages |
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
Publisher Description: American writers have been fascinated by the ring, both the primal contest inside the ropes and the crazy carnival world outside them. From neighborhood gyms and smoke-filled arenas to star-studded casinos and exotic locales, they have chronicled unforgettable stories about determination and dissipation, about great champions and punch-drunk has-beens, about colorful entourages and outrageous promoters, and, inevitably along the way, about race, class, and violence in America. Like baseball, boxing has a vivid culture and language all its own, one that has proven irresistible to career journalists and literary writers alike. The Library of America presents a gritty and glittering anthology of a century of the very best writing and reportage about the fights. Here are Jack London on the immortal Jack Johnson; H. L. Mencken and Irvin S. Cobb on Jack Dempsey vs. Georges Carpentier, dubbed The Fight of the Century; Richard Wright on Joe Louis's historic victory over Max Schmeling; A. J. Liebling's brilliantly comic portrait of a manager who really identifies with his fighter; Jimmy Cannon on the inimitable Archie Moore; James Baldwin and Gay Talese on the haunted Floyd Patterson; George Plimpton on Muhammad Ali and Malcolm X; Norman Mailer on the Rumble in the Jungle; Mark Kram on the Thrilla in Manila; Pete Hamill on legendary trainer and manager Cus D'Amato; Mark Kriegel on Oscar de la Hoya; and David Remnick and Joyce Carol Oates on Mike Tyson. National Book Award-winning novelist Colum McCann (Let the Great World Spin) weighs in with a foreword. |