A.
J. Liebling was “a
chronicler of the prize ring,” a media critic of
extraordinary wit, and biographer of diverse individuals
for New Yorker magazine from
1935 until his death. A collection of
many of his New Yorker boxing stories,
published in 1956 as a book, The Sweet
Science, is considered
the most critically
admired and
widely read book
on prize fighting
ever written. Liebling
was elected to
the International
Boxing Hall of
Fame in 1992.
In 1935, following
nearly a
decade of intermittent
employment
at the New York Times, New York World Telegram, and
Providence Journal, Liebling went to work
at the New Yorker. He first came into
prominence on the eve of World War II
as the magazine’s Paris correspondent,
eventually following the Allied Army’s
First Infantry Division across North
Africa and into northern France. After
the war, he took over the New Yorker ’s
“Wayward Press” department, first directed
by the storied Robert Benchley.
An amateur boxer in his youth,
Liebling’s interest in the sport was reflected
in his accounts of boxing’s mayhem
and beauty and his sketches of
ring personalities that appeared from
time to time in the magazine. In addition
to The Sweet Science, another acclaimed
compilation of his New Yorker
boxing stories was published under the
title A Neutral Corner.
Liebling wrote on a number of subjects
in addition to the prize ring, including
politics, food, war, the media,
and horse racing. Among his other
published works are The Wayward Press (his first collection
of articles in book
form, 1948), Between Meals, The Most of
A. J. Liebling, The Honest Rainmaker,
Chicago—The Second City, The Telephone
Booth Indian, The Earl of Louisiana, and
The Jollity Building.
Liebling was awarded the Cross of
the Legion of Honor by the French government
for his work as a World War II
correspondent.
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