Overview

Joe Louis defended his heavyweight boxing title an astonishing twenty-five times and reigned as world champion for more than eleven years. He got more column inches of newspaper coverage in the 1930s than FDR did. His racially and politically charged defeat of Max Schmeling in 1938 made Louis a national hero. But as important as his record is what he meant to African-Americans: at a time when the boxing ring was the only venue where black and white could meet on equal terms, Louis embodied all their hopes for dignity and equality. Through meticulous research and first-hand interviews, acclaimed historian and biographer Randy Roberts presents Louis, and his impact on sport and country, in a way never before accomplished. Roberts reveals an athlete who carefully managed his public image, and whose relationships with both the black and white communities-including his relationships with mobsters-were far more complex than the simplistic accounts of heroism and victimization that have dominated previous biographies. Richly researched and utterly captivating, this extraordinary biography presents the full range of Joe Louis's power in and out of the boxing ring.

Full Product Details

9780300122220

Table of Contents

Reviews

[ Joe Louis is] a thrilling account of an extraordinary life, one that needed to be retold to a generation tow hom Joe Louis is no more than an occasional face on ESPN Classic. There was a giant in those days, and Roberts has reclaimed him for us. --Allen Barra, St. Petersburg Times --Allen Barra St. Petersburg Times

Louis''s story ghad been told by sportwriters and historians many times, but Roberts is a fine match with his subject. He suppports with powerful evidence his contention that Louis''s impact was enormous and profound. His explorations of the shameful social conditions and smug hyporcrisy poisoning the landscape over which Louis loomed for a time are incisive and convincing. --Bill Littlefield, New York Post --Bill Littlefield New York Post

A biography to be savored. . . . Roberts'' narrative of the pugilist and the man is gripping. . . . He captures the spirit of the age, when boxing on radio fed the national imagination. . . . Roberts recovers a great story and makes it sing for him. --Andrew Burstein, Baton Rouge Advocate --Andrew Burstein Baton Rouge Advocate

Author Information

Randy Roberts is Distinguished Professor of History at Purdue University. His previous books include biographies of Jack Dempsey, Jack Johnson, and John Wayne (all nominated for Pulitzer Prizes); a history of American sports since 1945; and books on Charles Lindbergh, the Mike Tyson trial, and the Vietnam War. He lives in Lafayette, Indiana.

Tab Content 6

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

Countries Available