At the Fights: American Writers on Boxing : A Library of America Special Publication

Features Literary Excerpts And Articles Written By Sportswriters And Authors That Celebrate One Hundred Years Of American Boxing. Johnson Vs. Jeffries / Jack London -- Cobb Fights It Over Again / Irvin S. Cobb -- Dempsey Vs. Carpentier / H. L. Mencken -- The Orthodox Champion / Heywood Broun -- My Fights With Jack Dempsey / Gene Tunney -- Brown Bomber / Sherwood Anderson -- Pity The Poor Giant / Paul Gallico -- Louis Knocks Out Schmeling / Bob Considine -- High Tide In Harlem: Joe Louis As A Symbol Of Freedom / Richard Wright -- Brownsville Bum / W. C. Heinz -- Night For Joe Louis / Red Smith -- Down Great Purple Valleys / John Lardner -- As It Was In The Long Ago / Frank Graham -- Kearns By A Knockout ; Ahab And Nemesis / A. J. Liebling -- Archie / Jimmy Cannon -- The Fight: Patterson Vs. Liston / James Baldwin -- Floyd Patterson / Gay Talese -- From James Norris And The Decline Of Boxing / Barney Nagler --the Champ And The Chump / Murray Kempton -- Miami Notebook: Cassius Clay And Malcolm X / George Plimpton -- Beethoven To Boxing / Larry Merchant -- Amen To Sonny / Joe Flaherty --^ Muhammad Ali Then And Now / Dick Schaap -- From The Fight / Norman Mailer -- Pride Of The Tiger / Robert Lipsyte -- Lawdy, Lawdy, He's Great / Mark Kram -- Nowhere To Run / John Schulian -- Roberto Duran's New York State Of Mind / Vic Ziegel -- Sweeter Than Sugar / Leonard Gardner -- The Fight (the King Is Dead) ; From Moving Pictures / Budd Schulberg -- Then All The Joy Turned To Sorrow / Ralph Wiley -- Eight Minutes Of Fury / Pat Putnam -- Up The Stairs With Cus D'amato / Pete Hamill -- From Paper Trails / Pete Dexter -- From The Black Lights / Thomas Hauser -- Never Say Never: Ray Mancini's Last Fight / Bill Barich -- Leonard-hagler: The Fight And Its Aftermath / George Kimball -- Ringworld / Gerald Early -- Still Hungry After All These Years / Richard Hoffer -- Donfire Of The Vanities / Mike Lupica -- Rape And The Boxing Ring / Joyce Carol Oates -- My Friend, My Teacher / Jerry Izenberg -- The Fight's Over, Joe / William Nack -- The Great (almost) White Hope / Mark Kriegel --^ Kid Dynamite Blows Up: Mike Tyson / David Remnick -- The Knockout: Lucia Rijker / Katherine Dunn -- From Compass Points: How I Lived / Edward Hoagland -- Champion At Twilight / Carlo Rotella. Edited By George Kimball & John Schulian ; Foreword By Colum Mccann. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. A collection of essays by James Baldwin, Norman Mailer, and other beloved American writers on the primal contest in the boxing ring—and the crazy carnival world outside it From neighborhood gyms and smoke-filled arenas to star-studded casinos and exotic locales, American writers 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 is 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. American writers have always been fascinated by the ringby the primal contest inside the ropes and the crazy carnival world outside them. From back-alley gyms and smoke-filled arenas to star-studded casinos and exotic locales, they have chronicled unforgettable stories about determination and dissipation, great champions and punch-drunk has-beens, colorful entourages and outrageous promoters, and, inevitably along the way, have written incisively about race, class, and spectacle in America. Like baseball, boxing has a vivid culture and language all its own, one that has proven irresistible to career sportswriters and literary essayists alike. This gritty and glittering anthology gathers a century of the very best writing 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, the first Fight of the Century that captivated the world in the 1920s; Richard Wright on Joe Louiss historic first-round knockout of Max Schmeling; A. J. Lieblings brilliantly comic portrait of a manager who really identifies with his fighter; Jimmy Cannon on Archie Moore, the greatest fighter of the 1950s; James Baldwin and Gay Talese on Floyd Pattersons epic tilt with Sonny Liston; 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 DAmato; Mark Kriegel on Oscar De la Hoya; and David Remnick and Joyce Carol Oates on Mike Tyson. National Book Awardwinning novelist Colum McCann (Let the Great World Spin) offers a foreword. 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

Named a best book of 2011 by the San Francisco Chronicle, At the Fights is a gritty and glittering anthology of the very best writing about boxing. Here are Jack London on the immortal Jack Johnson; 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 Archie Moore, the greatest fighter of the 1950s; James Baldwin and Gay Talese on Floyd Patterson’s epic fight with Sonny Liston; 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) offers a foreword and, in a new preface, John Schulian pays tribute to his co-editor, George Kimball, who lost his battle with cancer in 2011.