Joyce Carol Oates in the New York Times:
What Margolick has accomplished in “Beyond Glory” is to provide an exhaustively researched background to the Louis-Schmeling rivalry that includes sympathetic portraits of both Joe Louis and Max Schmeling; an examination of racism at home and anti-Semitism in Germany; a look at the predominant role of Jews in professional boxing in the United States; and, interlarded through the text, opinions by just about anyone, from boxing experts and sportswriters to celebrities and ordinary, anonymous citizens, who might have had something to say about Louis or Schmeling that found its way into print, valuable or otherwise. Less cultural criticism than Margolick’s artfully focused “Strange Fruit,” “Beyond Glory” is historical reportage, a heavyweight of a book that is likely to be the definitive chronicle of its subject.
More here. [This post dedicated to my favorite pugilist, Alan Koenig.]
