A Flame of Pure Fire

Starred review from October 4, 1999
"He was the wild and raucous champion of the wild and raucous 1920s," writes Kahn (The Boys of Summer, etc.) of the legendary heavyweight William Harrison "Jack" Dempsey. This "hobo, roughneck, brawler, fighter, slacker, lover, millionaire, gentleman" provides Kahn a vehicle for chronicling the jazz age itself. Dempsey emerged out of the still-wild West, having fought in mining towns throughout Utah and Colorado, lean and hungry for success as his country stood on the precipice of unprecedented wealth and power. His transformation from rural tough, the "Manassa Mauler," into the preeminent athlete in the world marked the arrival of sport as big business in a prosperous new America. When he won the heavyweight championship in 1919, Dempsey did it in front of 20,000 people. Less than eight years later, he drew a crowd of 120,000 for his first bout with Gene Tunney (which he lost), still the largest ever in boxing, and made a fortune. In graceful and fluid prose, Kahn presents the con men, gangsters, prostitutes and starlets who inhabited the turbulent, Prohibition-era story of Jack Dempsey. The larger-than-life storytellers of the age--legendary sportswriters like Grantland Rice, Ring Lardner and Damon Runyon--feature prominently. Kahn delivers a performance of which any of those whiskey-swilling, rakish scribes would have been proud.

June 1, 1999
Top sports writer Kahn (The Boys of Summer) steps into the ring with heavyweight champ Dempsey.

Copyright 1999 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 1, 1999
The 1920s were the dawn of the era of celebrity in the U.S., and sports figures were among the first to be lionized. Boxer Jack Dempsey was one of America's four great sports celebrities in the twenties along with Knute Rockne, Red Grange, and Babe Ruth. Dempsey demolished a Goliath named Jess Willard for the heavyweight title in 1919 and held it until he was beaten by Gene Tunney in 1926. His reign at the top was relatively brief, but the country's fascination with--and affection for--Dempsey remained unabated for the rest of his life. He was a common man who learned to box in saloons, back alleys, and camp fights--the prototypical "Rocky." Kahn, the celebrated author of "The Boys of Summer" (1972), knew Dempsey from the champ's days as a successful New York restaurateur in the sixties when Kahn was a young reporter. In a prophetic anecdote, Dempsey thought Kahn would make a good coauthor on his biography, but he'd already promised the job to a fellow named Hemingway. Kahn's admiration for Dempsey is obvious, and although his research is extensive, this is less an exercise in scholarship than in what Kahn refers to as "unbridled romanticism." Kahn's portrait of Dempsey is detailed and rife with humor and period detail. It's that detail that provides the context in which readers can observe Dempsey slugging it out in mining camps, coping with often scurrilous promoters (some things never change), and eventually coming to rest on the top of the world. Expect significant demand for this beautifully written portrait. ((Reviewed September 1, 1999))(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 1999, American Library Association.)

August 31, 2009
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.