Customer Reviews

Dark Trade: Lost in Boxing

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I probably should have written a review of this book years ago. Dark Trade was my introduction to the idea that writing about the sport of boxing could be serious literature. I was writing about the sport at the time and in Donald McRae, I found a good example of what I wanted to emulate. His brief pugilistic memoirs absorb the reader into a world where seedy contracts and menacing intentions are held at bay by the humanity gleaming in each fighters eyes. His star struck meeting with Sugar Ray Leonard, his odd encounters with the ambiguous Mike Tyson and his awkward descriptions of the charisma of Nigel Benn are all to be held with the highest regard.

Only two years after reading Dark Trade I strived to reach that same depth when I wrote my first boxing novel 'Virgin Gloves'. Had I reached my goal and brought insight to the sport I loved? Well, one day I got an e-mail from Donald McRae and he gave me by far the best endorsement possible. I thank him for that glorious moment in my writing career and I thank him for writing this fantastic book.

A nicely written account of the author's personal journey through boxing in the 90s. The author vividly describes his encounters with some of the big names in the sport: Oscar De La Hoya, Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield, Roy Jones, Jr. and especially, James Toney. What's interesting about these sections of the book is that McRae really seems to get to know the people he's writing about and is able to reveal sides of their characters that aren't normally seen. I read this over a weekend, neglecting everything else I had planned to do because I couldn't put it down.

the "professional" reviews of this book all talk about its relevance for people with an interest in boxing. certainly that might lead the casual buyer to the book but it quickly becomes clear that this remarkable work provides a door to an underworld of british and american subculture that is normally hermetically sealed to the rest of us. quite how mcrae pulls off this connection to an alien society is never quite clear but the overall effect and the material that he refines is an extraordinary trip into motivations and manipulations that leave the reader wondering if a fiction might not be easier to deal with

I could not put down this book. Somehow, McRae has turned some of the most fearsome men in the world into pussycats. How he could make James Toney et al sympathetic characters is beyond me. I am a sports fan, but I believe this is a book that can be read and enjoyed by all.

This is perhaps the best book on sports that I've read, and I've read many. Mcrae does an excellent job at making an inhumane sport suprisingly humane. An immensly joyable book.

It took awhile for me to get into this book. If you can get past the white person growing up in racist South Africa yet I feel the pain of my fellow man opening paragraph this book will enthrall you.

Yes, you'll LOVE IT.

Every story about boxing is spelt out. The hangers on, the women, the entourage, the scum, the promoters, everyone. The story about Azuma Nelson will amaze you. It is one of those books I read 5 years ago, 2 times since and can still quote verbatim.

Give this book a chance. A great writer who realizes in the 2nd chapter that he is not the story. This isn;t a history or the sport but a snapshot in time. Well worth the money and the read