Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #126337 in Books
• Published on: 2005-04-07
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 395 pages

Synopsis
This is no ordinary book about boxing. Dark Trade is Donald McRae's vivid personal journey through the intense and forbidding world of the professional fight game. Tyson, Bruno, Hamed, Benn, Eubank, Watson, Jones, De La Hoya and Toney confide in him their fears and longings. Their fantastic, almost mythological stories are uncovered in new and striking detail, derived from the hundreds of hours McRae has spent in their company. With wit, compassion and lucidity, Dark Trade examines the way in which race and violence beat at the heart of our society, and asks what forces men to pursue this most brutal kind of stardom, what drives their outrageous ambition.

Customer Reviews

Coulda Been A Contender
The Dark Trade could have been one of the four or five truly great books about boxing. It covers a fascinating period in the sport's history, especially in the UK, with the golden era of Nigel Benn, Chris Eubank and the massively talented but ultimately tragic Michael Watson.

Only FX Toole, Leonard Gardener and Joyce Carol Oates can recreate the visceral excitement of a live bout on the page as well as McCrae can.

So why only three stars? Well, the author fell in love sometime between researching the book and writing it. And he writes the object of his affections into the book. Not as a bit player, but as a fully-formed character. Domestic details abound. Pages and pages of it. This has next to nothing whatsoever to do with the book, per se. (Oh, ok, she does a great Eubank impersonation - but so does my uncle) While I was very happy for the author, I really wish he'd kept this stuff to himself, because he ruined what was otherwise an absolutely superb book.

Unmissable
Rarely has a book captivated me as much as this one.....from the menace and destructive power of tyson to the speed and grace of roy jones.

Donald Mcrae's journey across the world to seek out the very best boxers of the time is fascinating from start to finish. At times funny at times heartbreaking this book is a must for boxing fans.

Utterly compeling as he enters the mind of the boxer to try and understand why they have chosen the fight game as there path in life.

Im only sad that ive finished it.

A personal journey into the minds of boxers.
Donald McRae brings his personal insights from many hundreds of hours spent in the company of professional fighters to the page in a remarkable book.

Not only does he look at the big stars in boxing, but also the smaller names who do so much to ensure the survival of this sport.

The insights here are fascinating, revealing to the reader the motivations of the professional fighter in a refreshingly objective text.