In spite of the fact that it's sometimes thought of as a "low" sport, boxing has made converts of a surprisingly mixed crowd of commentators, including ancient philosophers, well-known reporters, famous novelists, and even poets. The Total Sports Illustrated Book of Boxing brings together the most memorable writings on the "sweet science," featuring a varied mix of fiction, reporting, biography, and poetry, set off by a section of color photos. This anthology runs the gamut of boxing lore, chronicling the ancient sport through the works of such diverse writers as Nellie Bly, Ernest Hemingway, Rocky Marciano, David Remnick, Plato, Ring Lardner, Virgil, and dozens of others.
Nathan Ward lives in Brooklyn, New York, not that far from the waterfront that figures in Dark Harbor.
Before this project, he worked on the staffs of American Heritage and Library Journal, and has written
for the Village Voice, NY Times, Wall Street Journal, and many other publications. With the late
W.C. Heinz, he edited a boxing anthology, The Book of Boxing, but Dark Harbor is his first book.
Allen Barra wrote in The Daily Beast that "Dark Harbor: The War for the New York Waterfront, is true crime done right, sharply researched and written with an economy of language and a minimum of conjecture and as atmospheric as a 2 a.m. stroll down the wharf on a late October night."
