Unforgivable Blackness : The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson

Rating:
Summary: Insightful and rich
Review: Admittedly I'm a bit of a boxing fan so the life of Jack Johnson holds some interest for me. And while Johnson's career and his fights are well-presented, the real genius of Ward's book comes in the way he eloquently fills in the blanks of an amazing man who lived the life he wanted with all of society trying to prevent him from doing just that. I'd hate to see this book get relegated to sports sections in book stores when it so clearly is a well-written, remarkable biography about a groundbreaking man that everyohne should read.

Rating:
Summary: The Life and Times of Boxing Great Jack Johnson
Review: Geoffrey Ward has specialized in writing the companion volumes to the various documentaries (The Civil War, Baseball, Jazz, Mark Twain, and The West) created by Ken Burns. This coffee-table size book is no different from the other books in this American history series.

Well-written and lavished with rare and numerous photos, it tells more the story of an era through the career of boxer Jack Johnson. The one constant theme of the many joint projects between Mr. Ward and Mr. Burns is race -- and they explore the life of this attention-seeking boxer (similiar to Mohammed Ali a half century later) to examine the everyday racism present in the early 1900's.

This is not the definative biography of Jack Johnson -- for that the reader must go elsewhere for dates and boxing lore. Nor is it the interpretive account of the man (though they come close)--for that the reader should either read the play or view the 1970 James Earl Jones bio film, "The Great White Hope" (now out on DVD). But if the reader is interested in the history and attitudes of Americans in the first half of the 20th century as seen through the life of Jack Johnson, then this is your book.

Rating:
Summary: Illuminating and deeply profound
Review: Mr. Ward brings to life not only the iconoclastic Jack Johnson, but the America of a hundred years ago. This story is as much a sociological history of America as it is the story of one incredible man's life. I can't wait to see the PBS production of this. The soundtrack for the production, scored and performed by Wynton Marsalis, perfectly captures the time and mood of turn-of-the-century America. All in, a real triumph.

Rating:
Summary: The Title Says It All
Review: The title, all by itself, sums up Jack Johnson's life. Born in Texas in 1878, only 13 years after the end of the Civil War, in the heyday of the Klu Klux Klan he emerged as an early day Mohammed Ali. As a fighter he was probably the best of his time. As a flamboyant character outside the ring he seemed deliberately out to tweak the noses of the white (and some of the black) establishment.

And if he excelled in the ring, he truly triumphed at nose tweaking. He told outlandish stories. He attracted women of all races as he traveled from city to city and country to country. And as he took on all comers in the prize ring, he took on all comers among the ladies as well. This was enough, at that time in the South, to get him lynched.

One of his episodes with a young lady resulted in him being convicted of the Mann act. This act made it illegal to transport womes across state lines for amoral purposes. Originally intended as a way to stop prostitution (who were they kidding), it was also applied in mixed race situations against the negro man. Eventually this gave him nearly a year in federal prison.

Extensively researched, this is a brilliant biography of a most colorful character, who if he'd been white would have been a hero.