The Sweet Science

A.J. Liebling's classic New Yorker pieces on the "sweet science of bruising" bring vividly to life the boxing world as it once was.

The Sweet Science depicts the great events of boxing's American heyday: Sugar Ray Robinson's dramatic comeback, Rocky Marciano's rise to prominence, Joe Louis's unfortunate decline. Liebling never fails to find the human story behind the fight, and he evokes the atmosphere in the arena as distinctly as he does the goings-on in the ring--a combination that prompted Sports Illustrated to name The Sweet Science the best American sports book of all time.

Foreword by Robert Anasi

Introduction

The Bog Fellows
Boxing with the Naked Eye
Broken Fighter Arrives

The Melting Middleweight
Sugar Ray and the Milling Cove
Kearns by a Knockout

The Big Fellows Again
New Champ
Long Toddle, Short Fight
Charles I
Charles II

Other Formats
The Boy from South Main Street
Nino and a Nanimal
Soirée Intime
The Neutral Corner Art Group
Debut of a Seasoned Artist
Wunderkind
Great-and-a-Half Champion
Next-to-Last Stand, Maybe
Donnybrook Farr

Ahab and Nemesis
Ahab and Nemesis