Knockout!: A Photobiography of Boxer Joe Louis

By George Sullivan

Book Overview

Knockout! is a quintessential American story--a humble but hardworking man overcomes poverty and prejudice to become world champion--and an inspiration to millions around the world. George Sullivan's photobiography tells the powerful story of boxer Joe Louis with evocative period photography and a stirring narrative. This profile of one of America's favorite sportsmen offers boys a perfect choice for biography assignments and is a stunning addition to the award-winning Photobiographies series.Joe Louis was the first African-American to achieve a position of national prominence in 20th century America. His success and his dignified public persona as champion were a source of great pride to African-Americans, whose heroes were rarely accorded recognition or respect. Knockout! sets the story of The Brown Bomber's rise to fame against the background of his time. Blacks were not permitted to play major league baseball or football, and as the nation struggled through the depression in the 1930s and World War II in the 1940s, Louis became a symbol of hope to all facing hardship. Louis's series of fights against Max Schmeling of Germany became the defining acts of his career. The reluctant Schmeling was promoted by Hitler's regime as the symbol of Aryan supremacy, but Louis's stunning victory in 1938 punctured the Nazi propaganda. Louis's sensational first-round TKO win at Yankee Stadium also established the Alabama fighter as one of the most popular figures for Americans of all races.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1426303289
• ISBN13: 9781426303289
• Release Date: October 2008
• Publisher: National Geographic Kids
• Length: 64 Pages
• Weight: 1.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 9.6" x 11.0"
• Age Range: 10 to 13 years
• Grade Range: Grades 5 to 8

Customer Reviews

This is a KNOCKOUT book of the knockout champ Joe Louis!

Joe Louis Barrow hailed from Alabama, but had a lifelong preference for the town of Detroit. He was the seventh child of eight children, but when his mother Lilly remarried, the family expanded to a whopping sixteen children. His own father, Monroe, who apparently suffered from some sort of nervous breakdown, had been committed to a mental institution and eventually died there. Getting noticed seemed almost impossible under those circumstances and when he started to train as a fighter he was told that "black faces were rare in professional sports." Good luck, Joe! Boxing was something he could easily manage. Nobody would notice his stutter nor would they ever care he had been a lousy student or the fact that he had delivered ice for a living. He was going to work hard and "as he improved, Joe realized that boxing made him feel good about himself." People were starting to notice. John Roxborough saw something in Joe Louis and wanted to manage him. Things moved quickly and before you could bat an eye he was in the pros. One match with Max Schmeling, a whopping embarrassment, taught him a lesson in humility he wouldn't forget, but they would meet again and all America would be watching! This story of one of the greatest boxers the world has ever seen is a stunning page turner. The sepia-toned photographs lend a wonderful nostalgic tinge to the book. In the back of the book there is a lifetime chronology, quotation sources, an index and additional recommended resources. As Joe Louis once said, "You can't be average or even good to make it; you have to be something special." Joe was more than average and no doubt, like this book, something special!