{"product_id":"the-fight-9780812986129","title":"The Fight","description":"In 1974 in Kinshasa, Za re, two African American boxers were paid five million dollars apiece to fight each other. One was Muhammad Ali, the aging but irrepressible \"professor of boxing.\" The other was George Foreman, who was as taciturn as Ali was voluble. Observing them was Norman Mailer, a commentator of unparalleled energy, acumen, and audacity. Whether he is analyzing the fighters' moves, interpreting their characters, or weighing their competing claims on the African and American souls, Mailer's grasp of the titanic battle's feints and stratagems--and his sensitivity to their deeper symbolism--makes this book a masterpiece of the literature of sport. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cb\u003ePraise for \u003ci\u003eThe Fight\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \"Exquisitely refined and attenuated . . .  a] sensitive portrait of an extraordinary athlete and man, and a pugilistic drama fully as exciting as the reality on which it is based.\"\u003cb\u003e--\u003ci\u003eThe New York Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \"One of the defining texts of sports journalism. Not only does Mailer recall the violent combat with a scholar's eye . . . he also makes the whole act of reporting seem as exciting as what's occurring in the ring.\"\u003cb\u003e--\u003ci\u003eGQ\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \"Stylistically, Mailer was the greatest boxing writer of all time.\"\u003cb\u003e--Chuck Klosterman, \u003ci\u003eEsquire\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \"One of Mailer's finest books.\"\u003cb\u003e--Louis Menand, \u003ci\u003eThe New Yorker\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003ePraise for Norman Mailer\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \" Norman Mailer] loomed over American letters longer and larger than any other writer of his generation.\"\u003cb\u003e--\u003ci\u003eThe New York Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \"A writer of the greatest and most reckless talent.\"\u003cb\u003e--\u003ci\u003eThe New Yorker\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \"Mailer is indispensable, an American treasure.\"\u003cb\u003e--\u003ci\u003eThe Washington Post\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \"A devastatingly alive and original creative mind.\"\u003cb\u003e--\u003ci\u003eLife\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \"Mailer is fierce, courageous, and reckless and nearly everything he writes has sections of headlong brilliance.\"\u003cb\u003e--\u003ci\u003eThe New York Review of Books\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \"The largest mind and imagination  in modern] American literature . . . Unlike just about every American writer since Henry James, Mailer has managed to grow and become richer in wisdom with each new book.\"\u003cb\u003e--\u003ci\u003eChicago Tribune\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \"Mailer is a master of his craft. His language carries you through the story like a leaf on a stream.\"\u003cb\u003e--\u003ci\u003eThe Cincinnati Post\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBorn in 1923 in Long Branch, New Jersey, and raised in Brooklyn, New York, \u003cb\u003eNorman Mailer\u003c\/b\u003e was one of the most influential writers of the second half of the twentieth century and a leading public intellectual for nearly sixty years. He is the author of more than thirty books. \u003ci\u003eThe Castle in the Forest, \u003c\/i\u003e his last novel, was his eleventh \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e bestseller. His first novel, \u003ci\u003eThe Naked and the Dead, \u003c\/i\u003ehas never gone out of print. His 1968 nonfiction narrative, \u003ci\u003eThe Armies of the Night, \u003c\/i\u003e won the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. He won a second Pulitzer for \u003ci\u003eThe Executioner's Song\u003c\/i\u003e and is the only person to have won Pulitzers in both fiction and nonfiction. Five of his books were nominated for National Book Awards, and he won a lifetime achievement award from the National Book Foundation in 2005. Mr. Mailer died in 2007 in New York City.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Random House Trade","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50413248282898,"sku":"9780812986129","price":12.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_4045d855-b75c-4089-a199-c5cfdc71a71c.jpg?v=1729351017","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/the-fight-9780812986129","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}