𝑾𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒆 𝑵𝒐𝒘! 𝑾𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝑱𝒐𝒏 𝑻𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒓𝒊𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒅𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 $𝟓𝟎 𝒂 𝒎𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑾𝑭𝑵𝑺’𝒔 𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒆𝒔 𝑹. 𝑺𝒂𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝑷𝒓𝒊𝒛𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒘𝒐 𝒚𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒔. 𝑭𝒐𝒓 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟓, 𝒘𝒆’𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝟏𝟐 𝒄𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒍 𝒃𝒐𝒐𝒌𝒔 𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒆𝒔 𝒑𝒖𝒃𝒍𝒊𝒔𝒉𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆.
𝑺𝒘𝒆𝒂𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑺𝒐𝒖𝒍: 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑺𝒂𝒈𝒂 𝒐𝒇 𝑩𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝑩𝒐𝒙𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑯𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒂𝒙 𝑭𝒐𝒓𝒖𝒎 𝒕𝒐 𝑪𝒂𝒆𝒔𝒂𝒓𝒔 𝑷𝒂𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆
Charles R. Saunders’s fourth book was utterly unlike what had come before. He had moved to Nova Scotia in 1985, married an African Nova Scotian woman in 1986, and fallen utterly in love with Africadia. His new home reminded him of the American Black communities he’d grown up in, but had never felt compelled to write about. With his growing duties as a newspaper writer for the Rap, the Jet Journal and the Halifax Daily News, he left his fantasy worlds and entered reality.
His first nonfiction book secretly blended the two worlds. Charles loved boxing and was a keen student, if never a participant. He even met Muhammad Ali when the champ visited Halifax in 1987. I dug around and found this CBC video, which shows Charles standing behind Ali. All of this built to 1990’s 𝑺𝒘𝒆𝒂𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑺𝒐𝒖𝒍: 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑺𝒂𝒈𝒂 𝒐𝒇 𝑩𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝑩𝒐𝒙𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑯𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒂𝒙 𝑭𝒐𝒓𝒖𝒎 𝒕𝒐 𝑪𝒂𝒆𝒔𝒂𝒓𝒔 𝑷𝒂𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆, a landmark book bubbling with the thrill of the fight. Charles reveals his extraordinary research skills, which remained hidden in his fiction. He details the careers of Africadian legends including George Dixon and Sam Langford, but also regales us with anecdotes from the ring, including a hilarious story about the ill-fated, one-punch career of “Merciful Heavens.” The book stands up today as the greatest book on Maritime boxing, and one of the Canadian greats.
And that title … “sweat and soul” would bubble in Charles’s creative gumbo during his long exile from fantasy writing. When he returned to the fictional fray, he exchanged the boxer’s sweat for the warrior’s sword and called the new sub-genre of writing he had created “Sword and Soul.”
What a legacy for Maritime boxers!
I paid extra for this signed edition, and was glad I did. The inscription is to Dr. Bridglal Pachai, then the executive director of the Black Cultural Centre for Nova Scotia, and a key supporter of this book. This copy was purchased by Dr. Pachai on the night Charles launched the book in 1990, and still had the program for that amazing night.
Source: 𝐻𝑒 𝐿𝑒𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑠 𝑊𝑎𝑟𝑟𝑖𝑜𝑟𝑠 𝐵𝑒ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑑: 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐿𝑖𝑓𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑆𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝐶ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑙𝑒𝑠 𝑅. 𝑆𝑎𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑠, 𝑏𝑦 𝐽𝑜𝑛 𝑇𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑒 (McClelland & Stewart, 2026)