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Start giftingThe Sweet Science
This audiobook uses AI narration.
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Learn moreThis collection of A. J. Liebling's classic New Yorker pieces on the "sweet science of bruising" brings vividly to life the boxing world as it once was. It depicts the great events of boxing's American heyday, including Sugar Ray Robinson's dramatic comeback, Rocky Marciano's rise to prominence, and Joe Louis's unfortunate decline. Liebling never fails to find the human story behind the fight, and he evokes the atmosphere in the arena as distinctly as he does the goings-on in the ring—a combination that prompted Sports Illustrated to name The Sweet Science the best American sports book of all time.
A. J. Liebling (1904–1963), a graduate of the School of Journalism at Columbia University, joined the staff of the New Yorker in 1935. He served as a war correspondent during World War II, writing and filming stories from France, England and the African continent. Liebling is one of the few foreign nationals to have been awarded the Cross of the Légion d'honneur by the French government.
Grover Gardner is an award-winning narrator with over a thousand titles to his credit. Named one of the “Best Voices of the Century” and a Golden Voice by AudioFile magazine, he has won three prestigious Audie Awards, was chosen Narrator of the Year for 2005 by Publishers Weekly, and has earned more than thirty Earphones Awards.
Reviews
“Nobody wrote about boxing with more grace and enthusiasm than Joe Liebling.”
“In The Sweet Science—in all his books—Liebling himself, the voice and the character, is immensely appealing.”
“Grover Gardner is the perfect narrator for this collection of Liebling’s New Yorker pieces about boxing, written in the '30s, '40s, and '50s…No one else has ever written so well about this sport. Gardner captures the voices of ‘know-it-all’ New York fight fans and the denizens of the Neutral Corner, a New York City bar owned, tended, and patronized by fighters and their retinue Gardner’s rendition of Tommy Farr, the Welsh heavyweight, alone is worth the purchase price. Those who love boxing, and even those who don’t, will enjoy the Liebling-Gardner team.”
“Liebling’s articles…present a personal and polished account of the square ring…Excellent reading and not only for the buffs.”
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