At the fights : American writers on boxing

651 Pages·2012·2.7 MB·English

by  Kimball

GEORGE KIMBALL JOHN SCHULIAN
EDITED BY &
COLUM M CANN
FOREWORD BY C
AT THE FIGHTS
AMERICAN WRITERS ON BOXING
The Library of America
Introductions, headnotes, and volume compilation copyright © 2012 by Literary Classics of the United
States, Inc., New York, N.Y.
All rights reserved.
No part of the book may be reproduced commercially by offset-lithographic or equivalent copying devices
without the permission of the publisher.
Some of the material in this volume is reprinted with the permission of holders of copyright and publishing
rights. Acknowledgments begin on page 501.
Distributed to the trade in the United States by Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
and in Canada by Penguin Books Canada Ltd.
A hardcover edition of this book was published by The Librrary of America in 2011.
First paperback editon published in 2012.
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Library of Congress Control Number: 2012932714
ISBN 978-1-59853-205-0 (print)
eISBN 978-1-59853-202-9 (ePub)
First eBook Edition: August 2012
Contents
Preface to the paperback edition
Foreword, by Colum McCann
Disarming Candor, an Introduction by George Kimball
The Fist and the Pen, an Introduction by John Schulian
JACK LONDON
Johnson vs. Jeffries
IRVIN S. COBB
Cobb Fights It Over Again
H. L. MENCKEN
Dempsey vs. Carpentier
HEYWOOD BROUN
The Orthodox Champion
GENE TUNNEY
My Fights with Jack Dempsey
SHERWOOD ANDERSON
Brown Bomber
PAUL GALLICO
Pity the Poor Giant
BOB CONSIDINE
Louis Knocks Out Schmeling
RICHARD WRIGHT
High Tide in Harlem: Joe Louis as a Symbol of Freedom
W. C. HEINZ
Brownsville Bum
RED SMITH
Night for Joe Louis
JOHN LARDNER
Down Great Purple Valleys
FRANK GRAHAM
As It Was in the Long Ago
A. J. LIEBLING
Kearns by a Knockout
Ahab and Nemesis
JIMMY CANNON
Archie
JAMES BALDWIN
The Fight: Patterson vs. Liston
GAY TALESE
Floyd Patterson
BARNEY NAGLER
from James Norris and the Decline of Boxing
MURRAY KEMPTON
The Champ and the Chump
GEORGE PLIMPTON
Miami Notebook: Cassius Clay and Malcolm X
LARRY MERCHANT
Beethoven to Boxing
JOE FLAHERTY
Amen to Sonny
DICK SCHAAP
Muhammad Ali Then and Now
NORMAN MAILER
from The Fight
ROBERT LIPSYTE
Pride of the Tiger
MARK KRAM
“Lawdy, Lawdy, He’s Great”
JOHN SCHULIAN
Nowhere to Run
VIC ZIEGEL
Roberto Duran’s New York State of Mind
LEONARD GARDNER
Sweeter than Sugar
BUDD SCHULBERG
The Fight (The King Is Dead)
from Moving Pictures
RALPH WILEY
Then All the Joy Turned to Sorrow
PAT PUTNAM
Eight Minutes of Fury
PETE HAMILL
Up the Stairs with Cus D’Amato
PETE DEXTER
from Paper Trails
THOMAS HAUSER
from The Black Lights
BILL BARICH
Never Say Never: Ray Mancini’s Last Fight
GEORGE KIMBALL
Leonard–Hagler: The Fight and Its Aftermath
GERALD EARLY
Ringworld
RICHARD HOFFER
Still Hungry After All These Years
MIKE LUPICA
Donfire of the Vanities
JOYCE CAROL OATES
Rape and the Boxing Ring
JERRY IZENBERG
My Friend, My Teacher
WILLIAM NACK
“The Fight’s Over, Joe”
MARK KRIEGEL
The Great (Almost) White Hope
DAVID REMNICK
Kid Dynamite Blows Up: Mike Tyson
KATHERINE DUNN
The Knockout: Lucia Rijker
EDWARD HOAGLAND
from Compass Points: How I Lived
CARLO ROTELLA
Champion at Twilight
SOURCES AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
INDEX