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Without Apology
A singular exploration of the world of female aggression. Originally intending simply to research the subject, Leah Hager Cohen went to meet four girls, aged ten to fifteen, and their female coach at the Somerville Boxing Club. Over the course of a year, she grew close to them all, learned about their families, the housing projects where they lived, their explosive friendships and steadfast loyalties, and especially about the damage that had turned each of them into a fighter. Fascinated by the freedom the girls had in the ring, Cohen began training and sparring with them - only to find herself astounded by the strength and authority of her body.
Without Apology
 Without Apology is larger than boxing or even tennis. It is about a girl's right to contend in the world with her entire being, no matter what arena she chooses. Leah Hager Cohen is a champion of all women with heart.
Billie Jean King

Leave it to Leah Cohen and her rhapsodic way with words to seduce me into reading a book about boxing, of all things. But what a gorgeous, wonderfully strange and exhilarating journey is described here. Reading Without Apology let me part the jungle grasses inside myself and have a look at my own wildness, much of which I hadn't known was there. It gave me ideas. This is a knock-out of a story.
Elizabeth Berg

Cohen is such a good writer that even confirmed anti-boxing campaigners will be hooked by her skilled observations...The book is full of moments of tender power...With this meticulously researched and stylishly written book, Cohen has done women's boxing and women in general a great service.
 The Irish Times

 A spare, supremely honest investigation into what it means for girls coming of age, and for herself as a woman and a mother, to lace on the gloves and come out fighting. This book isn't about boxing so much as it is about human dignity - the courage to want something without apology in order to fully inhabit a female body without fear.
Annie G. Rogers, author of A Shining Affliction

New York Times Notable Book

Click here to listen to Bill Thompson, of Eye On Books, interviewing the author.
 click here to buy