The Bruiser

"Few novelists captured the contradictions of his country so simply or so honestly in the metaphor of the pure, fatalistic, and merciless community of bruising."—from the ForewordWhen The Bruiser was first published in 1936, almost every reviewer praised Jim Tully's gritty boxing novel for its authenticity—a hard-earned attribute. Twenty-eight years before the appearance of The Bruiser, Tully began a career in the ring, fighting regularly on the Ohio circuit. He knew what it felt like to step inside the ropes, hoping to beat another man senseless for the amusement of the crowd. Having won acclaim in the 1920s for such hard-boiled autobiographical novels as Beggars of Life and Circus Parade, Tully thus became both fighter and writer. "It's a pip of a story because it is written by a man who knows what he is writing about," said sportswriter and Guys and Dolls author Damon Runyon. "He has some descriptions of ring fighting in it that literally smell of whizzing...