Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson

"Unforgivable Blackness is likely to be the definitive biography of Jack Johnson . . . A significant achievement. Geoffrey Ward provides an utterly convincing and frequently heartrending portrait of Jack Johnson." --Joyce Carol Oates, The New York Review of Books

"A formidable accomplishment . . . Ward has successfully brought this deep and colorful personality, this insufficiently understood and altogether amazing man, back to life." --David Margolick, The New York Times Book Review

"Brings Johnson] to life in all his vulgar, splendid glory. Engrossing and definitive, Unforgivable Blackness is a great biography of a great and utterly fascinating subject." --Allen Barra, The Philadelphia Inquirer

"An engaging and well-researched popular biography . . . Throughout the book, Johnson's energy never flags, and neither does our interest. Ward] has drawn a portrait of a fascinating figure, whose oversized personality fills every page." --Bruce Schoenfeld, Washington Post Book World

This remarkable book is at one and the same time a rousing story, a terrific biography, and first-rate history. With immense skill, Geoffrey Ward has not only brought Jack Johnson back to life but has provided a telling window onto what it was like to be a great black athlete in early-twentieth-century America. -Doris Kearns Goodwin

Geoffrey Ward's Unforgivable Blackness is a stunning exploration in the unbelievable bigotry of whites in early-twentieth-century America. -David Levering Lewis, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of the two-volume biography of W. E. B. Du Bois

 

From the Hardcover edition.

The National Book Critics Circle Award-winning author of A First-Class Temperament presents a full-scale portrait that draws on a wealth of period sources, including Johnson's never-before-published prison memoir, of heavyweight boxing champion Jack Johnson, from his rise to success to his prison sentence and life in exile. Reprint. 25,000 first printing.

Unforgivable Blackness is likely to be the definitive biography of Jack Johnson . . . A significant achievement. Geoffrey Ward provides an utterly convincing and frequently heartrending portrait of Jack Johnson. --Joyce Carol Oates, The New York Review of Books

A formidable accomplishment . . . Ward has successfully brought this deep and colorful personality, this insufficiently understood and altogether amazing man, back to life. --David Margolick, The New York Times Book Review

Brings Johnson] to life in all his vulgar, splendid glory. Engrossing and definitive, Unforgivable Blackness is a great biography of a great and utterly fascinating subject. --Allen Barra, The Philadelphia Inquirer

An engaging and well-researched popular biography . . . Throughout the book, Johnson's energy never flags, and neither does our interest. Ward] has drawn a portrait of a fascinating figure, whose oversized personal

Geoffrey C. Ward won the National Book Critics Circle Award in 1989. With Ken Burns, he is coauthor of The Civil War and Jazz. He lives in New York City.

From the Hardcover edition.

Book one: The rise — The pure-blooded American — The good man — The sport — The man they all dodge — The man with the golden smile — The champion — The greatest colored man that ever lived — Book two: The fall — The brunette in a blond town — The black man garbed in black — The accused — The fugitive — The stepper.