Speaker explains the 'Sense of Boxing' Oct. 24

Carlo Rotella
Rotella

Boxing once captured America’s imagination, with prizefighters like Jack Dempsey, Sugar Ray Robinson and Muhammad Ali becoming household names. The sport will be the subject of this year’s Harold Seymour Lecture in Sports History at Cornell.

Drawing from his award-winning writing, Carlo Rotella of Boston College will present “‘My Punches Have Meaning’ – Making Sense of Boxing,” Monday, Oct. 24, at 4:30 p.m. in 165 McGraw Hall. The lecture is free and open to the public.

Rotella’s talk will connect boxing to the American cultural and historical landscape. “Carlo Rotella is one of the funniest, most dynamic speakers you will ever encounter,” says Aaron Sachs, professor of history and organizer of the lecture.

Rotella is director of the American Studies Program at Boston College. His awards include the Whiting Writers Award, the L.L. Winship/PEN New England Award and The American Scholar Prizes for Best Essay and Best Work by a Younger Writer. His book about boxing, “Cut Time: An Education at the Fights,” was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize; his other works include two monographs about the Rust Belt.

The Harold Seymour Lecture in Sports History is presented annually by Cornell’s Department of History with the support of George Kirsch ’67.

Claire Anne Perez is communications assistant for the Department of History in the College of Arts and Sciences.

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