The Manly Art

Book excerpt: The Manly Art is another collection of writer Keith G. Laufenberg's short stories, only this time with the defining factor being that they all involve the sport of boxing. Having been in the sport himself, beginning at age 17, when he entered Marine Corps boot camp, and ending after seven years, fought as a professional, he is afforded a closer more intimate look into the boxers lives. In "Sonny Liston's Eyes," the reader is taken into the Underworld of the sport when a writer interviews an ex-mobster-who is dying of lung cancer-and claims to have killed Sonny Liston, as well as JFK and Martin Luthur King Jr. He tells an incredible story but backs it up by saying he has absolutely verifiable evidence that he will produce for the writer. In "Frankenstein" we see why a young amateur boxer should have picked boxing over football. He has little say in the matter though as his father and uncle have trained him his entire life for football and it, along with the other stories, will keep you glued to the page.