Customer Reviews

The Greatest Boxing Stories Ever Told: Thirty-Six Incredible Tales from the Ring

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1 star:		(1)

 

 

There is so much good writing on boxing that it's hard to know where to start picking the best, but Jeff Silverman did an amazing job of putting together a collection that honors the old warhorses and still comes up with new surprises. Some of the great writers of the 20th century are represented with their short stories -- Ring Lardner, Damon Runyon, Dashiell Hammett, Irwin Shaw and Jack London. It was fun to find that writers like O. Henry and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote about boxing, too. In the non-fiction corner, selections by Frank Deford, Norman Mailer, George Plimpton, James Baldwin and Robert Lipsyte were all first rate, and some of the really old writing from the 18th and 19th century was lively and entertaining. With its sweep of boxing history and literature, it's a must for every boxing fan's bookshelf.

A beautifully edited anthology that will appeal not only to devotees of the sweet science, but to any fan of great writing. Silverman includes work by some of America's greatest essayists (Liebling, Plimpton, Mailer, Baldwin) and most popular fiction authors (O. Henry, Jack London, Dashiell Hammett, Damon Runyon, Richard Ford). The excerpt from Pierce Egan's 1829 classic BOXIANA (a favorite of A.J. Liebling's) is a special treat. The only thing missing is David Remnick on Muhammad Ali; but you can't expect everything from a 368-page collection. Highly recommended.

Just a great sampling of writing on the sweet science from many different perspectives. The one by Daniel Mendoza is amazing,as he was one of the first champions - from the turn of the 18th century. The way he thought and expressed himself is so interesting. Pearce Egan was the first great boxing writer, and his piece was mesmerizing. Frank DeFord on Billy Conn was great, as was Jack London on the Johnson-Jeffries fight. Jimmy Cannon, Ring Lardner, Paul Gallico, and A.J. Liebling all contribute classic stuff. I like learning about the PEOPLE involved in boxing as much as the events and results of the fights, and this book was right up my alley.

This collection has a ton of good material that will give you a sample of the various sources of high quality boxing writing available if you're interested. The time periods involved go all the way back to the early 1800s, not counting the surprisingly awesome passage by Homer from The Iliad. Probably the most heavily-featured period is from around the 1930s-1960s. Other than that Homer piece, I also especially enjoyed the passages by Daniel Mendoza, Heywood Broun, John Lardner, and W.C. Heinz. If you're looking to get into boxing writing, or if you're an MMA fan looking for something to read to make up for the relative lack of MMA writing, this is definitely a good place to start. You do have the inherent weakness of the anthology where you end up finding a few things you really like that are over before you know it, but with the internet you can take the names of the authors and easily gain access to more of the stuff you like best. If you want a sample of the type of quality piece contained in this collection, look up "Sport for Art's Sake" by Heywood Broun. You can find it on Google Books, it's my favorite passage from the entire package.

While this collection offers a wide selection many of the pieces are not specifically related to boxing such as Ralph Ellison's piece which is about a fight, but has nothing to do with the sport. For a collection that is focused on boxing itself, not just fighting, and recounts elements of the sport in detail and in a story formatt check out Katherine Dunn's latest work.

Mediocre Read. Highlight is Frank DeFord's SI article on Billy Conn, originally titled the "Boxer and The Blonde". It helped that I had some knowledge of the subject matter. My Father knew Billy Conn's Father-in-Law, and I visited the Funeral Home when Billy was laid out. Also of interest was the script from the "I coulda been a contendah" Cab scene from "On the Waterfront". Of lesser or no interest were excerpts from the "Illiad and the Odyssey" and 1700/1800 fights. I really would not recommend this book to anyone, including hardened fight fans.

the only thing that I can rite negatively about this boox is that there isn't any story about me. Did you know that I'm a former amateur boxing champion of Alvin, Texas.