- ISBN13: 9780374272272
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
Product Description
A.J. Liebling’s classic New Yorker pieces on the “sweet science of bruising” bring vividly to life the boxing world as it once was. It depicts the great events of boxing’s American heyday: Sugar Ray Robinson’s dramatic comeback, Rocky Marciano’s rise to prominence, Joe Louis’s unfortunate decline. Liebling never fails to find the human story behind the fight, and he evokes the atmosphere in the arena as distinctly as he does the goings-on in the ring–a combinatio… More >>
Related posts:
Loading ...
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
If you like boxing and reading, then you are truly a rara avis. But if you do happen to belong to such a tiny cohort, then this book should provide a couple hours’ entertainment.
Liebling tries too hard to emulate H.L. Mencken’s style, and he doesn’t have the chops for it…but, at the same time, he knows how to describe the action inside the ring. (Not as well as Jack London, but well enough.) At all times, you sense the depth of his love for boxing.
Another reason to recommend this book is that Joyce Carol Oates thinks Liebling was a racist. (I know, I know…who the hell is Joyce Carol Oates?) If you read the book, you’ll discover that he wasn’t…and a few more things besides.
Rating: 4 / 5
Good trip down memory lane. Boxing was the king of sport. Great perspectives on the careet of Joe Louis and the rise of Rocky M.
Rating: 4 / 5
Sports Illustrated designated “The Sweet Science” the best book about sports ever written in the Western World and I agree with that assessment. Author Abbott Joseph Liebling was as fine a writer as American journalism ever produced and his favorite subject was “The Sweet Science” of prizefighting in its golden era. Liebling wrote for The New Yorker (not known for its sports coverage) and he renders the boxing world (including its characters, cynicism and lingo-ese) with clarity and uncommmon eloquence. Liebling gives you such “broken” (financially from hunger) fighters as Rocky Marciano, technicians such as Archie Moore and aggressive aces such as Jake LaMotta and Sonny Liston in as vivid terms as possible. He doesn’t shrink from his task, either. He relates his blow-by-blow reports with the uncannny knack of one who knows the sharp consequences of a faulty defense. He’s amazing, Liebling is, and his “Sweet Science” is the epitome of graceful sportswriting in a bluntly articulate age. I can’t think of a more rewarding book for any sports fan. Liebling is a wonder. He was a counterpuncher. Every time you let down your guard he surprises you with a shot to the ribcage.
Rating: 5 / 5
Even if you have limited interest in boxing, as do I, Liebling’s book is valuable for it’s clarity, brilliant character studies and evocation of the dusty corners of an America a short time gone, but a long time past. Fights come alive between real people who seem distracted and confused as often as competitive and driven. The steady but laconic approach of Marciano contrasts with the skilled but overmatched class of Archie Moore. Fights are watched by roomfuls of men smoking and wearing snap brim hats. There is no media aside from Liebling, the ultimate insider, comparing what he sees to his favorite reportage of English fights from the prior century.
I would read more from the same author. This is stylish writing, great sports journalism and an invitation to post-war American boxing. I would rank this with the best of Angell on baseball.
Rating: 4 / 5
The late,great Floyd Patterson,who became the first heavyweight to regain the title after losing it,is as good a reason as any to name a book about boxing,’The Sweet Science’.In this particular case,’A.J. Liebling’s masterpiece about boxing(mostly
in the fifties)was voted the best sports book ever, by Sports Illustrated.The incredibly colorful characters Liebling focuses on would be hard to beat by any writer in any field,even if he may not have gotten all of it right.For example,he seems to actually get along with Rocky Marciano’s manager,Al Weill,even though evidence elsewhere suggests that Rocky may have retired to get away from him.And I think he resorted to cliche in describing Irish Billy Graham as as “good as a fighter can be without being a hell of a fighter”(p.250);Graham is a Hall of Famer who was robbed in a welterweight title fight against Kid Gavilan-and my (Jewish) uncle idolized him.But Liebling,who wrote on “serious subjects” for ‘The New Yorker’and was an award winning war reporter, attended the first fight ever held in Yankee Stadium in 1923-and remained optimistic about the future through the lens of boxing,concludes,”I reflected with satisfaction that old Ahab(Archie)Moore could have whipped all four principals on that card within 15 rounds,and that while (Jack)Dempsey may have been a great champion,he had less to beat than Marciano.I felt the satisfaction because it proved that the world isn’t going backward,if you can just stay young enough to remember what it was rewally like when you were really young.”
Rating: 5 / 5
You must log in to post a comment.