The Sweet Science (book)
The Sweet Science is a 1956 collection of essays on boxing by American journalist A. J. Liebling, published by Viking Press.[1] The book collects pieces that appeared in The New Yorker from June 1951 to September 1955,[2] and includes accounts of Joe Louis, Rocky Marciano, Sugar Ray Robinson, Archie Moore, Jersey Joe Walcott and Floyd Patterson.[3]
Content and style
[edit]Liebling took the nineteenth-century boxing writer Pierce Egan as a model, and The Sweet Science draws on Egan's Boxiana.[4] The book's title derives from an expression attributed to Egan and used in reference to boxing.[4][5]
Alongside major bouts such as Louis–Savold, Robinson–Turpin, Robinson–Maxim, Marciano–Walcott, and Marciano's fights with Ezzard Charles, Liebling writes about club fights, managers, trainers, spectators, and training quarters.[2] Among The Sweet Science's settings are Madison Square Garden, Yankee Stadium, the Polo Grounds, country training camps and New York gyms.[6] The book collects Liebling's reports of his trips to fights, observations of crowds and cities, and digressions into boxing history, physiology and psychology, including conversations with taxi drivers and his predictions before a fight.[7]
Television and its effects on boxing and its surrounding culture are also a recurring subject in The Sweet Science.[8] Liebling argued that television reduced live attendance and contributed to the disappearance of small-city and neighborhood boxing clubs in which young fighters learned and journeymen developed their skills.[3]
Reception
[edit]In a December 1956 review, James M. Cox presented The Sweet Science as an attempt to write a history of contemporary boxing through reports written close to the events. Cox characterized the period covered by the book as extending from the decline of Joe Louis to the rise of Rocky Marciano, and identified Marciano and Robinson as its principal figures.[1]
Kirkus Reviews described the collection at the time of publication as a "personal and polished" account of boxing between 1951 and 1955. The review noted the book's attention to fighters, managers, trainers, spectators, training quarters, boxing history and lore, and called it “excellent reading and not only for the buffs”.[2]
In a 1991 retrospective review, Katherine Dunn of the Los Angeles Times called Liebling “the master” among literary writers on boxing, writing that he understood and conveyed the sport more convincingly than other writers.[7]
Writing in The New Yorker in 2004, Remnick discussed The Sweet Science in relation to the boxing writing of Egan and William Hazlitt, comparing Liebling's description of the boxing world to a country fair in Charles Dickens. He also highlighted Liebling's literary allusions and mock-high diction, as well as his attention to champions and people working around the ring.[6] A 2025 Wall Street Journal review similarly noted the book's mixture of highbrow and lowbrow culture and the range of Liebling's literary and historical references.[9]
In 2002, Sports Illustrated ranked The Sweet Science first on its list of the 100 best sports books,[10] praising Liebling for his "efficient yet stylish, acerbic yet soft and sympathetic writing.[3]” The Modern Library placed the book at number 63 on its list of the 100 best nonfiction books of the twentieth century.[11]
References
[edit]- 1 2 COX, JAMES M. "THE SWEET SCIENCE. | Dartmouth Alumni Magazine | December 1956". Dartmouth Alumni Magazine | The Complete Archive. Retrieved 2026-08-09.
- 1 2 3 THE SWEET SCIENCE | Kirkus Reviews.
- 1 2 3 "Pete Hamill on A. J. Liebling: The Sweet Science and Other Writings". Library of America. Retrieved 2026-08-09.
- 1 2 Boddy, Kasia (2008). Boxing: A Cultural History (1st ed.). London: Reaktion Books. pp. 317–318. ISBN 978-1-86189-369-7.
- ↑ "Why is Boxing the Sweet Science?". A Way with Words, a fun radio show and podcast about language. 2026-02-08. Retrieved 2026-08-12.
- 1 2 Remnick, David (2004-03-22). "Reporting It All". The New Yorker. ISSN 0028-792X. Retrieved 2026-08-11.
- 1 2 Dunn, Katherine (1991-01-27). "Lord of the Ring : The Sweet Science, by A.J. Liebling. A Ringside View of Boxing". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2026-08-12.
- ↑ Boddy, Kasia (2008). Boxing: A Cultural History (1st ed.). London: Reaktion Books. p. 318. ISBN 978-1-86189-369-7.
More importantly, Liebling argued that by creating a monopoly on boxing, television had fundamentally distorted the nature of the sport. First of all, the live audience was severely diminished (ticket sales at Madison Square Garden were down by as much as 80 per cent). Furthermore, he maintained, 'the clients of the television companies, by putting on a free boxing show almost every night of the week, have knocked out of business the hundreds of small-city and neighbourhood boxing clubs where youngsters had a chance to learn their trade and journeymen to mature their skills.
- ↑ Smith, Jordan Michael (2025-04-25). "'The Sweet Science': A.J. Liebling's Chronicle of Boxing Culture". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2026-08-12.
- ↑ "Kerrane takes readers inside the world of baseball scouting". www1.udel.edu. Retrieved 2026-08-12.
- ↑ "Modern Library Top 100 - Penguin Random House". sites.prh.com. Retrieved 2026-08-12.