A Flame of Pure Fire: Jack Dempsey and the Roaring '20s Paperback – September 14, 2000

It is odd that JD asked Roger Kahn to write a biography of him because no one else had. JD supposedly authored his own autobiography years before. Whatever the reason this version is by far the best one out there.

An absolutely fantastic book on the Champ and the "Roaring 20's." I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in boxing, the golden age of sports or just really good writing. A very enjoyable read!

The book covers Dempsey's life to about the age of thirty in detail (meaning 1926), with a fair bit covering his later years. Well written by an author who admires the writers of the Twenties as much as boxing. If you want to know the United States of the 20th Century better, this is a good landing place. Boxing fans should find it compelling, with lots of detail about the fights.

A Flame of Pure Fire Ordered from Amazon Kindle. This is one of the best books I've read in a long time, and I read many books. The book brings you into the exciting , and oft times, seamy world of the 1920's. You read about boxing. If you're interested, or merely curious, this is one of the best books on boxing by a great writer (Roger Kahn) who knows boxing. You get inside the world of promoting, which is a lucrative and artistic ( and often crooked) sport unto itself. This is a book about Jack Dempsey, a very sympathetic book, which puts the lie to the allegation that Dempsey would not fight Blacks. This simply is not true, including for the Heavyweight Crown. This was a great book and a great read.

Its the second time I have owned this book. I am foolish to loan out classics. This book is a must have for a person who enjoys sports or has a lean toward American culture and history from almost 100 years ago. The author takes well known sports figures or teams and in details shows why theyare what we are missing today. While there was never a golden era in sports, there might have been a few golden moments. THE LONG COUNT was one. As was "DEMPSEY THROUGH THE ROPES". Mr Kahn is great for showing that.

...that places Jack Dempsey's personality and career in context with the culture that he lived in.A lot about the Roaring 20's, the Depression, Warren Harding, Calvin Coolidge, Charles Lindbergh, Babe Ruth and other people from the era; also about other boxers. Maybe to much detail about culture and society if you just want to know about the boxer, but I thought it was a great portrait of the man.Even better, the author clearly loves Jack Dempsey and deeply respects everything that he is about. After reading the book I understand why.

Roger Kahn has done a good job in writing this book. I have read many books about Dempsey and the time period in which he flourished but I found out a few things I did not know before in reading this book. There is a lot of insight into the characters that made up the time period and I found that exciting. You know that books like this are going to start becoming rare because the last living people who had contact with people like Dempsey are passing from the scene.

When author sticks to the Dempsey story the book is excellent. Way way to many rabbit trails though.

Good book

Excellent snapshot of an era, not just about boxing, a brutal spot the book describes vividly, but the speakeasies, politics and corruption . Kahn deserves reputation as on of the great sportswriters, and Dempsey as an authentic champion..

Jack Dempsey is one of the legendary figures of boxing. A man whose myth grows and grows and whose life is crying out to be turned into a hollywood film. His destruction of Jess Willard, his million dollar fights with Georges Carpentier and Gene Tunney and his 4 minute war with Luis Angel Firpo have turned him into a twentieth century icon. This book tells you all of the details of these stories and also catalogues some of the less well known aspects of his life. Dempsey comes across as a complex figure, a ferocious in ring warrior who would do whatever it took to win a fight, but also a gentle and generous man outside of the ring whose easy going nature made him a target for less charitable people. He lived a hard life before he became World Champion and even though he became immensely successful and popular in his later years he never forgot who he was or where he came from. If you are interested in Dempsey and the history of boxing in the early twentieth century, this is the only book you will ever need to read.

Very funny to read with the autor not hesitating going through little'stories around big events of dempsey's life. It gives also a good review of the time, and finnaly show very well how everything is so.intricated which is fascinating to me. It is an easy read reaally interesting for whom seek informations about boxing, dempsey's life, and america's history from the twenties to the end of the century

This is an interesting insight about the champ's life, although it describes a tad too much the general context and lacks a bit of technicality in the description of the bouts, styles, etc...