I want to read some great boxing books. Suggestions?
October 31, 2006 10:47 AM

What are the best boxing books in these three categories: History of Boxing, a specific fight, and a specific boxer bio?
posted by holdkris99 to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (11 answers total) 3 users marked this as a favorite
Joyce Carol Oates is a fantastic writer on boxing and I believe there is a compilation of her work on the sport. Hard to believe, I know, but it's the truth.

My personal favorite boxing book is David Remnick's King of the World which is mostly about Ali but also gives you a very good look at Floyd Patterson and Sonny Liston.
posted by spicynuts at 11:04 AM on October 31, 2006


Norman Mailer's book about Ali-Foreman, called simply "The Fight", is pretty good.
posted by Bookhouse at 11:53 AM on October 31, 2006


Here are three notable books (from newer to older). I noticed that most books on boxing tend to bleed into each of the categories you listed, often in interesting ways like Stephen Brunt’s "Facing Ali: 15 Fighters - 15 Stories," which examines Muhammad Ali through the eyes of the men who fought him in some well-known (and not so well known) matches. It received good reviews, was a bestseller when it was first released, and appeared on Booklist’s Top 10 African American Nonfiction Books for 2004.

"Sparring with Hemingway: And Other Legends of the Fight Game" by Budd Schulberg also was well-reviewed when it came out in 1995. I’ve seen it on a few "best of" lists in different libraries, including the Skokie Public Library. You might also recognize Schulberg as the author of "On the Waterfront."

If you’re interested in boxing pre-Ali, read "The Sweet Science" by A.J. Liebling. It’s a collection of essays on memorable fights (before he died in 1963) and the personalities involved. "The Sweet Science" is also on Random House’s list of the best 100 nonfiction books of the 20th century, and Sports Illustrated once called it the best American sports book of all time.
posted by gargoyle93 at 12:12 PM on October 31, 2006


I really like Redemption Song by Mike Marqusee. It's might be more about culture and less about boxing than what you're looking for, but I thought it was fascinating.
posted by Mavri at 12:40 PM on October 31, 2006


Probably not "the best," but I really can't say enough good things about Douglas Century's recent biography of Barney Ross.
posted by j-dawg at 12:45 PM on October 31, 2006


Jack Dempsey's Championship Fighting (PDF) doesn't fall into any of your 3 categories, but it's the best book about boxing i've read.
posted by the cuban at 1:43 PM on October 31, 2006


A wonderful general history/profile of individual fighters is Serenity, A Boxing Memoir by the sadly deceased Ralph Wiley, formerly a senior writer for Sports Illustrated and ESPN.com.

Wiley "has taken the reader on an unflinching, sensitive and often sad boxing journey," wrote Bernard Kirsch in the New York Times Book Review.

"The novice will find 'Serenity' a fascinating look at the world of boxing, its winners and losers, which Wiley illustrates with anecdotes that reveal what he has learned about it," wrote Manuel Galvan in the Chicago Tribune.
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posted by kyleg at 3:40 PM on October 31, 2006


Eliot J. Gorn's The Manly Art is a very good read, and a very solid history of bare-knuckle boxing.
posted by Dr. Wu at 4:42 PM on October 31, 2006


Historian Elliot Gorn's The Manly Art: Bare-Knuckle Prize Fighting in America is fantastic.

Off-topic but related: you might also be interested in his article "Gouge and Bite, Pull Hair and Scratch: The Social Significance of Fighting in the Southern Backcountry," which starts with this quote from the mid-1700s:"I would advise you when You do fight Not to act like Tygers and Bears as these Virginians do – Biting one anothers Lips and Noses off, and gowging one another – that is, thrusting out one anothers Eyes, and kicking one another on the Cods, to the Great damage of many a Poor Woman."
posted by cybercoitus interruptus at 4:42 PM on October 31, 2006


Darn. Should have previewed!
posted by cybercoitus interruptus at 4:44 PM on October 31, 2006


THE best boxer bio - and book about boxing in the fifties - The Devil and Sonny Liston by Nick Tosches
posted by readery at 6:00 PM on October 31, 2006


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