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The Fight of His Life
Joe Louis's Battle for Freedom During World War II
Description
The boxing champion whose fight against the Nazis in and out of the ring made him a global icon
During the 1930s and 1940s, no African American athlete commanded the spotlight more than heavyweight boxer Joe Louis. His 1938 knockout victory over German Max Schmeling struck an early blow against Nazi Germany. But it was Louis’s service in the looming war that transformed him from a patriotic role model into history’s first prominent Black athlete turned activist.
In The Fight of His Life, award-winning sports historians Johnny Smith and Randy Roberts tell the story of heavyweight champion Joe Louis’s battles both in and out of the ring. Already world-famous at the outset of World War II, Louis enlisted in the army, serving as a goodwill ambassador and promoting unity across military bases that crackled with racial tension. Yet Louis’s experience with segregation in the army sparked his political awakening. As the war dragged on, he advocated for Black soldiers facing discrimination. Once the war ended, he joined veterans and civil rights activists to fight for voting rights and racial equality.
Expertly revising the life story of one of America’s most iconic Black athletes, Smith and Roberts’s biography celebrates Joe Louis’s forgotten fight against fascism abroad and racism at home.
During the 1930s and 1940s, no African American athlete commanded the spotlight more than heavyweight boxer Joe Louis. His 1938 knockout victory over German Max Schmeling struck an early blow against Nazi Germany. But it was Louis’s service in the looming war that transformed him from a patriotic role model into history’s first prominent Black athlete turned activist.
In The Fight of His Life, award-winning sports historians Johnny Smith and Randy Roberts tell the story of heavyweight champion Joe Louis’s battles both in and out of the ring. Already world-famous at the outset of World War II, Louis enlisted in the army, serving as a goodwill ambassador and promoting unity across military bases that crackled with racial tension. Yet Louis’s experience with segregation in the army sparked his political awakening. As the war dragged on, he advocated for Black soldiers facing discrimination. Once the war ended, he joined veterans and civil rights activists to fight for voting rights and racial equality.
Expertly revising the life story of one of America’s most iconic Black athletes, Smith and Roberts’s biography celebrates Joe Louis’s forgotten fight against fascism abroad and racism at home.
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Praise
“A sharp, hard-hitting, beautifully written account of one of the greatest sports figures in all American history. The Fight of His Life is a book worthy of its subject—and when the subject is Joe Louis, that’s a monumental achievement.”
—Jonathan Eig, author of Ali: A Life and King: A Life, winner of the Pulitzer Prize
“The Fight of His Life is not only elegantly written, it shatters the Uncle Tom stereotypes often inaccurately attached to boxing legend Joe Louis. With compelling detail, Randy Roberts and Johnny Smith show how the Army changed Joe Louis, who emerged from fighting fascism in World War II with a deeper commitment to battling racism in America.”
—David Maraniss, Pulitzer Prize–winning reporter
“Historians Johnny Smith and Randy Roberts have done it again, writing a remarkable book about an iconic American athlete. Joe Louis's battles within and beyond the boxing ring highlight the contradictions and complexities of our country during World War II. Louis inspired a generation of Americans and this page-turner brings his story to life for a new generation.”
—Matthew F. Delmont, author of Half American