A Flame of Pure Fire: Jack Dempsey and the Roaring '20s
by Roger Kahn
On This Page
Description
Jack Dempsey was perfectly suited to the time in which he fought, the time when the United States first felt the throb of its own overwhelming power. For eight years and two months after World War I, Dempsey, with his fierce good looks and matchless dedication to the kill, was heavyweight champion of the world. A Flame of Pure Fire is the extraordinary story of a man and a country growing to maturity in a blaze of strength and exuberance that nearly burned them to ash. Hobo, roughneck, show more fighter, lover, millionaire, movie star, and, finally, a gentleman of rare generosity and sincerity, Dempsey embodied an America grappling with the confusing demands of preeminence. Dempsey lived a life that touched every part of the American experience in the first half of the twentieth century. Roger Kahn, one of our preeminent writers about the human side of sport, has found in Dempsey a subject that matches his own manifold talents. A friend of Dempsey's and an insightful observer of the ways in which sport can measure a society's evolution, Kahn reaches a new and exciting stage in his acclaimed career with this book. In the story of a man John Lardner called "a flame of pure fire, at last a hero," Roger Kahn finds the heart of America. show lessTags
Recommendations
Member Reviews
3335. A Flame of Pure Fire: Jack Dempsey and the Roaring '20s, by Roger Kahn (read Aug. 13, 2000) This is a somewhat disjointed book, utterly without footnotes. Apparently there is a more scholarly biography of Jack Dempsey, which Kahn downputs. But this book tells the story well, and tells things I had not known concerning a person who was still a household name when I was young. All in all, I enjoyed the book and thought it worth reading. Yes, the author is the author of The Boys of Summer, which I read Oct. 1, 1983, and liked the latter part of.
I couldn't put this one down. Kahn is an excellent writer, and he took me back to the 1920s vividly.
Ratings
Members
- Recently Added By
Lists
The Joe Rogan Experience Library
254 works; 3 members
Author Information
28+ Works 3,055 Members
Roger Kahn is a visiting lecturer on creative writing at the State University of New York at New Paltz.
Common Knowledge
- People/Characters
- Jack Dempsey
Classifications
- Genres
- Sports and Leisure, Nonfiction, Biography & Memoir, History, General Nonfiction
- DDC/MDS
- 796.83 — Arts & recreation Recreation, sports, and performing arts Athletic and outdoor sports and games Wrestling / Martial Arts, Judo, Karate Boxing
- LCC
- GV1132 .D4 .K35 — Geography, Anthropology and Recreation Recreation. Leisure Recreation. Leisure Sports Fighting sports: Bullfighting, boxing, fencing, etc.
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 157
- Popularity
- 207,411
- Reviews
- 2
- Rating
- (3.72)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 8
- ASINs
- 2
