Are you going through a publisher or independently putting it out yourself? Any publisher should be giving you advice on editing but if you're putting it out yourself, you do need someone you trust to read it to help you edit it. 2 volumes won't be commercially viable either way. 700 pages could be very long winded and suffer from repetition, a book does need to read well everything else aside There's nothing wrong with historical biographies Boppazoo and this 1 may help retain historical information. You do raise an interesting point though that interviewing people who watched the likes of Ezzard Charles would be very interesting and would give incredible insight, sadly few around that era have survived.
Fair enough, i'd suggest for every opinion you offer in the book, showcase a counter argument. Relish the ambiguity of the great man's career leaving the reader to make up their own mind. I know some people are against personalisation but I'm a fan of it. Sometimes the author's writing style is as important as the content. People then consider it a "klompton" book as opposed to a "greb" book which will help out if you write about other boxers.
Wrong. There are plenty of sources and interviews out there (yes, including interviews with Greb). Greb himself and many people who knew him were interviewed in various publications over the decades. They're really not all that hard to find, actually.
Man are you right about Kahn's book .... I was so excited the day I saw it at the book store for the first time I bought it on the spot but was so disappointed ... it was the ultimate Dempsey b.j. ... the fist shot that dropped Willard was the hardest punch ever thrown, Dempsey could have beaten Wills, Dempsey would have finished Tunney if not for the long count, it was embarrassing ... I actually cannot remember a bio less objective that I have ever read .. it was like MSNBC covering Obama ...
Im not sure yet how it will be published. If I dont publish it myself (which has been the working plan) then I would have an independant publish it. I doubt one of the big commercial publishing houses would allow me to keep it in the form its in with so many photos etc.
Not to dig further at the guys like Greg and Sally but the Kahn book was written essentially from that point of view. He freely admits that he was a kid who grew up hero worshipping Dempsey and really makes no bones about the fact that his book is written from that perspective. The sad part is it got such a wide release that it basically furthered all those myths and superman stories that are what Kahn grew up believing. To this day you can argue with people about Dempsey and theyll say "Well, in Kahn's book it says..."
Yes and if you dispute the Kahn book and cite sources that prove (or cast reasonable doubt) on what his book says you will no doubt be branded a "hater" and accused of embarking on a "smear campaign" to "discredit" Dempsey, right? The kneejerk reactions of some of the posters here are mind boggling....
That last book on Greb had too many inaccuracies...more reason Klompton should bring out a book, and show what was the real deal. Well new historians are writing every day about pre historic ages, and it seems lots of publishers are publishing it. I doubt any one has interviewed Alexander or Napoleon recently. And lots of people brought the Greb books and lots of people will buy the next Greb book...
What's not needed should be identified and shed from the manuscript. Ted Spoon's book most considerable changes have been all to do with refining the prose i.e. doing away with unnecessary static.
To be fair surfingbat.......... Dempsey never had that sort of smear, I have heard there were slacker claims....... but the war was over. If I was writing a book on Darcy, I would'nt do it in a bubble, I might even PM Klompton just to get another opinion, not publicly, that way it would work, I'd also get people to read it through, just to see if it wasn't written in a boring style. Klompton seems like he knows his Greb, but the writing MUST get the reader into it,... can't put it down...... Then you're on a winner. I'm sure we've all read history books with cold hard facts,.... but we put it down because of the writing style. bores us to death.
while i dont agree with book burning, though im sure scumpton does....i do agree that klompton hasnt shown the neutrality it takes to write something historical. calling a huge list of men, 'liars' , men that he will want to quote in his book, shows he isnt up to the task. klompton can babble on here to a bunch of morons who worship him, but once he puts his dribble in print, he'll be taken apart by people who really rate in the historical litterary world. come to think of it, that would be good to watch.:yep
Id bet hard cash my book is more unbiased and even handed than ANYTHING written by an Australian about Les Darcy...