Boxing At Its Most Exhilarating And Troubling
Donald McRae writes about boxing with hard-earned authority, but also with doubt, grief and moral seriousness. Moving from Tyson Fury to Katie Taylor and beyond, he captures the sport's drama and damage in a book that feels both personal and deeply observed.
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The Last Bell
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Boxing At Its Most Exhilarating And Troubling
Donald McRae writes about boxing with hard-earned authority, but also with doubt, grief and moral seriousness. Moving from Tyson Fury to Katie Taylor and beyond, he captures the sport's drama and damage in a book that feels both personal and deeply observed.
- Book Synopsis
-
Ideal for readers who:
- Read sports writing that knows brilliance and corruption can coexist.
- Are drawn to boxing books that care as much about people as fights.
- Would follow the sport from London to Las Vegas to Saudi Arabia and back.
- Prefer deeply reported non-fiction with emotional force and moral weight.
'One of the very best writers working today' - Benjamin Myers, author of The Offing and The Gallows Pole
' Thrilling and raw, this is sport writing at its best' - Dina Nayeri, author of The Ungrateful
Refugee Donald McRae has been immersed in boxing for fifty years. He has followed fighters around the world and won multiple awards for his writing. But, in recent years, McRae's love has waned, as criminality and corruption consume the soul of boxing.
In 2018, grieving the death of his sister and with his parents terminally ill, he sought refuge in boxing again - just as Tyson Fury completed an incredible comeback, proving that the ring can still offer exhilaration and redemption.
From Fury's resurrection to the first undisputed heavyweight champion this century, boxing can be epic and electrifying. It can also be disappointing, as McRae discovers when he documents doping's insidious rise or travels to Saudi Arabia where boxing ignores state repression.
In The Last Bell , McRae takes us ringside to thrilling bouts with great contemporary champions and fighters as different as Fury, Canelo Álvarez, Oleksandr Usyk, Katie Taylor, Regis Prograis and Isaac Chamberlain. Whether in London or Las Vegas, he shows us what it is like to see joy pour out of a boxer in the dressing room after a magnificent victory or to hold the hand of a fighter being wheeled away on a stretcher after a devastating defeat.
As he tries to reconcile the contradictions which lie at boxing's murky heart, McRae is unflinching and compelling.
McRae helps boxers open up about their doubts and fears and charts the courage of fighters facing ordeals from depression to war. And in telling the heartbreaking story of Patrick Day, he faces death in the ring. The Last Bell is his most powerful and personal book yet, a riveting account of life, death and boxing.
- About The Author
- Donald McRae is an award-winning author of fourteen non-fiction books which have featured sporting icons, legendary trial lawyers, heart surgeons and South Africa. He has twice won the William Hill Sports Book of the Year - the UK's most prestigious sports book prize - and ten national awards for his journalism at the Guardian.
- Product Details
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- ISBN
- 9781398539914
- Format
- Paperback
- Publisher
- Simon & Schuster UK Ltd., (13 March 2025)
- Number of Pages
- 464
- Language
- English
- Dimensions
- 234 x 153 mm
- Categories: