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 €œprofessor 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.  Praise for The Fight  €œExquisitely 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.€Â€"The New York Times  €œOne 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.€Â€"GQ  €œStylistically, Mailer was the greatest boxing writer of all time.€Â€"Chuck Klosterman, Esquire  €œOne of Mailer€s finest books.€Â€"Louis Menand, The New Yorker  Praise for Norman Mailer  €œ[Norman Mailer] loomed over American letters longer and larger than any other writer of his generation.€Â€"The New York Times  €œA writer of the greatest and most reckless talent.€Â€"The New Yorker  €œMailer is indispensable, an American treasure.€Â€"The Washington Post  €œA devastatingly alive and original creative mind.€Â€"Life  €œMailer is fierce, courageous, and reckless and nearly everything he writes has sections of headlong brilliance.€Â€"The New York Review of Books  €œThe 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.€Â€"Chicago Tribune  €œMailer is a master of his craft. His language carries you through the story like a leaf on a stream.€Â€"The Cincinnati Post