About this title: In this companion biography to the Ken Burns PBS television special, historian Geoffrey Ward tells of the life and times of the first African American to become the heavyweight boxing champion. Jack Johnson was a great athlete whose flamboyant lifestyle and prideful bearing engendered a strong reaction among the public in early 20th-century America. Much of the white audience hated him and showed it. For years, they longed unsuccessfully for a "Great White Hope" to put the champion down--and until that happened, governments hounded him and the media chronicled his trials inside and outside ...
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Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Knopf
Date Published: 2004
ISBN-13:9780375415326ISBN:0375415327
Description: Good. A copy that has been read, but remains in clean condition. All pages are intact, and the cover is intact (including dustcover, if applicable). The spine may show signs of wear. Pages can include limited notes and highlighting, and the copy can include "from the library of" labels. ******PLEASE NOTE****** Orders placed after Dec. 7 cannot be guaranteed delivery before Christmas unless you select EXPEDITED shipping! Thank you & Happy Holidays! read more
Description: Good. Former Library book. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: Very Good. Former Library book. Great condition for a used book! Minimal wear. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Edition: First Printing
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Alfred a Knopf Inc
Date Published: 2004
ISBN-13:9780375415326ISBN:0375415327
Description: Very Good + in Very Good jacket. Nice clean tight unmarked first print copy, includes section of photos, dust jacket wrinkling along edges and a little loose fitting, dj NOT price-clipped, 492 pages. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf
Date Published: 2005
ISBN-13:9780739455111ISBN:0739455117
Description: Very Good. Light wear to covers. Address label attached to endpapers. Date written inside cover. Text clean and unmarked. The binding is tight and square. Your Satisfaction is Guaranteed! read more
Edition: Hardcover First Edition, Later Printing
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Alfred a Knopf Inc, Westminister, Maryland, U.S.A.
Date Published: 2004
ISBN-13:9780375415326ISBN:0375415327
Description: New, never Read, Not a Rem in New jacket. Large hardcover with DJ. New, never read, not a remainder. read more
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hardcover; Fourth Printing
ISBN-13:9780375415326ISBN:0375415327
Description: Very Good+ in Very Good+ dust jacket. Hardcover. Knopf, 2004. 1st Edition/4th Printing. Very Good+ Book in Very Good+ Dust jacket. Price Intact. Shelf/Edge wear to Book and Jacket. Overall a clean and tight copy to read and enjoy. Dust Jacket protected with a new archival cover. Bubble wrapped and shipped promptly in a box. read more
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Pimlico
Date Published: 2006
ISBN-13:9780712609777ISBN:0712609776
Description: Collectible; Good. GOOD+ 2006 3RD IMPRESSION PIMLICO TRADE PB, WITH ORIGINAL COVER AND GLOSSY PHOTO SECTIONS. GRIPPING ACCOUNT OF THE RISE AND FALL OF JACK JOHNSON, DRAWING ON ORIGINAL RESEARCH. SPINE HAS LIGHT READING CREASES, GOOD TIGHT UNMARKED COPY. Worldwide Shipping IMMEDIATE 1ST CLASS/AIRMAIL DISPATCH. read more
Edition: First edition. Illustrated.
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf
Date Published: 2004
ISBN-13:9780375415326ISBN:0375415327
Description: Fine in very good dust jacket. Light edge wear to jacket. Clean and unmarked inside, tightly bound. Sewn binding. Cloth over boards. 512 p. Contains: Illustrations. Audience: General/trade. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: VINTAGE Country = UNITED KINGDOM
Date Published: 2006
ISBN-13:9780712609777ISBN:0712609776
Description: BRAND NEW PAPERBACK. 512 pages. (512 pages) presents a full-scale biography of jack johnson, the first black heavywe1ght champion in history (1908-15), and the most celebrated-and most reviled-african american of his age. accompanied by more than fifty photographs, this work aims to restore johnson to his rightful place in the pantheon of sporting and social warriors. 75 (Paperback) read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Alfred a Knopf Inc
Date Published: 2004-10-26
ISBN-13:9780375415326ISBN:0375415327
Description: NEW. Hardcover. From an inventory that is 100% brand-new, 100% direct from the publishers' distribution channel. We carry NO pre-owned, NO remaindered. We pack in CARDBOARD to ensure the pristine quality is maintained. (Bubble-wrap alone is NOT sufficient to protect from USPS equipment. ) Guaranteed brand-NEW, protected with CARDBOARD, your satisfaction is guaranteed. BKLUVID: 9780375415326. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Alfred a Knopf Inc, Westminister, Maryland, U.S.A.
Date Published: 2004
Description: Near Fine in Near Fine jacket. Hardcover. NF/NF. 492 pp.; b/w photos in section; slight bumping to the corners, else a near fine copy in like jacket. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf. 2004
Date Published: 2004
ISBN-13:9780375415326ISBN:0375415327
Description: ISBN 0375415327. Hardback. Second Printing. Near Fine Condition book in a Near Fine Condition Dustjacket. Tight, bright, attractive copy with no markings to the book. Signed by the author on a bookplate from Florentine Films which is attached to the front free endpaper. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Knopf
Date Published: 2004
ISBN-13:9780375415326ISBN:0375415327
Description: New. Brand New! Buy with confidence-your satisfaction is guaranteed at B-Logistics! Due to the large scale of our operation, we do not have access to the specific contents/condition of our items. Please note that Expedited shipping is not available at this time. read more
Edition: Stated 1st Edition
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Alfred a Knopf Inc, Westminister, Maryland, U.S.A.
Date Published: 2004
ISBN-13:9780375415326ISBN:0375415327
Description: Photo Illustrated. Fine in Fine jacket. 7 x 9.5 hard cover book. White lettering on the gold dust jacket spine with a photo illustrated cover. In Unforgivable Blackness, the prizewinning biographer Geoffrey C. Ward brings to life the real Jack Johnson, a figure far more complex and compelling than the newspaper headlines he inspired could ever convey. 492 pages. Stated 1st Edition. Tight binding. Clean. Fine/Fine condition. read more
"This story is very interesting and I am wondering why it took a Ken Burns film to get a book written about it. Jack Johnson is a very dynamic person, though not the best moral compass. Great story, could almost seem like fiction."
"The story of Jack Johnson has all the right elements: the racial tensions of the Schmeling-Louis fights, a hero brash and colorful as Muhammad Ali. Ward's detached and colorless narrative are made that much more disappointing, though he tries gamely and manages to end his story on a poetic, if somewhat predictable, note."
"Ken Burns in book form: a series of quotes/talking heads that seem superficially interesting but end up failing to give any real insight into people or eras. Nonetheless the intrinsic charisma of the subject will carry you a fair way."
"Jack Johnson was one of the early twentieth century's most controversial figures. He was the first black man to attain the world heavyweight championship title, an honor that had been the exclusive domain of white boxers since the sport began. His flashy personality, considerable wealth, and refusal to let his race limit his career and marital prospects belied the traditional concept of the servile, grovelling black. When Johnson beat up white men in the ring and consorted with white women in public, Caucasian America reacted violently. Blacks like Booker T. Washington worried that the hostile attention he attracted would reflect badly on them. "Just who do you think you are?" he was often asked- by both races. "Jack Johnson," he invariably replied.
The first half of 'Unforgivable Blackness' traces Johnson's rise from Galveston street fighter to heavyweight champion of the world. It was hard going for years: white title holders refused to fight him, worried at the battering their legends would take if they lost to a black man. In what must be the epitome of persistence, Johnson chased the Canadian heavyweight champion Tommy Burns across the world, showing up in European cafes and Australian hotel lobbies to issue challenges. He finally defeated Burns in Sydney, Australia, in 1908, but hostile whites refused to acknowledge him as the new champion until 1910, when he beat the legendary Jim Jeffries, who had retired undefeated six years previously and only agreed to fight so he could show that "a white man is better than a negro."
In the second half of this fast-paced volume, white America crucifies Johnson for his boxing success and affinity for white women (all three of his wives were Caucasian). Congress banned prizefight films from being taken across state lines, sparing thousands of whites the demoralizing sight of Stanley Ketchel and Jim Jeffries being defeated by a Negro. Policemen wrote Johnson tickets for driving a car that they felt no black should be able to afford. He was accused of violating the Mann Act, which made it illegal to take a woman from state to state for immoral purposes. Found guilty of 'transporting' Chicago prostitute Belle Schreiber, Johnson fled to Europe with his wife Lucille and wandered the globe for years. He lost the heavyweight championship to Jess Willard in Havana in 1915 and hoped that he might finally go home now that the title had been reclaimed by a white fighter. But when he did, Johnson was arrested and spent 10 months in Leavenworth prison for the Mann Act conviction. Upon his release, he was considered too old to box professionally again and therefore reduced to minor film roles and speaking engagements. He was killed in a car crash outside Raleigh, North Carolina, in 1946, after speeding furiously away from a restaurant that refused to serve him.
Geoffrey Ward has written Johnson's story in an highly readable style, combining sports history with popular biography. You don't have to be a boxing aficionado to enjoy 'Unforgivable Blackness'. The entire book has an high-velocity undercurrent that keeps the reader turning the pages. Perhaps that's because Jack Johnson himself was an energetic, fascinating individual who only let himself be beaten in the ring."
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