Customer Reviews

Beyond Glory: Joe Louis vs. Max Schmeling, and a World on the Brink

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I write this review as a 50 year old baby boomer, who as a child lived in the South through the civil rights struggles of the 60s, having parents from New York City, having a father who trod across Europe in W.W.II, and having family lost and damaged by Nazi terror. Despite that, and despite knowing so much of that history, the doors to the past opened by David Margolick's Beyond Glory were wonderfully and surprisingly illuminating.

Margolick does this by not just retelling the wonderful story of these classic boxing matches, but by presenting much of the story through the words of the journalists of the day. In doing so, the book carefully chronicles the paths to and from these historic fights, and in doing so, not only tells the tale of wonderful boxing characters, but exposes both the pervasiveness of racism in America, and the astonishing face of anti-Semitism and racism that was the Third Reich. Even though it is recent history, which we think we know well, it is still surprising to see and understand the clarity and depth of these issues as reported in Beyond Glory, in part through the eyes and words of an earlier generation of newspaper reporters. (As newspapers today shrink and consolidate, the creativity and glory of those reporters is especially interesting.)

The magic of what Margolick has done is to present the history of the Louis-Schmeling fights by weaving the words of the journalists of the day, reporters long silent, who wrote in the style of the day--and with the prejudices of the day. Margolick does not spare us the ugly side of either American racism, or German repression. Mainstream American journalism bluntly writing about this "colored boy," northern cities (not just southern) with segregated fight attendance, German media bluntly assailing the evil Jewish control of all things American, the weakness of American reliance upon Louis, a man from an "inferior race".

We all know these things, but to read them in the day to day quotidian press of those times gives vivid life to those years. One can see the social struggle far beyond the ring where these fights were waged, and it is truly eye opening. As well, it is fascinating to see the frightening German press, and on the American side, two different press corps, the white press, and the black press. Amid the racism of the thirties, there stirred the growing civil rights movement in a vital black press (now largely forgotten) with its own distinct voice, again brought to life in Beyond Glory.

By not only reporting on the history of these famous fights, but fully immersing us literally in the words of the day, Margolick brings vivid life and reality to an extraordinarily important transition in history. By putting us back in those days, he not only well presents the course of these fights, the wonderfully colorful characters of the boxing game, the descent of the world into war, but gives a different understanding of our own history than might be expected. Beyond Glory does not just retell history, it puts the reader in the time, thereby creating something very vital and unexpected--a sometimes uncomfortable understanding of "a world on the brink".

Like Geoffrey Ward's account of the life of boxer Jack Johnson (in "Unforgivable Blackness" --2004) which was a cultural snapshot of racism and culture in the first third of the 20th century, Mr Margolick has written a boxing companion for the middle third of the 20th century. His tale of the bouts between Joe Louis and Max Schmeling in the 1930's offers another snapshot of racism and culture in American and Germany.

Max Schmeling was the Aryan champion for Hilter who had been humilated in his master race rantings by the four gold medals of Jesse Owens in the 1936 Berlin Olympics. Though never a Nazi, Mr. Schmeling was part of the German propaganda machine with his 12th round knockout of Mr. Louis in 1936. Since their rematch was so anti-climatic in 1938 (Mr. Louis utterly dominated Mr. Schmeling in a first round TKO), Mr Margolick focuses on the politics of boxing, of America, and of Nazi Germany by contrasting their two very different careers and post-boxing lives. This will be considered the definitive story of their bouts and an excellent introduction to their lives.

I read more than 30 books a year and nominate "Beyond Glory" for my Book of the Year for 2005. David Margolick has produced a wonderfully engaging portrait of a bygone era: a time when heavyweight prizefighting was a BIG social and cultural event (Quick: Who's the world heavyweight champion today? Times have indeed changed.), racial inequality pervaded American society, and the world inched inexorably toward a reckoning with Fascist totalitarianism.

Louis and Schmeling fought two epic bouts. Margolick captures the intensity of these clashes with the magisterial skill of an accomplished storyteller. He brilliantly recounts Louis's powerful rise through the heavyweight ranks, and the increasing intersection of Schmeling's career with Nazi "master-race" agitprop. Schmeling's Jewish manager was barred from representing him in Germany, but still had no qualms about publicly saluting Hitler after one of his fighter's victories.

One of the treasures of this book is Margolick's frequent reference to contemporary newspaper accounts of the period. The 1930s were the halcyon days of American sports-writing and Margolick's liberal quotations from legendary writers like Grantland Rice, Damon Runyon and many lesser-known scribes enriches his storyline. The flourishing African-American press of the era also provides excellent source material, which Margolick incorporates deftly into his captivating narrative.

"Beyond Glory" is as much a social history as it is a fight chronicle. You don't have to be a fight fan (I'm not particularly) to reap considerable enjoyment from this fantastic book.

In Beyong Glory, his latest book, David Margolick has written an enthralling book about two boxers that captures not only the heart-stopping drama of the Louis-Schmeling fights but also American and German life in the 1930s. If you don't think that you care anything about boxing or even sports, this book will change your mind. I judge a great biography by not how well the central figures are presented but by how well the secondary personalities are realized. In Beyond Glory, Margolick surrounds Louis and Schmeling with flesh-and-blood characters. Nazi hacks, Runyonesque boxing sorts, famous wives--they make the Beyond Glory live. If you want to understand America in the 1930s, comprehening why Louis and Schmeling mattered would be a fine place to begin your study

David Margolick's book is a remarkably vivid and engrossing account that goes well beyond the annals of boxing--or even sports history--to recover an era in American and German history, in the 1930s, when two men--one black, one white--seemed to symbolize more than pugilism. The author is especially good at conveying the tensions and excitement that could be generated by heavyweight boxers, and at conjuring up the florid prose of sportswriters during the Great Depression. The research conducted for this book is amazing, and the story that Margolick tells does not flag.

Beyond Glory is a wonderful combination of a great sports book and a great history book. It tells the fascinating story of heavyweight boxing in the 1930s while placing the boxers and the characters who surrounded them into the equally fascinating -- and frightening -- national and international events of the 1930s. The sports and history are woven together in a manner that is gripping but nonetheless unbiased. Great sports mixed with great history makes this book a rare treat.

As a history buff, this one really got me...AND I HATE BOXING! It's so much more than a book about two boxers; Mr Margolick has written of a time, circumstance, the people and the events which were, at least, peripherally involved in the run-up to the outbreak of WW II. He has, quite literally, placed us in the 30's and we become party to the tension, grief, politics, intrigues, and triumph which surround the two men.

A GREAT READ if you like history, the 30's, politics, people, and, of course, boxing. This really is a portrait of a time, and an enjoyable, fast read.

The NY Times reviewer dismissed this book as being too much a string of newspaper accounts. That's exactly what it is, but I take this to be one of its strengths, and a key to its lively pace. Margolick has evidently read everything there is to read about the second Louis-Schmeling fight (including above all the less well-known writers for the black newspapers), and he's given us the highlight reel.

This may not be to every reader's taste, but it charmed me, and I felt transported back in time. I don't mean a time I knew first-hand; the fight took place on my father's 21st birthday, June 23, 1938. (This is also Seabiscuit's big year.) I wasn't born until eleven years later. But the vernacular of the period seems familiar to me: chiefly the sports pages, with the ornate metaphors and wise guy attitude that predominated in that very New York-centric day. I laughed out loud many times.

Despite the subtitle and the jacket design, this is predominantly a sports book, and secondarily about world events. (This may not suit every reader either.) And there's actually as much about race relations in America as Nazis. Thankfully Margolick doesn't do your thinking for you. He just presents the information. (I think the Times faulted him here, too, but I prefer this approach.) As distinct from Roger Kahn's book on Dempsey, which strained to locate itself in the wider world of the 20's, let me add that thankfully Margolick doesn't stray far from the boxing.

Schmeling never joined the Nazi party, and was certainly not anti-Semitic (his manager was a Jew), but he did play along with Hitler's gang. You get a real sense of how weak the Nazis were at this time, how desperate for hard currency and for national heros.

Louis's role in American political currents, on the other hand, was far more clear-cut and heroic than that. He was certainly the cultural forerunner to Jackie Robinson. I would say anyone who is interested in the evolution of racial politics in America might enjoy reading this book, even if his or her interest in boxing is nil.

david margolick's rivetting account of two boxers, one a poor black man of formidable talents, the other a chiseled german who became the symbol of german manhood in the darkening storm of nazi propaganda, is the best of social and cultural history. on the one hand it is the biography of joe louis, his rise to fame in an america of fierce segregation, jim crow laws, ubiquitous racism; on the other it traces the career of max schmeling as hitler solidifies his grip on germany, plans for war, and constructs an ideology of the pure, virile german, a caricature that schmeling embraced. and the book propels us towards these two mens battles in the ring, battles in which schmeling came not only to represent the prowess of the german male, but the "great white hope" for much of southern white america, a population who were at ease with germany's racism and anti-semitism, battles in which louis, who remained distant from the politics and hopes of the struggling civil rights movement, came to represent the triumph of a black man in a nation that treated him as less than a second class citizen.

this is book textured by the punchy prose of new york sportswriters, driven by the flashy, bombastic characters of the boxing world, spread over the city that was new york in the '30s. simply put, the book is unputtabledownable.

David Margolick has written a mesmerizing account of the most famous fight in American history. The writing is vivid and puts the reader in the midst of the action. You can feel and hear and smell what is being described. The quotations from contemporary newspaper accounts--particularly those written by long overlooked African American writers-- are brilliant. Even if you have no interest in boxing, this book is a must read. Its discussion of the history of the era, its portraits of Max Schmeling and Joe Louis, and its analysis of the racial, religious, and political aspects of the period are compelling. The reporting is meticulous and superb, the writing is masterful, and the story is one for the ages. Margolick's eye for detail is uncanny. He sees things most writers can't see, and then describes them in ways that even gifted writers must envy. If you care about sports, or the history of the era, or civil rights, read this book. Let me correct myself--if you are interested in a human drama of the highest order, read this book. Give it to a friend. It is sure to go down in history as a classic in the genre, and one of the greatest sports books ever written.