GaryMrMets
10-23-2005, 05:10 PM
http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/col/story/358216p-305245c.html
The ultimate story on Joe and Max
http://www.nydailynews.com/images/columnists/gallo_b.jpg
In this day when boxing is supposed to be at its lowest ebb and not as highly regarded with fans as it once was, there is this irony going on: everybody who can at least type is writing a book on boxing!
Muhammad Ali seems to be the favorite subject of authors - some well-known and some not.
Besides the fact that Ali's story is quite compelling and that he's always been great copy, writers must figure that the name, "Muhammad Ali," is a sure-fire seller. I know a few guys who have made a good hunk of change by writing books on the "Greatest."
If you were to put all the Ali books end to end, starting at Madison Square Garden, they would reach the Empire State Building.
If you want to know the whole Ali story - I mean all of it - then see if you can get your mitts on "GOAT - A tribute to Muhammad Ali." So you won't be confused, GOAT stands for "Greatest Of All Time."
There is a catch to acquiring this German-printed book, however - it's limited to 10,000 individually numbered copies, it has 800 pages, 20 inches by 20 inches, and it weighs 75 pounds. I must add that it's quite pricey - the first 1,000 copies will go for 7,500 euros (approx. $9,000) apiece, and the remaining 9,000 for 3,000 euros ($3,500). A lot of true Ali fans won't care about the price.
That aside, there is a just-out book about another very well-known fighter - perhaps, in his day, better known than Ali himself. Do not scoff at this, Ali fans: Joe Louis was one of the most famous in the world in his day. In my opinion, the best book ever written about the lives of Joe Louis and Max Schmeling and those times is the fine new book "Beyond Glory," by David Margolick.
It's a compelling story about a great fighter caught up in one of the most important times in our country's history. This is about Joe Louis and Max Schmeling, whose names are etched forever in our memories, and it deals with Louis' first-round knockout of the German, who had previously given Joe such a terrible beating.
Louis astonished the world in their second fight. It was such a huge event that this nation, a footstep away from a war with Germany, rejoiced in unison, never once thinking of skin color - just that it was an American who, in keeping his heavyweight title, had obliterated the once-menacing favorite of Adolf Hitler.
The focus of the book is on THE FIGHT, that second one, when Louis won one for our country. It also goes deeply into the lives of both men and their entourages.
Margolick, a longtime writer for newspapers and magazines, has come up with as fine a story as anybody who has ever written about winning, losing, tragedy and triumph outside the ring. It's the story of two totally different men, and how, by coming together, they tried to knock each other's brains out.
"Beyond Glory - Joe Louis vs. Max Schmeling, and the World on the Brink," is a great read, and you dare not put it down, because Margolick tells the tale in such a solid newspaperish way.
It's all there, every bit of it. The ring war...the Big war...how Louis suffered in his life...how he was the great victor but wound up broke, and how Schmeling, a paratrooper who fought for Germany but always denied being a Nazi, was given a great gift by a distinguished American named James J. Farley, leaving Der Max a rich man.
After World War II ended, Farley, former postmaster general, head of the New York State Athletic Commission, confidante of FDR and later president of Coca-Cola, handed Schmeling the German Coke distributorship.
Farley was this generous to the German because he was convinced that Schmeling was never a Nazi, nor was he anti-Semitic as some claimed. The fact was that Joe Jacobs, Schmeling's manager, was a Jew, and the two were close friends.
It's always been said that Louis and Schmeling became "good friends." If it were true, it had to be only on the German's part. I never once heard a quote from Joe that they were pals. What Louis did say before that second fight was: "'Smellin' is the only man I ever hated in the ring." I don't know that Joe ever retracted that statement.
But, back to the book. When you get into it, you'll be amazed at how much research this author did. Here you see the efforts of a complete journalist at work.
If you're a history buff, you can't afford not to own Margolick's splendid work.
Originally published on October 22, 2005
The ultimate story on Joe and Max
http://www.nydailynews.com/images/columnists/gallo_b.jpg
In this day when boxing is supposed to be at its lowest ebb and not as highly regarded with fans as it once was, there is this irony going on: everybody who can at least type is writing a book on boxing!
Muhammad Ali seems to be the favorite subject of authors - some well-known and some not.
Besides the fact that Ali's story is quite compelling and that he's always been great copy, writers must figure that the name, "Muhammad Ali," is a sure-fire seller. I know a few guys who have made a good hunk of change by writing books on the "Greatest."
If you were to put all the Ali books end to end, starting at Madison Square Garden, they would reach the Empire State Building.
If you want to know the whole Ali story - I mean all of it - then see if you can get your mitts on "GOAT - A tribute to Muhammad Ali." So you won't be confused, GOAT stands for "Greatest Of All Time."
There is a catch to acquiring this German-printed book, however - it's limited to 10,000 individually numbered copies, it has 800 pages, 20 inches by 20 inches, and it weighs 75 pounds. I must add that it's quite pricey - the first 1,000 copies will go for 7,500 euros (approx. $9,000) apiece, and the remaining 9,000 for 3,000 euros ($3,500). A lot of true Ali fans won't care about the price.
That aside, there is a just-out book about another very well-known fighter - perhaps, in his day, better known than Ali himself. Do not scoff at this, Ali fans: Joe Louis was one of the most famous in the world in his day. In my opinion, the best book ever written about the lives of Joe Louis and Max Schmeling and those times is the fine new book "Beyond Glory," by David Margolick.
It's a compelling story about a great fighter caught up in one of the most important times in our country's history. This is about Joe Louis and Max Schmeling, whose names are etched forever in our memories, and it deals with Louis' first-round knockout of the German, who had previously given Joe such a terrible beating.
Louis astonished the world in their second fight. It was such a huge event that this nation, a footstep away from a war with Germany, rejoiced in unison, never once thinking of skin color - just that it was an American who, in keeping his heavyweight title, had obliterated the once-menacing favorite of Adolf Hitler.
The focus of the book is on THE FIGHT, that second one, when Louis won one for our country. It also goes deeply into the lives of both men and their entourages.
Margolick, a longtime writer for newspapers and magazines, has come up with as fine a story as anybody who has ever written about winning, losing, tragedy and triumph outside the ring. It's the story of two totally different men, and how, by coming together, they tried to knock each other's brains out.
"Beyond Glory - Joe Louis vs. Max Schmeling, and the World on the Brink," is a great read, and you dare not put it down, because Margolick tells the tale in such a solid newspaperish way.
It's all there, every bit of it. The ring war...the Big war...how Louis suffered in his life...how he was the great victor but wound up broke, and how Schmeling, a paratrooper who fought for Germany but always denied being a Nazi, was given a great gift by a distinguished American named James J. Farley, leaving Der Max a rich man.
After World War II ended, Farley, former postmaster general, head of the New York State Athletic Commission, confidante of FDR and later president of Coca-Cola, handed Schmeling the German Coke distributorship.
Farley was this generous to the German because he was convinced that Schmeling was never a Nazi, nor was he anti-Semitic as some claimed. The fact was that Joe Jacobs, Schmeling's manager, was a Jew, and the two were close friends.
It's always been said that Louis and Schmeling became "good friends." If it were true, it had to be only on the German's part. I never once heard a quote from Joe that they were pals. What Louis did say before that second fight was: "'Smellin' is the only man I ever hated in the ring." I don't know that Joe ever retracted that statement.
But, back to the book. When you get into it, you'll be amazed at how much research this author did. Here you see the efforts of a complete journalist at work.
If you're a history buff, you can't afford not to own Margolick's splendid work.
Originally published on October 22, 2005