1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910463123203321

Autore

Roberts Randy <1951->

Titolo

Joe Louis [[electronic resource] ] : hard times man / / Randy Roberts

Pubbl/distr/stampa

New Haven, [Conn.], : Yale University Press, c2010

ISBN

1-299-46369-X

0-300-16885-3

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (320 p.)

Disciplina

796.83092

B

Soggetti

African American boxers

Boxers (Sports) - United States

Electronic books.

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references (p. 281-291) and index.

Nota di contenuto

Front matter -- CONTENTS -- PREFACE -- 1. A Land Without Dreams -- 2. Emperors of Masculinity -- 3. Tethered by Civilization -- 4. He Belongs to Us -- 5. King Louis I -- 6. Red, White, Blue, and Black -- 7. The Last Perfect Night -- 8. Uncle Sam Says -- 9. An Old Man's Dream -- NOTES -- A NOTE ON SOURCES -- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS -- INDEX

Sommario/riassunto

Joe Louis defended his heavyweight boxing title an astonishing twenty-five times and reigned as world champion for more than eleven years. He got more column inches of newspaper coverage in the 1930's than FDR did. His racially and politically charged defeat of Max Schmeling in 1938 made Louis a national hero. But as important as his record is what he meant to African-Americans: at a time when the boxing ring was the only venue where black and white could meet on equal terms, Louis embodied all their hopes for dignity and equality. Through meticulous research and first-hand interviews, acclaimed historian and biographer Randy Roberts presents Louis, and his impact on sport and country, in a way never before accomplished. Roberts reveals an athlete who carefully managed his public image, and whose relationships with both the black and white communities-including his relationships with mobsters-were far more complex than the simplistic accounts of heroism and victimization that have dominated previous biographies.



Richly researched and utterly captivating, this extraordinary biography presents the full range of Joe Louis's power in and out of the boxing ring.