The Harder They Fall - by Budd Schulberg (Paperback)

About the Book

Schulberg, best known for On the Waterfront and A Face in the Crowd, wrote a relentless expose of the fight racket 50 years ago--a celebrated novel of the prize ring that has lost none of its power since its first publication. Crowded with unforgettable characters, The Harder They Fall tells of an Argentinian peasant ballyhooed by an unscrupulous fight promoter and his press agent.

Book Synopsis

Budd Schulberg's 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.

From the Back Cover

Budd Schulberg's 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 wrongs of the boxing business that the book illuminates are still with us.

Review Quotes

"Brilliant, witty, and amusing...the best book on fighting that I have read." --Gene Tunney

"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

"The quintessential novel of boxing and corruption." --USA Today

Brilliant, witty, and amusing...the best book on fighting that I have read.--Gene Tunney

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

The quintessential novel of boxing and corruption.-- "USA Today"

About the Author

Budd 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.