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

Through most of the Roaring '20s, 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 his time. In A Flame of Pure Fire, renowned sports writer Roger Kahn not only chronicles the thrilling, brutal bouts of the Manassa Mauler, but also illustrates how the tumultuous 1920s shaped Dempsey, and how the champ in turn, left an indelible mark on sports and American history. The extraordinary story of a man and a country growing to maturity in a blaze of strength and exuberance, A Flame of Pure Fire is "an exhaustively researched and colorful portrait of an American great." - The San Diego Union-Tribune "One doesn't have to be a fan of boxing to be enthralled by this story of a nice guy who didn't finish last." - The New Yorker