A Flame of Pure Fire: Jack Dempsey and the Roaring '20s [Paperback]

Roger Kahn (Author)

Book Description

Series: Harvest Book | Publication Date: September 14, 2000

From 1919 to 1927, Jack Dempsey was the heavyweight champion of the world. With his fierce good looks and matchless dedication to the kill, he was a fighter perfectly suited to the Roaring '20s. In A Flame of Pure Fire, award-winning and renowned sports writer Roger Kahn, a personal friend of Dempsey's, tells the extraordinary story of a man and a country growing to maturity in a blaze of strength and exuberance. With passion and precision, Kahn not only chronicles the thrilling, brutal bouts of the "Manassa Mauler" but also illustrates how the wild and raucous 1920s shaped Dempsey, and how the champ, in turn, left an indelible mark on sports and American history. An accomplished and insightful observation on how sports can measure a society's evolution, Roger Kahn finds the heart of America in the story of the most famous athlete of his time, the man John Lardner once called "a flame of pure fire, at last a hero."

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Jack Dempsey (1895-1983) launched the age of big-money, high-visibility boxing with his 1919 defeat of heavyweight champion Jess Willard. Then when Gene Tunney beat Dempsey in 1927, assisted by a referee's controversial "long count," it foreshadowed the end of an era. With his good looks, free-and-easy ways, and roughneck background--including an ex-wife who was a prostitute before and after their marriage--Dempsey was the perfect hero for the brawling, cynical 1920s. Even his sensational trial in 1920 on charges of draft evasion and "white slavery" (he was acquitted) suited the decade's appetite for lurid tabloid stories. Roger Kahn, who met the fighter in the mid-1950s, takes an idiosyncratic approach to biography. He begins with a 1960 encounter in Dempsey's restaurant, moves back to the fighter's hard-knocks apprenticeship, covers Dempsey's childhood after an account of the 1920 trial, and intersperses snapshots of the American scene with recollections and reflections from the champ throughout. This technique pays off. Readers get a vivid sense of the period and of Dempsey as its hard-living but honorable exemplar, and they come to share Kahn's affection and respect for the thoughtful, generous man he became in later years. Squeamish readers, be warned: along with the cultural history, there's lots of boxing action, graphically described. --Wendy Smith --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

A decade after its publication, Kahn's sweeping biography of the majestic career of boxing great Jack Dempsey—set against a rollicking backdrop of 1920s America—makes its way to audio. At over 17 hours in length, the unabridged title certainly allows listeners an ample opportunity to immerse themselves in the colorful atmosphere surrounding one of the earliest athletes to become a pop culture icon. Admittedly, the full cast of gangsters, flappers, showbiz royalty, politicians and Wild West hoboes may not always come to life in evenly vivid detail. But at his best, Kevin Yon captures Kahn's unabashed hero worship, especially as the author reflects on his relationship with Dempsey during the Champ's later years. Yon also manages to create a compelling characterization of Dempsey, whose high-pitched voice and unassuming manner of speaking provide a stark contrast to his ferocity inside the ring. A Harcourt hardcover. (July)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 496 pages
• Publisher: Mariner Books (September 14, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0156014149
• ISBN-13: 978-0156014144
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (37 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #248,429 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #81 in Books > Sports & Outdoors > Individual Sports > Boxing

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another Gem From Roger Kahn, November 1, 2000

By 

C. W. Emblom "Bill Emblom" (Ishpeming, Michigan USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Flame of Pure Fire: Jack Dempsey and the Roaring '20s (Hardcover)

I have to admit that I am a special fan of Roger Kahn's writings, especially his books on baseball. I don't claim to be a boxing fan, but, as the author said, more than enough has been written on Babe Ruth and not enough on Jack Dempsey. Kahn gives descriptive accounts on Dempsey's bouts with Jess Willard, Georges Carpentier, Gene Tunney, Luis Firpo, and others. The 1920's has often been called The Golden Age of Sports and the author enlightens the reader with happenings from the political and social world of the '20's as well. The great sports writers of the period such as Haywood Hale Broun, Paul Gallico, Grantland Rice, Ring Lardner, and William O. McGeehan are all here as well. In reviewing the Demspey/Tunney fight in Chicago it is interesting to note that Kahn says, "I am looking at a crooked referee." You do not have to be a boxing fan to enjoy the book. I am not. If, however, you enjoy American history the decade of the Roaring Twenties provided us with a cast of characters that Roger Kahn will bring back to life for you. What are you waiting for? Give yourself a treat.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mesmerizing!, December 13, 1999

By 

Ed Galloway (New York City) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Flame of Pure Fire: Jack Dempsey and the Roaring '20s (Hardcover)

Roger Kahn has done it again! In this mesmerizing biography of Jack Dempsey, Kahn has brought back to vivid life a time in America's history that my parents and grandparents used to talk of with such fondness. I was hooked from beginning to end. This book is a must-read for not only people interested in the life of Jack Dempsey, but for anyone who longs to experience another time and place as can only be conjured up by a magical author. Surely as spellbinding as anything Kahn has written and easily the most enjoyable read I've had in a long time.  

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars window to a lost era, November 30, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: A Flame of Pure Fire: Jack Dempsey and the Roaring '20s (Hardcover)

Any fan of Boxing, old-time boxing before Don King Killed it, should read this book. Fans of the greatest heavy weight of all, Jack Dempsey, will simply love this book, as did I. Kahn not only captures the life of Jack Dempsey, but of the whole era of the roaring twenties. If anyone wants to get a feel of how it was to live in those simpler, exciting times, to get to know someone like Jack Dempsey, please go out and buy this book. I enjoyed it very much and found it difficult to put down!