A wonderful write that I could not put away. This would be a perfect book for anyone. It would be a good book for high schools students who need a bacA wonderful write that I could not put away. This would be a perfect book for anyone. It would be a good book for high schools students who need a backbone too their history.....more
Jack London had a handle on the boxing industry as he was a boxer from San Francisco alongside Abe Attell the Feather Weight Champion of the World. JuJack London had a handle on the boxing industry as he was a boxer from San Francisco alongside Abe Attell the Feather Weight Champion of the World. Just as the main character in this book - many boxers may be considered naive and many more may have lived lives that led them to be manipulated by promoters. Boxers suffered some of the biggest travesties and alienation in New York for the fifty years before Jacks story was written. Yes even the first boxing movie was filmed shortly before this book was published which was around the same time of the temporary relaxing of New York boxing laws...This manipulated the public into thinking that the end of the bare-knuckled boxing brought about a safe sport with the gloves.
And while it's true that boxing and storytelling have been inextricably holding each others hands into the past... I cannot assume that this will continue to be the case. What then will be the UFC's legacy. Will we have more broken and broke -- brain dead fighters -- dying horrible deaths.
This book is a central pivot point in the history of boxing and possibly influenced the way the nation reacted to the sport which was being denigrated by females pursuing temperance. How much did this story play into the hands of those wanting to control liquor and boxing and then those who became boxers because they had know other way.
Jack London even quipped that men turned to boxing at the YMCA's and KOC leagues to escape the rigid conservatism of women who wanted to control all aspects of a mans life.
If one understands that Abe Attell knew Arnold Rothstein and Jack London one should see how this important piece of work helped lead to the change of the political guard that brought prohibition. I question -- Jacks work -- when understanding it as a tool for this guard and wonder if his disillusionment of this act led to many more great stories....more
Robert Fitzsimmons thought he was the man. At least he liked the outdoors. His writing is boring and dry but what can you expect from a boxer with tooRobert Fitzsimmons thought he was the man. At least he liked the outdoors. His writing is boring and dry but what can you expect from a boxer with too many fights under his belt ...more
One of the first and most unusual memoirs of all time. Abe Abe Abe the newsboy hero of over a thousand fights. Not only does it diverge from the tradiOne of the first and most unusual memoirs of all time. Abe Abe Abe the newsboy hero of over a thousand fights. Not only does it diverge from the tradition of old boxing stories it is a self published affair....more
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