George Plimpton makes his riskiest foray into participatory journalism–stepping in to the ring against a champ boxer–in SHADOW BOX, now repackaged and including never-before-seen articles from the Plimpton archives.

Stepping into the band against light-heavyweight champion Archie Moore, George Plimpton pauses to question whichever induced him to become participatory journalist. Bloodied but unbowed, he retains his very own in the bout–and lives to tell, in this classic book on boxing and its devotees, among them Ali, Joe Frazier, Ernest Hemingway, and Norman Mailer.

SHADOW Package is among Plimpton’s most engaging research of professional sport, told through the eyes of the inquisitive and astute amateur. From the gym, the locker room, ringside, and also in the harsh glare of the ring itself, Plimpton papers what it really is like to be considered a boxer, an artist of mayhem.