Print Price: $17.95

Format:
Paperback
288 pp.
37 halftones & line illus., 234 mm x 155 mm

ISBN-13:
9780195319996

Publication date:
September 2007

Imprint: OUP US

The Greatest Fight of Our Generation

Louis vs. Schmeling

Lewis A. Erenberg

The second Louis-Schmeling fight of 1938 sparked excitement around the globe. For all its length--the fight lasted just two minutes--it remains one of the most memorable events in boxing history and, indeed, one of the most significant sporting events ever. In this superb account, Lewis A. Erenberg offers a vivid portrait of Joe Louis, Max Schmeling, their individual careers, and their two epic fights, shedding light on what these fighters represented to their nations, and why their second bout took on such international importance.
Erenberg shows how after Schmeling's dramatic win in his first fight with Lewis he instantly became a German national hero and an unwilling symbol for white supremacists, leading the second fight to be viewed by many as a symbolic match between Nazism and American democracy. Erenberg discusses how Louis' dramatic first-round victory was a devastating blow to Hitler, who turned on Schmeling and, during the war, had the boxer (then serving as a paratrooper) sent on a series of dangerous missions. Louis, meanwhile, went from being a hero of his race--"Our Joe"--to the first black champion embraced by all Americans.
Here then is a stirring and insightful account of one of the great moments in boxing history, a confrontation that provided global theater on an epic scale.

Reviews

• "If anything, the title to Lewis Erenberg's book is an understatement. Louis-Schmeling was not just 'the greatest fight of our generation,' it was the greatest sporting event of the 20th century. And here, in well-researched detail, Erenberg captures the two participants and their importance in what can best be described as 'The War to Come.' On all scorecards, this book can be judged, in boxing parlance, 'a winner.'"--Bert Randolph Sugar, Boxing Hall of Fame Historian
• "Erenberg's The Greatest Fight of Our Generation has the keenest sense of how the fight reflected the growing internationalization of sports and the intersection of manhood and politics in American culture at the time."--The Nation
• "Set against a backdrop of the Great Depression and World War II, Lewis Erenberg captures not only the excitement, but also the importance of boxing's heavyweight championship. Erenberg gives us the boxers themselves and the fights they waged, but equally important, he shows us how the historical context--racial divisions, economic collapse, international conflict--elevated great fighters like Joe Louis and Max Schmeling to the level of gods. This is exciting history." --Elliott Gorn, Brown University
• "Erenberg makes the case that the heavyweight title fight between then-champion Joe Louis, a black American, and Max Schmeling, a German, on June 22, 1938, was the most important sports event of its time and one of the most important in American history.... There seems to be more than a little truth in the idea, as Erenberg suggests, that the second Louis-Schmeling fight redefined the position of the African-American and the ideology of race in the U.S. It was the beginning of the world of American race relations as we know it today."--Gerald Early, Chicago Tribune
• "Excellent.... Has injected some interest (at least on my couch) in the heavyweight division."--George Solomon, The Washington Post
• "Lewis Erenberg's lively analysis of the Joe Lewis-Max Schmeling fight in 1938 explains not only the meaning of the fight itself, but also how Joe Louis's triumph over a German fighter in the age of Hitler dulled the power of racism in the United States. Joe Lewis personified and furthered the efforts of African Americans to throw off the yoke of white superiority. Max Schmeling, though embraced by the Nazis, protected Jews against persecution. Brilliantly argued and beautifully written, the book offers insights into the lives and personalities of the fighters as well as their fans. The book will no doubt become a classic in the fields of transnational history and cultural studies." --Lary May, author of The Big Tomorrow: Hollywood and the Politics of the American Way