Chris Mead (1940–2003)

This is a compelling story with interesting characters who inhabit a fascinating futuristic world. My one major complaint about the book is that it could have used a good editor/proof-reader. Many of the sentences are missing words, making their meaning unclear until you supply the missing phrases; Mead also makes grammatical errors, including improperly conjugating verbs in the past tense; and there are simple errors such as the word "he" where "the" is required. These errors in writing style distract from the story line of the novel. However, if you can ignore the mistakes, Swallow the Sky is an interesting read. It is unfortunate that the sequel was never completed.… (més)

Popular life of Joe Louis adequately documented. Favorable but not blindly so; admits his "discreet" womanizing etc. but regards him as a great figure in African-American and boxing history. May slightly exaggerate how neglected other leading African-Americans of his time were in order to build up Louis. Repeatedly makes abrupt shifts into blow-by-low accounts of Louis's fights and them moves back to normal narrative. Good on the two Schmelling fights; tends to be bit contemptuous of most of the others.… (més)