The Battle of the Century: Dempsey, Carpentier, and the Birth of Modern Promotion

by Waltzer, James M.

• ISBN13: 9780313382444
• ISBN10: 0313382441
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2011-05-04
• Publisher: Greenwood Pub Group

Summary

Immortalized as the battle of the century by Ring Lardner, the Dempsey-Carpentier heavyweight title bout marked America's first experience with the intersection of show business, high society, politics, and the underworld at a single sporting event. The Battle of the Century: Dempsey, Carpentier, and the Birth of Modern Promotion offers the definitive history of this landmark event's genesis and impact. To explain why the fight had such a far-reaching influence on mass entertainment and modern culture, newspaperman Jim Waltzer invites readers to travel the path to the 1921 heavyweight championship. Along the way, they will meet a cast of outsize characters, including the savage defending champion (and alleged World War I slacker) Jack Dempsey, French pretty-boy war hero Georges Carpentier, promoter Tex Rickard, Dempsey's slippery manager Doc Kearns, and Jersey City boss Frank Hague. As the tale unfolds, so does an understanding of the forces that shaped the Roaring Twenties and established promotional hype as the MO of business.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. vii
Prologue	p. ix
Gold and Gambling	p. 1
Dustup in the Desert	p. 11
The Mouths That Roared	p. 19
Color of the Crown	p. 29
Conjuring an Unlikely Champion	p. 43
Ships in the Night	p. 51
Tornado from the West	p. 57
Across War and Continents	p. 67
Dynamic Duo	p. 77
Near Death in the Afternoon	p. 85
Right Hands and Steamer Trunks	p. 97
Slacker Trial	p. 107
An Earful at the Garden	p. 115
Cuban Capitalists	p. 127
Going Solo in Jersey City	p. 139
The Fight Finds a Home	p. 149
Sketches from Training Camp	p. 157
Girding for Battle	p. 175
Battle du Jour	p. 183
Epilogue	p. 199
Notes	p. 205
Bibliography	p. 221
Index	p. 229
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.