THE HARDER THEY FALL by Budd...

THE HARDER THEY FALL by Budd Schulberg (Elephant Paperback: $12.95; 343 pp.). As Schulberg notes in his introduction, the characters in his 49-year-old novel about professional boxing would feel perfectly at home with Don King and Mike Tyson. Playwright manque Eddie Lewis, the narrator of this powerful story, works as a publicist for corrupt promoter Nick Latka. Latka assigns him to package Toro Molina, a muscular Argentine peasant, as a heavyweight contender. Lewis muses, “They could really absorb punishment, this nation of radio listeners and shop-happy consumers, this great spectator nation. Only like the game fighter who smiles when he gets hit and keeps boring in for more, they were a little more vulnerable for every encounter.” As he witnesses the cold-hearted exploitation of Molina, Lewis realizes he is “as corrupt as the fight game itself.”