PERHAPS A GIFT VOUCHER FOR MUM?: MOTHER'S DAY
Mike Stanton is an associate professor of journalism at the University of Connecticut, having previously headed the investigative team at the Providence Journal, where he shared a Pulitzer Prize.
Plug into the excitement, the jostle, the sweat and the grind, the 1950s action when boxing was important and the heavyweight champion of the world was the king of all athletes . . . This book is wonderful -- Leigh Montville, author of <i>Sting Like a Bee: Muhammad Ali vs. the United States of America, 1966-1971</i> Mike Stanton's book on Rocky Marciano teems with marvelous scenes and revealing insights into the chaotic boxing world of the unbeaten heavyweight champ -- David Maraniss, author of <i>When Pride Still Mattered: A Life of Vince Lombardi</i> This is a story that has waited a long time to be told this well, by a gifted writer and reporter like Mike Stanton . . . Finally, at long last, the real Rocky has met his match -- Mike Lupica * New York Daily News * A satisfying biography of the iconic boxer, the only heavyweight champion to retire undefeated. . . [and] a sturdy contribution to the literature of the sweet science, reminding readers of a bygone era of fighting * Kirkus Reviews * Uniformly superb . . . Mike Stanton has told the champ's life story in greater detail and with more pleasing complexity than any previous book has done * Open Letters Review * This meticulously documented and well-written work should stand for both fans and scholars as Marciano's definitive biography -- <i>Library Journal </i>(starred review) Mike Stanton has done phenomenal work . . . Rocky Marciano was a legendary champion . . . his story transcends sports; it's a window into a changing America in the middle of the twentieth century -- Nicholas Pileggi, author of <i>Wiseguy </i>and <i>Casino</i> It's an amazing story, and it was an amazing era, and it's all captured brilliantly . . . Stanton is so good at describing the shadowy boxing world of Providence in the late 1940s and early '50s you can almost smell the cigar smoke * Providence Journal * A meticulously researched and eminently readable account of the only heavyweight champion who exited a savage sport with a perfect professional record * Boston Globe * [A] hero whose portrait, complete with his fight-by-fight record, has hung behind the espresso machine in Soho's Bar Italia for as long as anyone can remember . . . No subsequent heavyweight champion has matched Marciano's record of going through a career without defeat -- Richard Williams * Guardian * Unbeaten is one of the best sports books I've read in years. It's an irresistible story told with beautiful writing and a keen eye for detail. Like Rocky Marciano, this book hits hard and won't be easily put down -- Jonathan Eig, author of <i>Ali, A Life</i> Mike Stanton brings back Marciano, and with him, a whole era in American social, industrial and athletic history -- David Margolick * Wall Street Journal *
