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Beyond Glory: Joe Louis vs. Max Schmeling, and a World on the Brink David Margolick. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2005.
Few sporting events were more momentous than the 1938 boxing match between American Joe Louis and German Max Schmeling. Nearly 70,000 people witnessed the event in Yankee Stadium; another 100 million around the world listened to American Clem McCarthy's or German Arno Hellmis's radio broadcasts. The event's imprint was so indelible that it often turns up in the vivid recollections of memoirists, including Maya Angelou, Jimmy Carter, Russell Baker, and Malcolm X, all of whom were adolescents at the time.
Those familiar with "The Fight" (the title of a 2005 PBS documentary) know why it drew such attention and made such lasting impressions. Louis and Schmeling were cultural heroes and emblematic political figures. The first black heavyweight champion since Jack Johnson, Louis represented blacks, Jews, and American democracy; embraced by Hitler, Schmeling stood for Aryan supremacy, German nationalism, and Nazi fascism. Schmeling had handed Louis his only defeat two years...