The story of Vikki LaMotta's life reads like a highlight reel from a television mini-series. Born into poverty. Raped by a gangster at age fourteen. Pregnant and married to world boxing champion Jake LaMotta at sixteen. Alone and working as a chorus girl to support three young children, she dated Johnny Carson, was pursued by Frank Sinatra, and became the lover of mob boss Sam Giancana. At one time or another, her life also intersected with the likes of Babe Ruth, Jimmy Durante, Lee Marvin, and Peter Lawford. When Jake LaMotta's brutal life provided the setting for the mega-hit movie Raging Bull, Vikki's off-screen sessions with Robert De Niro contributed to his Oscar-winning performance. Graced with starlet beauty, at age 51 she posed nude for Playboy, and the issue sold more copies to women than any issue of Playboy ever.

Vikki passed away in 2005. In 1987 she had collaborated with internationally acclaimed author Thomas Hauser to write the story of her extraordinary life. But the manuscript was so painfully honest -- she was uncomfortable with some of the revelations -- Vikki asked Hauser to hold it until after her death. "Maybe after I'm gone," she said.

KNOCKOUT! is that straight-from-the-heart account. It recalls an eventful life marked by violence, glamour and sex that, ultimately, became a survivor's journey to redemption. Amid the backdrop of celebrity, it is a story of how a woman of uncommon beauty endured much suffering and loneliness before embarking in middle age on a remarkable voyage of self discovery and emotional fulfillment.

"Vikki LaMotta was a good person," writes Hauser. "That's as simply and honestly as I can put it. She battled her demons and won. This is her story."

Thomas Hauser is the author of 34 books on subjects ranging from professional boxing to Beethoven. His first book -- Missing -- was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize, Bancroft Prize, and National Book Award, and served as the basis for an Academy-Award-winning film starring Jack Lemmon and Sissy Spacek. Hauser's The Beethoven Conspiracy won the Prix Lafayette, awarded biannually in France to the outstanding book by an American.

Subsequently, Hauser co-authored Final Warning: The Legacy of Chernobyl, leading to a film that starred Jon Voight and Jason Robards. Hauser's most celebrated work to date is Muhammad Ali: His Life And Times, which was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. A noted boxing chronicler, Hauser has authored several books on the sweet science and, in 2005, received the Nat Fleischer Award for career excellence in boxing journalism.

A practicing attorney, Hauser lives in New York.

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Also by Thomas Hauser:

• The Lost Legacy of Muhammad Ali
  
• I Don't Believe It, But It's True: Another Remarkable Year In Boxing
  
• Chaos, Corruption, Courage and Glory
  
• The View From Ringside
  
• The Italian Stallions