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Cut Time: An Education at the Fights | 
 enlarge | Author: Carlo Rotella
Publisher: University Of Chicago Press
Category: Book
List Price: $14.00
Buy New: $10.03
You Save: $3.97 (28%)
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Rating:  6 reviews
Sales Rank: 354917
Media: Paperback
Pages: 236
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 8.5 x 5.7 x 0.3
ISBN: 0226725561
Dewey Decimal Number: 796.83
EAN: 9780226725567
ASIN: 0226725561
Publication Date: September 1, 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Brand new item. Over 4 million customers served. Order now. Selling online since 1995. Few left in stock - order soon. Code: C20081229155828P
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Product Description
"Boxing is not just fighting," writes Carlo Rotella. "It is also training and living right and preparing to go the distance in the broadest sense of the phrase, a relentless managing of self that anyone who gets truly old must learn." Rotella's Cut Time chronicles his immersion in the fight world, from the brutal classroom of the gym to the spectacle of fight night. An award-winning writer and ringside veteran, Rotella unearths the hidden wisdom in any kind of fight, from barroom brawl to HBO extravaganza.
Tracing the consequences of hurt and craft, the two central facts of boxing, Rotella reveals moving resonances between the worlds inside and outside the ropes. The brief, disastrous fistic career of one of his students pinpoints the moment when adulthood arrives; the hard-won insight of a fellow fan shows Rotella how to reckon with a car crash. Mismatches, resilience, pride, pain, and aging—Rotella's lessons from the ring extend far beyond the sport. In Cut Time, Rotella achieves the near-impossible: he makes the fight world relevant to us, whether we're fans or not.
"Cut Time should be read not just by fight aficionados but also by fans of intelligent nonfiction writing. . . . An absorbing read."—Sports Illustrated
"Just when you think it's all been written, a good writer takes a shining new look at an old subject and breathes life into it. . . . Rotella has preserved the blow-by-blow and the grandeur of another age but has somehow expanded the ring to include his own generation's proclivities and sensibility."—Los Angeles Times
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| Customer Reviews: Read 1 more reviews...
 Well written and enjoyable, a good series of psychological portraits July 29, 2007
S. Albert (Lowell, MA)
Just like Robert Anasi's book "The Gloves" was a great look inside the mind of people who get in the ring, "Cut Time" is a great look at the people around the ring. He takes a deep, honest look at everybody from a photographer forced to work from the nosebleed section (who start offs bitter but ends up star struck, pretty funny stuff), to a ref covered in other people's blood but lets the fight continue, to a judge with a dangerous day job who shows respect to an out-of-town fighter by not bleeping him over (and these are just the minor charactors who grabbed my attention). It's a good flowing read with intelligence, humor and intelligent humor.
It's a collection of essays, each about 25 pages long. Not something you have to read in one sitting.
Nicely Written Collection of Essays on the Sweet Science January 19, 2007
Todd and In Charge (Miami, FL)
The author is a keen observer of the local boxing scene, and his thoughtful well-written essays are instructive and philosophical, teasing out insights with broad applications from the drama inside the ring. I particularly enjoyed his experiences in the world of low-grade regional boxing, mostly in the Boston area. Funny, sometimes poignant stories of heartbreak, loss, victory, sweat, and blood.
An Education at the Fights November 28, 2006
R. Sohi
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
In the introduction to his collection of essays, Carlo Rotella notes that boxing can "teach...lessons...about the virtues and limits of craft, about the need to impart meaning to hard facts by enfolding them in stories and spectacle, about getting hurt and getting old, about distance and intimacy, and especially about education itself: boxing conducts an endless workshop in the teaching and learning of knowledge with consequences." Through the nine essays that follow, he explores the ways in which pain and the mastery of a craft can intersect, in the process creating vivid portrayals of former heavyweight champion, Larry Holmes, several other boxers of varying skill from the distant and recent past, a fellow boxing afficionado, who has survived a brutal car accident, and his late grandmother during the last years of her life. The essays takes the sport away from both the glamour and squalor where most boxing writers target their focus. Instead Rotella uses the subject to give us a poignant reminder of how acquiring wisdom comes at the price of overcoming adversity. He also seems to have some knowledge of the mechanics of boxing and is able to describe the subtle shifts in the action of a fight in a way that most writers miss.
The insights to be found in this book are simple but wise. I recommend it to anyone who enjoys thoughtful heartfelt writing that quietly says something about the way we live our lives.
 hated the subject, loved the writing December 23, 2005
Erik Marcus (Santa Cruz, CA USA)
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
This book was foisted upon me by a friend who's a big boxing enthusiast. I read it only because I knew him to be a good judge of quality literature, and I wasn't disappointed. I came away from reading Cut Time with a far greater appreciation of the sweet science, yet also with a heightened antipathy for the sport. While I don't share Rotella's love for boxing, I have nothing but admiration for his writing. The prose is as tight, sharp, and powerful as Tommy Hearns in his prime, and the characterization of Larry Holmes -- among other pugilists -- is beautifully done. Cut Time is one of the best books I've read all year.
Excellent Book July 16, 2004
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
Rotella is a great ethnographer; i'm not a boxing enthusiast but this book exposed me to a deeper side of boxing - a sport where people feel, dream, fail, and persevere. A good read!
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