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.
 
Praise for The Fight
 
€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.€€"The New York Times
 
€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.€€"GQ
 
€œStylistically, Mailer was the greatest boxing writer of all time.€€"Chuck Klosterman, Esquire
 
€œOne of Mailer€s finest books.€€"Louis Menand, The New Yorker
 
Praise for Norman Mailer
 
€œ[Norman Mailer] loomed over American letters longer and larger than any other writer of his generation.€€"The New York Times
 
€œA writer of the greatest and most reckless talent.€€"The New Yorker
 
€œMailer is indispensable, an American treasure.€€"The Washington Post
 
€œA devastatingly alive and original creative mind.€€"Life
 
€œMailer is fierce, courageous, and reckless and nearly everything he writes has sections of headlong brilliance.€€"The New York Review of Books
 
€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.€€"Chicago Tribune
 
€œMailer is a master of his craft. His language carries you through the story like a leaf on a stream.€€"The Cincinnati Post