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Reviews in American History 34.3 (2006) 355-363



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More Than Just A Fight

Lewis A. Erenberg. The Greatest Fight of Our Generation: Louis vs. Schmeling. New York: Oxford University Press, 2006. xii + 274 pp. Illustrations, notes, and index. $28.00.
David Margolick. Beyond Glory: Joe Louis vs. Max Schmeling, and a World on the Brink. New York: Knopf, 2005. 423 pp. Illustrations, notes, and index. $26.95 (cloth); $15.95 (paper).
Patrick Myler. Ring of Hate: Joe Louis vs. Max Schmeling: The Fight of the Century. New York: Arcade Publishing, 2005. xiii + 246 pp. Illustrations, appendices, bibliography, and index. $25.00 (cloth); $13.00 (paper).

Anyone who has had the pleasure of examining the fascinating African American weekly newspapers of the 1930s cannot help but be struck by the obsessive, yet loving coverage of one figure: the boxer Joe Louis (1914–1981). Pivotal developments such as the Scottsboro case, the various "Don't Buy Where You Can't Work" campaigns, and the struggle to secure a federal anti-lynching bill all took a back seat to news of the young fighter. In fact, between 1933 and 1938, Louis received more front page headlines and mentions in the Chicago Defender, one of the top black weeklies, than any other individual.1

Seven decades later, the god-like stature of Louis during the Depression is difficult for some to comprehend. He lacked the outspoken personality of Jack Johnson, the braggadocio and political involvement of Muhammad Ali, or the fiery determination of Jackie Robinson. He said little outside the ring and, to use a familiar cliche, was generally content to let his fists do the talking. As Lewis Erenberg, author of one of three new books on Louis, observes, "many young people today only have a vague sense" of the boxer, probably shaped by the incessant clips of old fights aired on ESPN Classic (p. 225).

But there is far more to Louis than meets the eye. Despite his current obscurity, Louis is arguably the most important American athlete of the twentieth century. During the darkest days of the Depression, he functioned as a black superhero (long before Ali became a celebrated "black Superman" in the 1970s) whose knockouts of white opponents offered vicarious satisfaction for African [End Page 355] Americans. More important, his gradual acceptance by mainstream white America as a legitimate sports hero worthy of respect and pride represented a startling transformation in racial attitudes.

Most observers have long identified Louis's rematch with the German boxer Max Schmeling (1905–2005) in 1938 as the single event that best defines his career and illustrates his historical importance. With the threat of Nazi Germany looming ever closer, the fight emerged as a symbolic life and death struggle between fascism and democracy, and many white Americans, normally ambivalent or downright hostile to blacks, rallied behind Louis. His merciless beating of Schmeling in a single round not only cemented his status as a sports icon but also made him the nation's most famous and most revered African American, whose physical prowess, coolness under fire, and acute sense of dignity helped to undermine commonly held racial stereotypes.

The Louis/Schmeling story has become part of boxing lore and remains familiar to even non-sports fans.2 Yet this much-told tale is more than just another moldy feel-good Depression-era sports story that Hollywood seems to enjoy reviving these days (witness Seabiscuit [2003] or Cinderella Man [2005]). Louis and Schmeling constantly transcended sports; in fact, their lives, both in and out of boxing, offer a remarkable opportunity to examine racial issues, international politics, and nationalism, all fodder for enterprising writers and historians. Not surprisingly, three new books, all released within a four-month period, attempt to provide a fresh perspective as viewed by Irish boxing writer Patrick Myler, Vanity Fair contributing editor David Margolick, and historian Lewis Erenberg.

The three accounts generally follow a similar chronological structure, tracing the development of Louis and Schmeling from obscurity to international stardom, culminating in their historic fights in 1936 and 1938. The elder of the pair...

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