For much of the twentieth century, boxing was one of America's most popular sports, and the heavyweight champions were figures known to all. Their exploits were reported regularly in the newspapers-often outside the sports pages-and their fame and wealth dwarfed those of other athletes. Long after their heyday, these icons continue to be synonymous with the "sweet science." In The Boxing Kings: When American Heavyweights Ruled the Ring, Paul Beston profiles these larger-than-life men who held a central place in American culture. Among the figures covered are John L. Sullivan, who made the heavyweight championship a commercial property; Jack Johnson, who became the first black man to claim the title; Jack Dempsey, a sporting symbol of the Roaring Twenties; Joe Louis, whose contributions to racial tolerance and social progress transcended even his greatness in the ring; Rocky Marciano, who became an embodiment of the American Dream; Muhammad Ali, who took on the U.S. government and revolutionized professional sports with his showmanship; and Mike Tyson, a hard-punching dynamo who typified the modern celebrity. This gallery of flawed but sympathetic men also includes comics, dandies, bookworms, divas, ex-cons, workingmen, and even a tough-guy-turned-preacher. As the heavyweight title passed from one claimant to another, their stories opened a window into the larger history of the United States. Boxing fans, sports historians, and those interested in U.S. race relations as it intersects with sports will find this book a fascinating exploration into how engrained boxing once was in America's social and cultural fabric.

Warfare was only one form of the violence that had a profound impact on Archaic and Classical Greek society, literature and government. This important series of thirteen papers, from a seminar held in London in 1998, places private and public conflict within its wider context. The papers are divided into five sections: causes of war, forms of violence within the polis, beyond the classical phalanx, war and rebellion, and continuities in Hellenistic warfare. Chapters describe social violence, as in Sparta, full-scale warfare on land and at sea, the representation of warfare in Greek epic and Hellenistic military leadership. Papers also examine the practicalities of Greek warfare, such as the use of deception as a tactic, and the significant influence of religion in warfare, including sacrifices before a battle and the role of Athena, who symbolised everything that the Greeks thought good about war. Contributors: J E Lendon, Jonathan Shay, Simon Hornblower, Nick Fisher, Hans van Wees, Peter Krentz, Victor Davis Hanson, Louis Rawlings, Barry S Strauss, Susan Deacy, Robert Parker, Paul Beston and John Ma.