What are you reading?

I've heard the book is sympathetic towards Liston and his appalling early life.
I hope there's mention of the role of gangsters and there ripping off some of the sports greatest stars including Sonny.
I'll try and be honest but an admiration of Liston might make it an unbiased opinion

 

Truthful answer: 'Us' by David Nicholls. Bittersweet romantic tale of a middle aged couple at the crossroads of their marriage. My wife wanted me to read it. Dunno what she's trying to tell me.

Favourite boxing book is A J Liebling's 'The Sweet Science'. When Marciano kayoed Walcott '(Joe) flowed down to the floor like flour out of a chute'. Archie Moore, Liebling notes, 'hit (Harold) Johnson with a left hook to the chops that it is a pleasure to recall never having received.' To my mind, the man was a genius and didn't write so much as paint pictures with words.

 

'McIlvanney on Boxing' and 'Dark Trade' by Donald McRae are also brilliant. McIlvanney's chapter on Johnny Owen tugs at your heartstrings and really got me ready for David Nicholls' 'One Day'!

David Remnick's 'King of the World' is a great commentary on where Ali and, to a lesser degree, boxing stood in 60s America.

 

One Day and Us? Go for it Fists. Get the hankies ready and treat yourself!

Dark Trade is just brilliant. And McIlvanney's pieces on the rumble, for me, utterly eclipse anything in Norman Mailer's The Fight. McIlvanney appreciated what a huge star Ali was. Mailer couldn't get his head round not being the main man himself and, as he was at the Liston-Patterson post fight conference, portrays himself as a self obsessed bore.

 

Abraham Lincoln -A Life Volume 1 by Michael Burlingame.

Terrific read so far. And to make it more topical Lincoln was a good fighter. It didn't hurt that at 6'4" he towered over most men of the era and despite his gaunt look in later life was actually probably more robust and muscular as a young man (having significantly hurt his health and weight by his obsessive study of law). At one point he got into a dispute with a guy who said he would fight Lincoln but that Abraham was too big for him. Instead a friend of Lincoln's chose to fight them man in an arranged match on Abe's behalf. Lincoln's enemy got the upperhand in the match through dirty tactics which infuriated Lincoln who jumped into the fray, tossed his enemy from the circle of people, and then stood up in a rage and challenged anyone in the audience to take his measure. Non would.

Another time there was a man in Springfield who beat his wife on a regular basis. Hearing of this Lincoln confronted the man and told him if he did not stop he would be sorry. The man continued to beat his wife and one night Lincoln showed up with a group of men, dragged the man out of his house, and tied him to a post. They gave the wife a whip and told her to have her revenge, she started slowly but warmed to the task. When she was done the man was taken from the post and helped back into his shirt. The man and woman were sent on their way and the man never abused his wife again.

There was more to Mr. Lincoln than what we were taught in school, that's for sure.

 

How much of this is hero worship like the myths we see regularly dispelled on this site, and how much is supported by actual first hand newspaper reports? I wonder how different the book would be if it was written by Appolack or yourself.

Still, i enjoy these types of books (even teh boxing ones) and sometimes the myths have elements of truth, even where the newspapers say otherwise.

 

Did he invent the hack squat in bodybuilding?

 

That's why I enjoy the book so much. The sources are primarily first hand, or verified second hand reports. We are very lucky in that a couple of Lincolns close friends spent years interviewing Lincoln's friends, neighbors, and associates, recording an oral and written tradition of the man that we would be lucky to have for 99.99% of the rest of the world at that time. Its remarkable actually. The book reminds me of the unfinished biography of Daniel Boone written by Lyman Copeland D****r, which was an inspiration for the approach I took toward my book.

 

sitting on it for too long....les darcy - australias golden boy of boxing...raymond swanwick

 

I have a feeling that Adam's new book on John L, might be my next acquisition.

 

Lords of the Sith.