Budd Schulbergs celebrated novel of the prize ring has lost none of its power since its first publication almost fifty years ago. Crowded with unforgettable characters, it is a relentless expose of the fight racket. A modern Samson in the form of a simple Argentine peasant is ballyhooed by an unscrupulous fight promoter and his press agent and then betrayed and destroyed by connivers. Mr. Schulberg creates a wonderfully authentic atmosphere for this book that many critics hailed as even better than What Makes Sammy Run? The quintessential novel of boxing and corruption.--USA Today The book will stand not only as the novel about boxing but also as a book that indirectly tells more about civilization than do most books about civilization itself.--Arthur Miller. Brilliant, witty, and amusing--the best book on fighting that I have read.--Gene Tunney.About the AuthorBudd Schulberg is also the author of What Makes Sammy Run?, The Disenchanted, Sparring with Hemingway, On the Waterfront (play and screenplay), and Moving Pictures: Memories of a Hollywood Prince. He lives in Westhampton Beach, New York.