Customer Reviews

A.J. Liebling: The Sweet Science and Other Writings: The Earl of Louisiana / The Jollity Building / Between Meals / The Press (Library of America No. 191)

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These are classic Liebling books, of course (although one might have hoped for the inclusion of The Second City and The Honest Rainmaker too -perhaps they'll be the backbone of a third volume). The problem is the editing. Pete Hamill has used The Jollity Building rather than The Telephone Booth Indian, and, worse, the 1964 version of the The Press rather than the augmented version edited by Liebling's widow. No Mickey Jelke, no O.O. McIntyre, no Mortimer N. Buckner. Reprinting the books as Liebling oversaw them during his life is a fine editorial theory, but readers would be better served by having "Of Yesteryear" etc. preserved between hard covers. It's not as if the omitted material had been written by somebody else! Cherish your North Point Press paperbacks and save your money; the Library of America blew it with this one.

An excellent collection from a true master. Thoroughly enjoyable whether the subject is the sweet science or skewering the press for its "on-the- one-hand this, on-the-other-hand that," expert analysis. Too bad Liebling isn't around now to comment on the cable-TV gasbags. And although another reviewer knocked editor Pete Hamill, I have no qualms with the selections offered here.

I got this as a gift to introduce a friend to Liebling. Couldn't have made a better choice. I gave it to someone who has no interet in (and even a slight dislike for)boxing and she started reading "Sweet Science." Now she appreciates the sport enough to want to know more. I await her report on "The Earl of Louisiana," one of my other favorites.

A.J. Liebling was a fine writer and "The Sweet Science" rightfully ranks as one of the greatest books on sport that anyone has ever produced. But, while "The Sweet Science" is a classic, I am not sure if this entire work ranks up to the admittedly high standards of the Library of America. Who is this book for? Liebling's variety, one of his stregnths as a journalist, is what is so confounding about this book. Here is Liebling pondering the various careers of Archie Moore, Sugar Ray Robinson, Rocky Marciano, Floyd Patterson and Joe Louis. Now he is traversing across the bayous as Earl Long, heir to his brother the Kingfish Huey, tries to come back to political power in Louisiana. Now he is writing about fine French food. Now pondering newspapers and their future (reading all the various "future of newspapers" articles here in 2009, I think Liebling may have set a rather unpleasant trend among journalists).

Where do you even put this book in the bookstore? I found a copy under the sports section--just where all books on Southern politics of the mid 20th century can be found. Hey, do you have a book on Estes Kefavuver? Sure, it's between the various autobiographies of professional wrestlers and an account of the 1990 Cincinnati Reds.

Liebling's fine craftsmanship helps redeem the randomness of the various subjects and readers who appreciate boxing, politics and the various other topics will love parts of the book and skip over other parts.

I keep thinking of Archie Moore, who Liebling adored, Floyd Patterson, who Liebling did a nice profile of, and Ezzard Charles who also pops up in the "Sweet Science." Moore, Patterson and Charles were very skilled light heavyweights who all made a run at the heavyweight crown. While Moore came up short, Patterson and Charles won the title only to quickly lose it and, with all due respect to them, I think it is fair to say that Patterson and Charles would not have won the heavyweight belt at stronger periods in that division's history. A small heavyweight can win a belt-Chris Byrd, Michael Moorer, Roy Jones, Michael Spinks, Gene Tunney. With the exception of Evander Holyfield, most of these small heavyweight champions did not stay long at the top or would be close to considered one of the all time greats in the division. The Library of America is for heavyweights-Whitman, Poe, Melville, Hawthorne, James, Steinbeck. While Liebling could get it all together and create a masterpiece, much the way Moorer was able to beat Holyfield one night, he simply does not have the ability or the size or the chin to go the distance-just like Moorer who lost the belt in his first defense to the much older George Foreman. While Liebling could create a great book, he simply is not the great writer that readers of the LOA works are accustomed to.