War in the Ring: Joe Louis, Max Schmeling, and the Fight between America and Hitler

by John Florio, Ouisie Shapiro

Overview

War in the Ring presents a riveting nonfiction book for kids about a boxing match that represented the growing tensions between the United States and Nazi Germany in the lead up to World War II.

Joe Louis was born on an Alabama cotton patch and raised in a Detroit ghetto. Max Schmeling grew up in poverty in Hamburg, Germany. For both boys, boxing was a path out and a ladder up. Little did they know that they would one day face each other in a pair of matches that would capture the world's attention.

Joe grew into a symbol of inspiration to a nation of Black Americans hoping to carve a slice of the 'American Dream' in a racially fractured country. Max, on the other hand, became a Nazi symbol for the superiority of the Aryan race.

The battles waged between Joe and Max still resonate, and the cultural implications of the international sensation continue to reverberate far past the ring.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250791924
Publisher:	Square Fish
Publication date:	01/24/2023
Pages:	208
Sales rank:	682,661
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.95(h) x 0.50(d)
Age Range:	10 - 14 Years

About the Author

John Florio and Ouisie Shapiro are the authors of One Nation Under Baseball: How the 1960s Collided with the National Pastime, and One Punch from the Promised Land: Leon Spinks, Michael Spinks, and the Myth of the Heavyweight Title. Together, they’ve written about sports for The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, VICE Sports, and Sports Illustrated. They are married and live in Brooklyn. War in the Ring is their first book for young readers.

Table of Contents

Prologue

June 22, 1938 1

1932: Joe's Violin 4

Cool as a Frozen Cucumber 17

"Save Me, Joe Louis" 24

A Date with Max Baer 30

Fourteen Years Earlier, Hamburg 37

Chasing Dempsey 39

Max's Rise 43

New York City, 1928 46

Foul! 51

"We Was Robbed!" 54

"I Saw Something" 65

Joe's Training Camp 68

June 19, 1936 74

The Helpless Giant 79

Meeting with Hitler 83

"I Won't Let My People Down" 90

Public Enemy No. 1 96

"Snus" 99

The Big Night 103

The Fight 107

Max Under Siege 118

"God's Side" 123

Crawling Through Rubble 129

Hanging Up the Gloves 132

Joe at the Bottom 135

Max at the Top 139

This Is Your Life 140

Epilogue

"Let's Hear It for the Champ" 143

Forever Linked 146

Acknowledgments 151

Source Notes 153

Bibliography 173

Photo Credits 189

Index 191

Editorial Reviews

"Thoroughly sourced, Florio and Shapiro’s book celebrating Louis' life is a knockout." —Booklist

"Florio and Shapiro bring considerable skill to their lively telling of this multilayered slice of history...an honest account of the racism and anti-Semitism intertwined throughout and realistically portraying the complexities of Joe Louis and Max Schmeling]." —Kirkus Reviews

"Florio and Shapiro (One Nation Under Baseball) vividly recount the politically and racially charged rivalry between African-American boxing champion Joe Louis and white German boxer Max Schmeling" —Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher

04/15/2019

Florio and Shapiro (One Nation Under Baseball) vividly recount the politically and racially charged rivalry between African-American boxing champion Joe Louis and white German boxer Max Schmeling, which grew between their 1936 and 1938 matches. Tracing both men’s careers from inception until they hung up their gloves, the authors illuminate how emblematic each was to his country while exploring the social issues of the day. Born to an Alabama sharecropper, Louis turned professional at age 20. His success in a white-controlled sport made him both famous and “a symbol of the struggle... for emancipation.” Also from humble roots, Schmeling hoped to retake the world heavyweight title he had lost in 1932. His pummeling of the hitherto-undefeated Louis in 1936 sealed his reputation as a star in Nazi Germany—and ensured that Americans were even more inclined to root for Louis at the boxers’ 1938 rematch. Louis’s triumph launched his record 12-year hold on the world heavyweight title. The authors end this sympathetic joint portrait by contrasting the men at their later “civilian” encounters: Louis in the U.S. with tax and health problems and a fit, prosperous Schmeling in Germany. Photos, source notes, bibliography, and an index supplement the text. Ages 10–14. (May)

Publishers Weekly

05/01/2019

Gr 4–6—The two heavyweight championship fights between Joe Louis, representing the United States, and Max Schmeling, representing Germany, serve as a metaphor for the lead-up to World War II and the fight against fascism. Each man carried the weight of national pride on his shoulders, but Louis also carried the burden of being a black man in Jim Crow America. Louis lost the first match badly but redeemed himself in the second bout by knocking Schmeling out in just two minutes and four seconds. America, especially the Black community, regarded Louis's win as a symbol of perseverance and hope, but Schmeling was ostracized in Germany. Florio and Shapiro follow each man on his path to the matches, placing their respective journeys within the historical context of Hitler's rise and fall. The story manages to illuminate beyond what is told in history books, and what people were feeling in those years of war. Even for readers not well-versed in boxing lore, the story is fascinating and reads as smoothly as a novel. In addition to photographs and an index, the book also contains extensive chapter notes and an impressive bibliography of varied sources. VERDICT For a slightly different take on the time period, this volume captures a microcosm with a personal perspective. Recommended for all public and school libraries.—Katherine Koenig, Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh

School Library Journal

2019-03-12
A historic boxing match becomes a proxy for world politics as legendary African-American boxer Joe Louis takes on his most memorable opponent, German Max Schmeling.

Louis' parents migrated from Alabama to Detroit, Michigan, in the 1920s hoping for opportunity. Despite his stepfather's objections, Joe was drawn to the boxing ring, and it wasn't long before he was a contender. His exploits made him a hero, particularly to the African-American community, but boxing authorities seemed reluctant to see a black champion. Meanwhile, Max Schmeling was moving up the ranks in Europe, eventually coming to the United States and securing the world heavyweight championship—and winning the admiration of Adolf Hitler, whose Nazi Party was rising to power in Germany. The first fight between the black man and the white man ended in defeat for the American, and by the time their rematch occurred in 1938, the "battle [became] much more than a contest between two prizefighters.…Had you asked almost any American, you'd have heard that Joe Louis was taking on the führer himself." Florio and Shapiro bring considerable skill to their lively telling of this multilayered slice of history. They provide solid context for readers while keeping the focus on the match and its aftermath, giving an honest account of the racism and anti-Semitism intertwined throughout and realistically portraying the complexities of both men. Contemporaneous pictures enhance the narrative.

Compelling history well told. (source notes, bibliography, index) (Nonfiction. 10-14)

Kirkus Reviews