Compton Vs Paxton Greb Books

I’ve never read Paxton’s book so can’t compare them against each other.
I have read Compton’s though and it’s a very fine body of work, thoroughly and meticulously researched.

 

The problem with Paxtons book are the amount of factual mistakes. I can find something factually inaccurate on almost every page. Some are minor, some are major. His research was thin and it shows. He admits that the first Greb biography, Give Him To The Angels, was largely fiction but then bases several of the stories in his book on Give Him To The Angels. His book is better and more accurate than GHTTA but its still full of mistakes. I can go into more detail if you want and Im not trying to give you the hard sell on my book. Read whichever suits you. But theres a lot he got wrong.

 

How so?

 

I personally wouldn't want to buy something with inaccurate information in it , what's the point?

 

Compton's book is one of the best boxing books I have ever read. The $40 + for this book is well worth it.

 

Never read the Paxton book but I'll get it if it's cheap on Kindle.

The Compton book is worth $$$ to add it to your "analog" book collection. As someone who has written and published over 2 dozen scientific papers, I will always like and respect a book that has been extensively research and defines all the sources.

 

Impressive FD, I could never do that. However I do spend a lot of time at the beach, and I did write my name in the sand one time

 

Read them both. Paxson's doesn't compare.

 

This is just pulling it down off the shelf and thumbing through a few pages:

In the very first page of the first chapter: He tells the story of Greb being born in a car on the way to the hospital. This is absolute nonsense. Greb was born at home attended by a midwife named Mary Werle. He says that Greb was born on a street corner, Dauphin and Fitch. He absolutely was, that was his home address. Greb was born at 138 N Millvale Avenue in the Garfield section of Pittsburgh. 138 Millvale Avenue was on the corner of Millvale and Dauphin. Millvale Avenue had previously been Fitch. Hence, when Greb's birth record says he was born at the corner of Dauphin and Fitch its saying he was born at home. Which was the most common practice at the time. Nevermind that in 1894 basically nobody had a car. But he creates this ridiculous narrative that Greb's mother started giving birth to Greb on the way to the hospital and Greb was born right there in the street. He extrapolates this entire fantasy from what deems was a copy of Harry Greb's birth certificate pictured on Page 222. This was not Greb's birth certificate. Birth certificates were not issued in Pittsburgh in 1894. The only "birth certificate" that you will find of Greb is a logbook entry from 1894. The information that logbook entry holds was copied to this document upon request in 1953 as a "certified copy of birth record" This is all plainly visible, and again, anyone who simply looked at a map of Pittsburgh from the 1890s would have seen very quickly that Greb wasnt born in a car.

Same page: "It has been said that Harry Greb, born Edward Henry Greb, took the first name of an older brother who died at a young age. The story goes that Greb looked up to his older brother, so when Greb started fighting he took his name. This hasnt been verified." Wrong. The author didnt verify it which is sheer laziness. Its easily verifiable and the basic work that any author should do when writing about his subject. The first born child was a daughter, Lillian, born in 1892. She died in 1908. The second child was Edward Henry Greb, the Harry Greb we know and love. He was born in 1894. In 1899, when Greb was 5 years old a brother was born. Harry. He died 12 days later. There was no older brother that Greb looked up to etc. Greb likely did take his brothers name in the ring but instead of just going along with a bull**** story that you admit hasnt been verified why not verify it yourself? Thats your job.

Page 8 he goes into a long story about Greb's entry into boxing. Stating that in 1913 he was working at Westinghouse (he wasnt) and that he hooked up with George Engel and went to New York and boxed 30 some fights amateur? None of this is true. As a postscript he offers that it might not be true but why not check the story yourself? Its easy to cross reference Engel's movements at the time and even some of Grebs and see this story was false. Engel was managing middleweight champion Frank Klaus at the time and they were in Paris with Engel's stable when this supposedly took place. Lazy.

Page 9 he goes into a long story about Greb's first pro fight which he says was against KO Kirkwood on the undercard of Gibbons-Perry. This was not Greb's first pro fight. It was his third pro fight. A comprehensive cross check of the local Pittsburgh papers supports this. The first two bouts arent easy to find but they are there. Youd just have to work a little to find them.

Page 25 he discusses a party after Greb's fight with KO Baker and says that Mildred Reilly, who would become Greb's wife years later was there as his girlfriend. No. The girl they referred as the "belle of little washington" was not Mildred. Thats entirely an invention of the author. Mildred would have been 14 years old at the time and didnt live in Washington, PA. Never did as far as I know. Greb didnt meet his future wife until about a year before they got married which would have been two or three years after this event. Again, just a lazy author tying loose threads together to make a nice narrative. In discussing Grebs next fight he makes the comment that Grebs "best girl" was there and adds "it was believed to be Mildred" and that this could have been the first fight she saw in person. The only person who believed it was Mildred was this author.

Page 59: He is confused by who Greb fought at the Inter-Allied Tournament, was it Green or Baker? Well gee, rather than say "whoever it was, he was from South Africa" which is literally how he resolves that question. Why not just get a first hand account of the tournament and settle the matter. It was Lance Corporal E.C. Baker.

All of the above is not only lazy but totally disrespects the reader. He obviously still had questions about Greb's life and he simply passed those questions on to the reader. As a reader I buy a biography to have my questions answered, not to have them regurgitated back to me.

I could continue but the point is it isnt hard to flip through it and find large and small factual errors that not only change the Greb narrative but also call into question just how much the author actually knew about his subject or how hard he worked to get the answers to the questions that linger throughout. Its not uncommon to find examples like "its been rumored" "its unverified" "it is believed" etc. If you found a rumor its your job to verify it before you print it! Ive said before and I will say again. When you take the responsibility upon yourself to write a book about another mans life then you also bare the responsibility of getting the story right. You better know that mans life better than anyone else or you arent going to do him justice.

 

Never did any graffiti on subway cars, or drew any body parts in a public toilet? Son, you haven't been living!

 

I have no clue if the thread is serious or just someone trying to get Klompton to go postal but assuming it's legit with all respect to Paxton there is no comparison. Klompton's book is as good as it gets.