Being relatively new to the boxing world (I have only come to appreciate the Sweet Sport in the past 18 months or so) I cannot get enough of the history and the people who make up that history. Of course, whether a boxing fan or not, pretty much everyone brought up in the good ole' U.S.A. knows the name "Joe Louis". He not only held the Heavyweight Championship for more years than any other boxer, but he was also one of the African American's who helped break through the color barrier in this country (ok! ok! so there is still a barrier - I'm not getting into THAT argument! but I challenge anyone to deny there has been a boat load of civil rights progress since the turn of the century... the 20th that is... you know... the late 1800's and early 1900's till now.)

Ok, back to Joe Louis. This biography portrays him as a pretty laid back dude - until he stepped into the ring. He was a naturally talented young many who had the good fortune to meet and join up with the right people to guide him through his career. And we are treated to mini-biographies of these people as well as some of the better known fighters Joe battled it out with. I enjoyed knowing a bit of the back stories of those he was closest to: his managers: John Roxborough, Julian Black and Jack Blackburn. Knowing their history conveyed an understanding as to why they managed Joe as they did, why the expectations and rules derived and why they were so strict about them. These men had a sense that Joe was a special young man who could help close the racial divide in our country. As such, knowing back stories of the notables he fought brought life and reason into the hype of the day. Most especially is the international political history surrounding his two fights with Max Schmeling in 1936 and again in 1938. In '36, when Louis lost, there was disappointment, especially in the African American communities but the overall feeling in the press seemed to be, "Oh, well, it was good while it lasted!" Papers in the south seemed to express little surprise to his loss - after all, Louis was a coloured man, and Schmeling a white man. As the years passes, and two years seems a short time, but in that time Hitler began the German advance though and takeover of Europe, making his desires known in no uncertain terms, the populous of the United States swelled behind the American Pugilist, Joe Louis as he fought Hitler who was "represented" by Schmelling. Louis' win was expressed as an American win over Hitler.

I felt a bit let down though. there are places where the story does not flow. It is as though editors were switched within chapters, and the editors didn't read one another's comments so there is a bit of repetition and skipping around between events. Annoying as that is, at least the story line isn't lost!

As good as the story of Joe's life is, I would very much have liked to have seen pictures... lots of pictures! I know they exist because I have found them on the internet! What did the house Joe grew up in look like? What did his mom and step-dad and his siblings look like? What about his managers? Where did he fight... show me! What did the tick stubs look like? How about a copy of a training itinerary? His wife? His children? Joe in uniform (he was in the Army during WWII). The lack of photographs causes us to lose a bit of the flavor of the times he lived through. Pictures can take us there.... as close as I got simply reading the words, I could have actually been at his side seeing what he saw if only there were photos.

I do recommend this book. Not only because it is the story of our country's greatest (ok so this is up for debate... my review, my opinion) pugilist but because it is the story of life during some of the greatest social and political upheavals our country has gone though.

P.S.... Hopefully in future editions, photos will be included... hint! hint! ( )

In Joe Louis: The Life of a Heavyweight, author Lew Freedman takes the reader on a journey throughout the great boxer's entire life, from his humble beginnings in rural Alabama to his death in a Las Vegas hotel room. Freedman discusses aspects of Louis' life and career in the right amount of detail--enough to be informative, but not so much so as to lose the reader's interest. Likewise, although Freedman is a veteran sports reporter, he takes the time to explain the ins and outs of boxing, as well as to provide mini-biographies of the men Louis took on in the ring. (Max Schmeling was by far the most interesting of these characters.) This helped me, a boxing abecedarian, gain a better understanding of and appreciation for the sport. In addition, the book provides a very good description of what it was like to be a black man fighting for the heavyweight crown in a white man's world.

Overall, I did think this was a good book. Freedman's writing style was perhaps the biggest drawback to the book--in places, it just didn't "click" for me (e.g., using a phrase in a way that didn't make sense as I was reading it), and it felt like a long magazine article, not necessarily a book. And if I were Freedman, the one change I would have made would have been to provide web links (or perhaps set up a webpage to go along with the book) of actual Joe Louis fight footage. I watched some Louis videos on YouTube, and it helped me to understand the book's fight descriptions much better. ( )

Joe Louis by Lew Freedman offers an upbeat view of Louis’s early life and his tenure as heavyweight champion of the world. I’m sure things were not as good as portrayed, but one thing cannot be denied Joe Louis was the great heavyweight champion of his time.

Boxing writer Lew Freedman describes Louis' most dramatic bouts: the two against Max Schmeling and the title defenses against Billy Conn chief among them, but also the later "bum of the month'' club, when Louis would fight almost anyone, anywhere if the purse was large enough.

But Freedman puts Louis' life in context better than earlier biographies did. he details the fighter's womanizing, tax troubles and spend-thrift ways and his father's sad life in an insane asylum.

Most importantly, Freedman explains white America's aversion to a black heavyweight champion after the infamous Jack Johnson. With Hitler on the rise and Max Schmeling a handy foil, Louis became America's champion on the eve of World War II.

In the heyday of prizefighting, roughly the 1930s to the 1950s, Louis was the champ every other boxer had to measure himself against. Freedman's biography should become the one others are measured against. ( )

Joe Louis, heavy weight boxing champion of the world from 1937-1949. The author does a nice job of balancing /reporting on the champion's career and personal life. ( )