Max Schmeling is the only living man who has had lengthy conversations with Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Pope Pius XII, Adolf Hitler, and Marlene Dietrich. World Heavyweight Champion from 1930 to 1932, Schmeling's riveting autobiography is finally made available in English translation after years as a best seller in Germany. Schmeling's story is one of a shy man of extremely humble origins who comes of age amidst the glitter and turbulence of Berlin's 'Golden Twenties'. His career inevitably brings him to America, where his incredible odyssey sweeps him into a constellation whose stars include Jack Dempsey, Gene Tunney, FDR, Al Capone, Clark Gable, and many more. But the most compelling chapters in Max Schmeling's American saga are those involving Joe Louis and the unlikely bond between the two men, a bond forged in two epic battles. Schmeling's story is also that of a decent man in conflict with himself and with the authorities and racial policies of Hitler's Third Reich. His personal interaction with Hitler offers a fascinating character study of the megalomaniac Fuhrer. Max Schmeling's story is also a love story -- a lifetime voyage with Czech actress Anny Ondra.
It is a storybook romance which blossoms for two superstars in the best of times and a devotion which sustains two survivors of postwar Germany. This autobiography is fully annotated and contains numerous rare and archival photos, as well as an epilogue written by Max Schmeling expressly for this English-language edition. A rare and unforgettable slice of history from the 1920s to the 1950s.