Best Classic Era Books

You need Clay Moyle to reply to this inquiry. A man that has read as much as him is probably the most qualified to answer this question.

I can name a few favorites of mine:

Lanky Bob - great bio of Bob Fitzsimmons

Unforgivable Blackness - what I consider to be a superbly written Jack Johnson bio

The Longest Fight - A very good book on Joe Gans, perhaps my favorite boxer of all time. Very well written book with the centerpiece being the marathon war with Battling Nelson. As good as this book is, I'd still like to see a comprehensive biography of Gans be written. Heck, give me 500 pages...I won't be bored.

Sam Langford by Clay Moyle - A long overdue biography of the great "uncrowned champ" that was thoroughly researched.

And speaking of thoroughly researched: Life Fast, Die Young the Life and Times of Harry Greb is as thorough as you'll find. The book is badly in need of an editor, but the research undertaken for this book is exhaustive. Every leaf was turned over, as they say. Greb may have the been the greatest ever and the author makes a good effort at proving the unprovable.

I'd like to recommend a great Dempsey biography but each have their weaknesses. Perhaps I'd give Randy Roberts the edge, although his Joe Louis bio is better (and recommended).

A book I really enjoyed as a young teenager first getting into boxing (and the classic era) was Ten And Out! by Alexander Johnston.

And of course, no boxing library is complete without A.J. Liebling's Sweet Science.

Along those lines, you really need to read Springs Toledo's Gods of War. I have his Murderer's Row next on my list. The Harry Otto book on Burley & Co. is highly recommended, as well.

I've said enough. Hopefully those with much bigger libraries will step forward with their picks.

john

 

Cavanaughs book was ****.

 

Please explain why u feel that way about this book

 

I have all of the Fitz books except Pollocks and out of those I liked Prizefighter the best
The Langford book by Moyle is very good too.
Klomptons Greb book is next on my list along with Toledos Murderers Row.

 

Corner Men by Ronald K. Fried. Is an absolute jewel of a read. It focus on the great trainers and most of it covers the early days. Great chapter on Stillmans Gym

 

Yes! Great book!

 

Klompton's book is said to be diligently researched and has received very positive reviews. I imagine it has been something of a labour of love for him to undertake because it must have taken ages to sift through all the fight reports .

 

His Greb book is excellent. Him, eh ...

 

Didn't you give it a good review on Amazon?

 

Yes I did.

 

Klompton's book is the best boxing bio I've read.

Clay Moyle' s books are all solid. He has one of the greatest boxing book collections ever assembled. His opinion carries weight.

Pollack's books are said to be exceptional.

Springs Toledo is a modern day Liebling.

 

Loads of great books out there, just hard to get some of them at good prices.

Adam Pollock, Springs Toledo and Clay Moyle have both written some very good books.

The Harry Greb book by Klompton is very good, one of my favourites.

McFarland Publishers have been producing some excellent (albeit pricey) books of late.

John L Sullivan and his America by Isenberg is a book I read this week, quite a good read, not as comprehensive as Pollock's bio but still good.

The Choynski Chronicles is another large book in the spirit of the Greb book where we get a full look at the fighter and the man.

A Tiger Rose out of Georgia by Bob Mee, the story of Tiger Flowers was a solid read on a fighter that isn't talked about much anymore.

Friday Night Fighter: The story of Gaspar Ortega is recommended, a look at the man and the golden age of boxing on television.

Books by and on Jack Johnson and Jack Dempsey are worth a read too.

I read a lot of boxing books and while some are better than others, it is rare that one really stinks.

 

No, this book was one of the worst, most inaccurate and poorly researched books on a fascinating man that deserves a real labor of love and real attention. There is no good book on Flowers, not even the one his wife commissioned. All of them are lacking and inaccurate by various degrees. Mee's book stands out though because he literally made things up in it and based long stretches on nothing more than lies, legend, and conjecture without ever having done even the minimal amount of legwork taking to prove or disprove any of his more spurious claims. In my opinion it was both a disgrace and disservice. I find a great many boxing books lacking. Mees book is one of the few that actually made me angry it was so bad.

Cavanaughs book was not good because it was a whitewash and ventured dangerously close to hagiography. His research was thin and he ignored anything that painted warts on Tunney and Tunney had a lot of warts both in and out of the ring for his entire life. Instead of actually trying to show us the human side of Tunney Cavanaugh, who had the chops to know better, simply told the same story Tunney had been shaping about himself since the early 20s.

That's my biggest problem with most boxing biographies. People view them as a place you can land on and don't really have to put any effort into. They know the people buying those books will buy them because they are starved to read about that particular character and they abuse that fact. My list of boxing books that I consider very good is short. The list of boxing books that I consider an insult to the boxers they were written about is very long. Ive said it a million times but Ill say it again: When I began writing my book on Greb I started with the idea that if you are going to take it upon yourself to document another mans life you damn well better know his life at least as well as anyone alive. Otherwise who are to write the book? I think most guys who choose to write a book about Stanley Ketchel or Jimmy Clabby or Gene Tunney or Mickey Walker think "What the hell, Ive read all of the old Ring magazines and Ive got an internet connection. Ill whip myself something up." I really believe that. The amount of work that goes into the average boxing biography is very obviously minimal. Guys like Adam, Clay, John Ochs, and handful of others who escape my thoughts now but really deserve praise for taking their work seriously and having pride in it are few and far between and should be lauded for their efforts.

I'll leave it up to others to determine where my work falls into that equation. Ive never made any bones about not being a great writer technically but I made damn sure I got the story right and that it was well documented and cited to back up anything you find on the page. It took me 12 years but if some stranger was writing your life story would you rather he whipped it up and got it out the door in six months to a year or would you rather be sure he did his homework regardless of how long it took? If anyone ever writes my life story I want them to take their time, get it right, and not leave any stone unturned, even if it means telling the world that I can be a mean SOB when arguing with numbskulls on boxing forums...

For my two cents some of the better books that stand out to me are:

Ronald Fried's Corner Men
Max Schmelings autobiography
John Ochs three volume set on Jack Hurley
Peter Hellers book In This Corner
Mark Kram's Ghosts of Manila
Dave Anderson's Sugar Ray
Jeff Wells Boxing Day
Leo Miletich Dan Stuarts Fistic Carnival
Pollacks books
Moyles books
Toledos books

I'm leaving out several that deserve high praise I know but those above are just a quick rundown off the top of my head that have stood out to me.

 

Ive heard good things about this one but never read it.