About the book
Jack Johnson, the first African American to hold the world heavyweight title, published this memoir in French, and it had never been translated before this English version. Johnson recounts his life and fights, in and out of the ring, up to the July 4, 1910 fight in Reno where he beat Jim Jeffries. Along the way come a brief spell in local politics in Galveston, Texas, kangaroo hunting in Australia and bouts of seasickness. He sketches famous boxers of the era, among them Stanley Ketchel, Joe Choynski and Sam McVey, and speaks about race and the color line more openly than he likely would have for American readers.
Ryan Holiday called it a lost book, short but full of interesting strategies and anecdotes, and said it left him sensing that Johnson was intelligent and sensitive, with a hunger for drama and attention.
We hope you love the books people recommend! Just so you know, The CEO Library may collect a share of sales or other compensation from the links on this page.
This book has 1 recommendation
Ryan Holiday (Founder/Brass Check)
This is the lost and translated book that came out of a series of pieces Johnson–perhaps the greatest boxer who ever lived–wrote for a French newspaper in 1911. It’s not very long but it is full of really interesting strategies and anecdotes. You get the sense that he was an incredibly intelligent and sensitive man–clearly had a thirst for drama and attention. Who knows what place he would occupy in our culture and history had he not been taken down so thoroughly by racism and genuinely evil people? But despite all that, he was always smiling. As Jack London put it after Johnson’s most famous fight: “No one understands him, this man who smiles. Well, the story of the fight is the story of a smile. If ever a man won by nothing more fatiguing than a smile, Johnson won today.”
Get this book on Amazon | Barnes & Noble