Joe Louis: Hard Times Man

by Randy W. Roberts

Joe Louis defended his heavyweight boxing title an astonishing twenty-five times and reigned as world champion for more than eleven years. He got more column inches of newspaper coverage in the 1930s than FDR did. His racially and politically charged defeat of Max Schmeling in 1938 made Louis a national hero. But as important as his record is what he meant to African-Americans: at a time when the boxing ring was the only venue where black and white could meet on equal terms, Louis embodied all their hopes for dignity and equality.

Through meticulous research and first-hand interviews, acclaimed historian and biographer Randy Roberts presents Louis, and his impact on sport and country, in a way never before accomplished. Roberts reveals an athlete who carefully managed his public image, and whose relationships with both the black and white communities—including his relationships with mobsters—were far more complex than the simplistic accounts of heroism and victimization that have dominated previous biographies.

Richly researched and utterly captivating, this extraordinary biography presents the full range of Joe Louis’s power in and out of the boxing ring.

Genres: Sports, Biography, History, Nonfiction, African American, Race, Social

328 pages, Hardcover

First published October 26, 2010

Reviews

[robin friedman · Rating 5 out of 5]

America's Champion

The great African American heavyweight Joe Louis (1911 -- 1981) dominated the world of professional boxing from 1935 to the late 1940s. Louis' life involved far more than his prowess in the ring. He became an icon and a symbol of hope to the African American community of his day. With his famous one-round knockout in his rematch with the German boxer Max Schmeling in 1938, Louis became a hero to all Americans in the impending fight with totalitarianism and Nazism. With the outbreak of WW II, Louis served in the military and continued to inspire Americans of all races and persuasions with his active patriotism and service. Yet, Joe Louis was a deeply troubled man. He was heavily and inextricably involved with the shabby elements of professional boxing. Although he earned astronomical sums for his day, Louis far overspent his means, lived deeply in debt and owed a huge tax liability to the I.R.S. which he could not hope to pay. In his last years, Louis had problems with drugs and required institutionalization at one point for mental difficulties. He also worked meeting and greeting patrons of Las Vegas casinos and in making appearances at title fights.

In "Joe Louis: Hard Times Man" (2010) Randy Roberts offers a moving biography of Joe Louis. More importantly. Roberts focuses "in large part on the meaning of that life and career." (Preface, xii). Thus the book offers a great deal of insight into African American and broader American perception of Joe Louis. He examines Louis' career and the changes in the sport of boxing in light of changing American understandings of masculinity. Roberts also has a feel for the nature of boxing, and he captures Louis' great fights with tense, riveting prose. A Distinguished Professor of History at Purdue University, Roberts has written, among other things, biographies of fighters Jack Dempsey and Jack Johnson, both of whom figure importantly in this biography of Louis, and a history of American sports since 1945.

Roberts begins with Louis' hardscrabble childhood as his family of rural Alabama sharecroppers moved to Detroit when he was young. With no skills and a life on the streets seemingly ahead of him, Louis found his way to a boxing gym with money that his mother had given him to learn to play the violin. He fell in with trainers in Detroit that stayed with him for his career. Although emeshed in crime and violence, his handlers showed a devotion to Louis. After winning a long series of professional fights in 1934-1935, Louis moved to New York City. At this point, Roberts' real story begins.

With skillful, if self-interested management and promoting in New York, Louis won highly publicized fights against Primo Carnera and Max Baer and became a hero of African Americans. An earlier African American heavyweight, Jack Johnson, brought the wrath of the establishment upon himself by his flamboyant lifestyle and womanizing. In contrast, Louis' handlers advised him to develop a quiet, self-effacing public personality. Louis, however he lived his private life, played this role remarkably. Louis' career tottered after he was knocked out in 12 rounds by Schmeling. But he captured the heavyweight championship by knocking out Jim Braddock. Louis then redeemed himself in his rematch with Schmeling in what still remains one of the pivotal moments of 20th Century sports. Louis badly defeated Schmeling in the opening round in a fight that was billed, and properly so, as a conflict between freedom and Nazism. Louis became a national hero. There followed a lengthy series of Louis fights which culminated in 1941, with Louis' 12-round knockout of a young fighter named Billy Conn, in a fight the champion appeared to have lost.

Roberts has a great deal of love for Joe Louis. He shows an understanding of Louis derived from the news media, from private sources, and from interviews. He also has a broad-based knowledge of boxing and of its place in American culture. His story is enlarged greatly with discussions of the early days of American boxing beginning with John Sullivan and continuing with the first great African American fighter, Jack Johnson. The book his full of references to literature and the blues, including for example the poet Langston Hughes and the bluesman Josh White. But Roberts won my heart with his knowledge of the poem "Dempsey, Dempsey", a story of the great fighter of the 1920's relating him to the down-and out years of the Depression. The poem is by Horace Gregory, now, unhappily, almost forgotten.

Roberts has written an excellent biography of Louis. He has also succeeded in his aim of discussing broader areas of African American and American history and in describing American life in the years surrounding WW II. For all the scope of the book, the work is at its best in the fight scenes. Although the most obvious appeal of this book is to boxing fans, the book also has a great deal to say about American history in the 20th Century.

Robin Friedman

[Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Randy Roberts' biography of Joe Louis does a great job of explaining the times that the champ lived in, the forces that affected his life and career, and the impact he had on blacks in America and on society as a whole. What it doesn't do, however, is get close to Joe Louis; with a few exceptions, we only see him from a distance. That's not ideal for a biography, but it's a terrific book nonetheless. The descriptions of the fights are very well written. Roberts even gives us a history of boxing in the years before Joe Louis, with a nicely detailed recap of the 19th Century career of John L. Sullivan.

[Ben · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book . Although it made for very uncomfortable reading at times .
I would say you don't have to be a boxing fan (even though i am) to enjoy this biography . Its well researched & gives you a great window into history of America during the period of the Joe Louis era . I'm gonna steal a quote from Jimmy Powers New York Daily News in the book
" the more i think of it , the greater guy i see in this Joe Louis "

Couldn't put it better than that . Enjoy .

[Clarence Goodman · Rating 5 out of 5]

The description of the second fight with Max Schmelling alone is enough to read this book. I read it, re-read it, and then read it aloud to a friend. Soon after I saw a film of said fight, and I leapt from my chair! After getting back from the emergency room, I read it again.

[Marvin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an awesome book. It gives one an understanding of the 2nd African-American athlete. This "Native Alabamian" carried the fight against Nazism, but was only an American hero in his 1st Round knockout of Max Schmeling. Joe Louis was a very complicated man.

[Ben · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like Jackie Robinson, Joe Louis is one of those athletes who wasn't personally colorful or interesting, but left a strong cultural historic legacy. And this book does a great job explaining that legacy and setting in the proper context. I learned a great deal about the history of boxing, its role in society, and the related role race played in the sport. For decades in the 19th century, boxing was a brutal, bare-knuckled, exclusively white sport. In the early 20th century, flamboyant and unrepentant black champion Jack Johnson swept in and turned white America on its ear. African Americans were effectively barred from the sport for another generation, until Joe Louis came along in the early 1930s. Quiet, menacing, and determined, he was a symbol of hope for black America - and, when he took on Nazi-backed Max Schmeling, he became a symbol of hope for ALL America, doing more for race relations in the country than perhaps any other athlete ever, including Muhammad Ali. You won't walk away with a deep understanding of the man after reading this book, but you will of the sport and the legacy.

[Gene Pantalone · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perhaps the best book ever written on Joe Louis; it is the standard to judge all other books written about him. You cannot get a better writer than Randy Roberts to tell this story.

Gene Pantalone
Author of:
From Boxing Ring to Battlefield: The Life of War Hero Lew Jenkins

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

good report of the times.

[Stephanie]

This book was amazing, and I'm not say that because Randy Roberts was my favorite History prof at Purdue.

[Shawn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eh. Decent. I felt the author went on too many tangents that sometimes lasted way too long. And at times the writing was just too vanilla for my taste and lacked some pizazz and "punch"

[Ernie Bowman · Rating 1 out of 5]

The book is marketed as a biography but in the end that isn't its primary purpose. The preface contradicts the publisher's description when the author writes "Although I am interested in the life and career of Joe Louis..." this book will use the life of Joe Louis to focus on "the twin themes of race and nationalism". I should have known better than to think that a book from Yale University Press could stick to the main focus of boxing and its champion, but by the time you get to the end of the preface and learn the truth it's too late - you've already bought the book.

As a work of ideological consideration it's not terrible. The author writes well and pulls the reader in with compelling prose. But I don't need my sports history to come as a side dish to ideological issues including - bizarrely at one point - a discussion on the alleged differences between sex and gender. I take no issue with an author who wants to write that book, but be open up front about your aims. As it stands now this book is a bait and switch that doesn't deal squarely with readers.

If you're looking for a book by an author with liberal presuppositions who considers the social ills of the early to mid twentieth century through the lens of sports, this might be for you. But if you're looking for a biography of Joe Louis, look elsewhere.

[Gareth Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have read many boxing biographies and autobiographies that being my main interest. Some I read are not so great they tend to follow the same predictable path usually growing up in poverty though not always. Then finding their calling as boxers to eventually become champion before age finally catches up and then followed by decline.
Then there are the odd really enjoyable books that give a bit more than just the normal run of the mill boxing tale and this book by randy roberts is one great read.
This book follows the career of joe Louis only the second black heavyweight champion of the world but as I read through this book I learned so much more than just boxing and it’s great characters. I learned much about how important joe Louis was to African Americans who were suffering much in Jim Crow America there honestly is so much I learned from this fascinating book that I struggle to include it all in this review.
Recent events with the race rioting is nothing new it has been going on for well over a century and I am greatfull to have read this book which has given me a bit more perspective of the history of racial discrimination and slavery.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well written biography of Joe Louis with a focus on his time as a boxer and heralded hero of Black America, first, then all America. Louis lived his life on his terms and took responsibility for where he ended up: in debt, on drugs, unattached but loved. The racism he faced is well known but reading about it, both as it impacted him and as it impacted every Black American, is breathtaking.

[Russell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent read. What i love about biographies is how they capture a time period. Joe Louis was #1 celebrity in the world during days of Radio and early TV. Lots of racism he had to deal with. Very quiet and professional person, a flatliner like Barry Sanders

[Captnamerca · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was good, not great. The early parts of the book are excellent in describing the chronological setting, but the later parts suffer in breezing through Joe's later life.

[Alexander Copeland · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great buildup to the crescendo of WW2, the final quarter is more of a systematic reading of history than storytelling

[Janai Albertson · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you know nothing about boxing you can read this and keep up. My class topic was about race and this was the book assigned: I enjoyed learning about race from a biography. Very ominous cover