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Body & Soul: Notebooks of an Apprentice Boxer | 
 enlarge | Author: Loic Wacquant
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Category: Book
List Price: $15.95
Buy New: $9.12
You Save: $6.83 (43%)
New (20) Used (19) from $7.18
Avg. Customer Rating:  3 reviews
Sales Rank: 120435
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 288
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 8.2 x 5.4 x 0.8
ISBN: 0195305620
Dewey Decimal Number: 301
EAN: 9780195305623
ASIN: 0195305620
Publication Date: November 23, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: BRAND NEW
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Product Description
When French sociologist Loic Wacquant signed up at a boxing gym in a black neighborhood of Chicago's South Side, he had never contemplated getting close to a ring, let alone climbing into it. Yet for three years he immersed himself among local fighters, amateur and professional. He learned the Sweet science of bruising, participating in all phases of the pugilist's strenuous preparation, from shadow-boxing drills to sparring to fighting in the Golden Gloves tournament. In this experimental ethnography of incandescent intensity, the scholar-turned-boxer fleshes out Pierre Bourdieu's signal concept of habitus, deepening our theoretical grasp of human practice. And he supplies a model for a "carnal sociology" capable of capturing "the taste and ache of action."
Body & Soul marries the analytic rigor of the sociologist with the stylistic grace of the novelist to offer a compelling portrait of a bodily craft and of life and labor in the black American ghetto at century's end.
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| Customer Reviews:
 Wacquant Psycho-analytic Portrait January 6, 2007
2 out of 5 found this review helpful
Put simply: if you want to get a decent look at the inner-city boxing phenomenon, buy this. But if you are in academia, be warned: Wacquant is far from the detached observer he swears he is. A good example of what NOT to do in ethnographic research.
 Wacquant's book is a must-read for students of sociology August 27, 2006
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
I had Professor Wacquant for one of my classes and I have to say he is an excellent professor who has amazing ideas about today's society. In this book, he argues against the mainstream idea of the underclass and he also explains how the boxing gym is a force in opposition to the forces of the ghetto. Very well written, the book is a very good read. It has been very interesting for me, as I am studying sociology as a college student and I box in my spare time.
Close and personal January 7, 2004
11 out of 12 found this review helpful
Having searched and read close to what I can find on the subject featured in this book, I can honestly say that it covers close to everything I was looking for. It is well written, a page-turner (which I rarely find a "scientific" book to be), in depth, and has a nice personal touch. Wacquant shows great understanding for the sport, as well as the interpersonal and mystified aspects of the gym, and is able to put this together in sociological terms and aspects. I have myself traveled around the world, and in several major cities (and small towns) visited different gyms with the purpose of training. But also because I am interested in the differences of the gyms and the poeple there. I can relate to Woodlawn Boys Club because I spent a few weeks in Minnapolis, and frequented a "similar" kind of gym there, and I find great interest in reading about his findings in "his" gym. One of the main reasons I read - and liked - this book, is my search for validating boxing as professional youth work, and I discovered many findings, which can also be applied in my small country, which is totally different when it comes to the urban life. The principles are nevertheless the same. So for every person interested in boxing, youth work or/and the mystique surrounding the sport and the gym (as a phenomena) this is a must. Or if you merely want interesting reading from a modern and gutsy sociologist, you will probably like it as well. Enjoy!
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