Joe Louis : hard times man / Randy Roberts.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Roberts, Randy, 1951-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Louis, Joe, 1914-1981.

Louis, Joe.

African American boxers--Biography.

African American boxers.

Boxers (Sports)--United States--Biography.

Boxers (Sports).

Physical Description:

1 online resource (320 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

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

Language Note:

English

Summary:

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.

Contents:

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

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

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

ISBN:

1-299-46369-X

0-300-16885-3

OCLC:

1024049511