James J. Braddock, dubbed "Cinderella Man" by Damon Runyon, was a once promising light heavyweight for whom a string of losses in the ring and a broken right hand happened to coincide with the Great Crash. With one good hand, Braddock was forced to labor on the docks of Hoboken. Only his manager, Joe Gould, still believed in him, finding fights for Braddock to help feed his wife and children. In less than twelve months Braddock went from the relief rolls to face heavyweight champion Max Baer, the Livermore Butcher Boy, renowned for having allegedly killed two men in the ring. A ten-to-one underdog, Braddock carried the hopes and dreams of the working class on his shoulders. And when boxing was the biggest sport in the world, when the heavyweight champion was the biggest star in the world, his unlikely upset made Braddock the most popular champion boxing has ever seen.Against the gritty backdrop of the Depression, Cinderella Man brings this dramatic all-American story to life, evoking a time when the sport of boxing resonated with a country trying desperately to get back on its feet. Rich in anecdote and color, steeped in history, and full of human interest, Cinderella Man is a classic David and Goliath tale that transcends the sport.
Schaap's biography is an effective recounting of the career of James Braddock, the Depression-era heavyweight boxer who won the world championship against heavily favored Max Baer. It is an American morality tale: the hard working blue-collar family man overcoming the womanizing playboy who squanders his superior talent. Grover Gardner tells the story well in a straightforward manner. On a few occasions, he comes close to the sound of a breathless sports announcer. But for the most part, he simply tells the story, holding the listener's attention with a sensitive, well-paced reading. The story is a social commentary on America in the 1930s and will appeal to many who have little interest in boxing. R.E.K. (c) AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine
