- Published: 15 January 2015
- ISBN: 9780224092340
- Imprint: Yellow Jersey
- Format: Paperback
- Pages: 544
- RRP: $29.99
Unforgivable Blackness
The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson
- Published: 15 January 2015
- ISBN: 9780224092340
- Imprint: Yellow Jersey
- Format: Paperback
- Pages: 544
- RRP: $29.99
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 of 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
This compelling and exhaustively researched biography resurrects the story of a uniquely fascinating man...The authoritative biography of Johnson for sure, but also one of the best boxing books in recent memory.
Booklist
A formidable accomplishment...Ward has successfully brought this deep and colourful personality, this insufficiently understood and altogether amazing man, back to life
David Margolick, New York Times Book Review
A significant achievement... An utterly convincing and frequently heartrending portrait
Joyce Carol Oates, New York Review of Books
A portrait of a fascinating figure, whose oversized personality fills every page.
Bruce Schoenfeld, Washington Post
'probably the finest book on the uniquely talented and horribly hounded black heavyweight champion from the early years of the 20th century...Johnson was a remarkable man... Little has changed, believe it or not'.
Observer
'Great subject, great book....Ward shows us how the great black heavyweight champion overcame a poor education to mix successfully with the glitterati of Europe and America'.
The Daily Ireland
Ward is a distinguished and diligent historian, and he has mined original sources to tremendous effect. The detail is dazzling... It deserves an audience far beyond fans of the ring game
Andrew Baker, Daily Telegraph
'a delicious detail on almost every page... Research this powerful gives Unforgivable Blackness a richness that rewards contemplative reading',
Jon Hotten, Scotland on Sunday
'Geoffrey C Ward offers a detailed and telling portrait of Johnson's life and times'.
Alan Chadwick, Metro
'compelling biography...Johnson's life was a chaotic tableaux of women, fights and fast cars...Ward depicts all this in gripping prose...Hats off to Ward for getting as close to the ghost as anyone will'.
Alex Wade, Times
Ward has produced a meticulous, well-researched biography of a maverick, a fascinating figure who held on to sport’s most coveted world crown for seven years. Compulsive stuff
Peter Sharkey, Post