Acclaimed Purdue University historian and biographer Randy Roberts discusses the life and career of boxing icon Joe Louis and explains how his impact on sport and country was unlike that of any other athlete of his era.
Louis defended his heavyweight title 25 times, reigning as world champion for 11 years. In the 1930s he received more newspaper coverage than Franklin Roosevelt, thanks in part to his racially and politically charged defeat of Max Schmeling in 1938.
In Joe Louis: Hard Times Man, Roberts gives a glimpse into a legendary fighter who carefully managed his public image and whose relationships with both the African American and white communities were far more complex than the simplistic accounts of previous biographies.