The Fight

The Fight

In 1974 in Kinshasa, Za¯re, two African American boxers were paid five million dollars apiece to fight each other. One was Muhammad Ali, the aging but irrepressible €œprofessor of boxing.€ The other was George Foreman, who was as taciturn as Ali was voluble. Observing them was Norman Mailer, a commentator of unparalleled energy, acumen, and audacity. Whether he is analyzing the fighters€ moves, interpreting their characters, or weighing their competing claims on the African and American souls, Mailer€s grasp of the titanic battle€s feints and stratagems€"and his sensitivity to their deeper symbolism€"makes this book a masterpiece of the literature of sport.<br>  <br> <b>Praise for <i>The Fight</i></b><br> <i> </i><br> €œExquisitely refined and attenuated . . . [a] sensitive portrait of an extraordinary athlete and man, and a pugilistic drama fully as exciting as the reality on which it is based.€<b>€"<i>The New York Times</i></b> <br>  <br> €œOne of the defining texts of sports journalism. Not only does Mailer recall the violent combat with a scholar€s eye . . . he also makes the whole act of reporting seem as exciting as what€s occurring in the ring.€<b>€"<i>GQ</i></b><br>  <br> €œStylistically, Mailer was the greatest boxing writer of all time.€<b>€"Chuck Klosterman, <i>Esquire</i></b><br>  <br> €œOne of Mailer€s finest books.€<b>€"Louis Menand, <i>The New Yorker</i></b><br> <b> </b><br> <b>Praise for Norman Mailer</b><br> <b> </b><br> €œ[Norman Mailer] loomed over American letters longer and larger than any other writer of his generation.€<b>€"<i>The New York Times</i></b><br>  <br> €œA writer of the greatest and most reckless talent.€<b>€"<i>The New Yorker</i></b><br>  <br> €œMailer is indispensable, an American treasure.€<b>€"<i>The Washington Post</i></b><br>  <br> €œA devastatingly alive and original creative mind.€<b>€"<i>Life</i></b><br>  <br> €œMailer is fierce, courageous, and reckless and nearly everything he writes has sections of headlong brilliance.€<b>€"<i>The New York Review of Books</i></b><br>  <br> €œThe largest mind and imagination [in modern] American literature . . . Unlike just about every American writer since Henry James, Mailer has managed to grow and become richer in wisdom with each new book.€<b>€"<i>Chicago Tribune</i></b><br>  <br> €œMailer is a master of his craft. His language carries you through the story like a leaf on a stream.€<b>€"<i>The Cincinnati Post</i></b>