On October 30, 1974, in Kinshasa, Zaire, at the virtual center of
Africa, two boxers were paid five million dollars apiece to
confront each other in an epic match. One was Muhammad Ali, who
vowed to reclaim the championship he had lost. The other was George
Foreman, who was as taciturn as Ali was voluble and who kept his
hands in his pockets "the way a hunter lays his rifle back into its
velvet case." Observing them both was Norman Mailer, whose grasp of
the titanic battle's feints and stratagems-and sensitivity to their
deeper symbolism-made his 1975 book The Fight a masterpiece of
sportswriting. Whether analyzing the fighters' moves, interpreting
their characters, or weighing their competing claims on the African
and American souls, Mailer was a commentator of unparalleled
acumen-and surely one of the few intrepid enough to accompany Ali
on a late-night run through the bush. Through The Fight he restores
our tarnished notions of heroism to a blinding gleam, and
establishes himself as a champion in his own right. Over four
decades after its original publication, this edition of The Fight
has been introduced and abridged by Mailer scholar J. Michael
Lennon and illustrated for the first time with principal
photography by the two men who captured Ali and Foreman in the ring
and in private like no one else: Neil Leifer and Howard L. Bingham.
Widely considered to be the greatest sports photographer of his
generation, Neil Leifer's vibrant color coverage dominates from
ringside. It also serves as a living testimony to the pageantry,
sheer physical power, and deep psychological interplay of the
fighters, their camps, and their controversial host, Zaire's
President Mobutu Sese Seko. Behind the scenes, meanwhile, Howard
Bingham was Ali's constant companion, documenting his every move
from the moment he stepped off the plane in Zaire, his daily
training regime, right through to the dressing room tension as he
prepared to face Foreman once and for all. Together with pictures
from other photojournalists, reproductions of Mailer's original
manuscript pages, and additional visual documentation of the media
frenzy surrounding the "Rumble in the Jungle," the result is a
dazzling tribute to The Champ and a vivid document of one of the
most epic, adrenaline-laced events in sporting history.
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!
Welcome to Loot.co.za!
Sign in / Register |Wishlists & Gift Vouchers |Help | Advanced search
