The Manly Art: Bare-Knuckle Prize Fighting in America

by Elliott J. Gorn

Recreates the lives and times of 19th century boxing champions and analyzes the social significance of the violent sport

Genres: History, Sports, Nonfiction, Gender

320 pages, Paperback

First published October 20, 1986

About the author

Elliott J. Gorn (Ph.D. Yale University, 1983, A.B. University of California, Berkeley, 1973) is the Joseph Gagliano Professor of American Urban History and has a distinguished record of scholarship, publication and excellence in teaching and student mentorship. His books and articles embrace multiple aspects of urban and American culture, particularly the history of various social groups in American cities since 1800. Gorn’s work is interdisciplinary and intersects with numerous other fields.

His four major books examine various aspects of urban life and city cultures in the nineteenth- and twentieth-century United States, including Dillinger’s Wild Ride: The Year That Made America’s Public Enemy Number One (Oxford University Press, 2009); Mother Jones: The Most Dangerous Woman in America (Hill and Wang, 2001, Korean edition, 2003); A Brief History of American Sports, co-authored with Warren Goldstein (Hill and Wang, 1993; reissued University of Illinois Press, 2004); and The Manly Art: Bare-Knuckle Prize Fighting in America (Cornell University Press, 1986; 2nd edition, 2010, with a new bibliography and afterword).

Gorn has edited eight volumes, including Sports in Chicago (University of Illinois Press, 2008); The McGuffey Readers: Selections from the 1878 Edition, with an introduction (Bedford Books, 1998); Muhammad Ali, The Peoples' Champ (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1995); and The Encyclopedia of American Social History, 3 volumes, co-edited with Peter Williams and Mary Cayton (Scribners, 1993), which was awarded the Dartmouth Certificate by the American Library Association. He has published and reprinted more than 50 articles, book chapters and reviews in a wide variety of scholarly journals, encyclopedias, edited collections and news magazines, including the American Historical Review, the Journal of American History, the Journal of American Studies, the Journal of Urban History, the Journal of Sport History, American Quarterly, the International Journal of Maritime History, Harper’s Magazine, the Chronicle of Higher Education, Mother Jones, Boom: A Journal of California, Le Monde Diplomatique Dissent On-Line, Slate, The Wall Street Journal, and the Chicago Tribune.

- taken from his staff profile, see "official website"

Reviews

[Sean Mccarrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book covered bare knuckle boxing from the early 19th century till the Gilded Age and on through to the institution of Queensbury rules. Despite the fact that I have little to no interest in boxing, I found this book to be really amazing. It covered the development of boxing as well as the development of American society in a way that took a bottom up approach but managed to entertain as well. It was a very worth-while read.

[Joshua Cannon]

deep deep dive on the origins of bare-knuckle boxing in America. Found myself a few months ago totally fascinated by the subject and this book taught me more than I ever thought I’d know about the sport. There’s a chapter about soldiers boxing during the civil war that is pretty fantastic.

[Steve Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid history of bare knuckle boxing in America. If you’re a History nerd who is into combat sports...this is a “must read”.

[Miroku Nemeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is essential reading if one wants to understand working class history in America as well as boxing. The fact that Gorn has also written a book on Mother Jones should be a great indicator of the characteristics of this work.

One of the most profound insights I have gleaned from reading "The Manly Art: Bare-Knuckle Fighting in America" is the place of ritualized and symbolic violence in societies over time. Men crave the order of violence with rules and attach elevated importance to such contests in part because so much of life is entirely unjust, oppressive, mundane, etc. Violence is not something one, no matter one's level of expertise, can actually entirely plan for. It is chaotic, often in a brutal way, often in a deadly way, as anyone who knows a bit about violence knows all too well. I can think of many tough young men dead young now. I can think of innocents dead now. The symbolism of the ring, or the octagon, or in our narratives of glory enshrined in whatever form--from soundbite to epic poem--gain resonance because they appeal to our desperate need for order out of the desperate appearance of chaos, for a struggle, if not for a taste of our hero's invulnerability, for a portion of his honor and nobility. Gorn ties this drive, over time, to the class struggle both in England and America, and how the working class who fought for workers rights often identified closely with great fighters and bare-knuckle boxers. This is not a mindless voyeuristic venture into violence, this study, it is a glimpse into the reality of working class heroes that perhaps many who purport to be their champions among the liberal class would rather shy away from.

[Oliver Bateman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant analysis of sports and culture--a fine example of how a great critical work can emerge from slight archival research. It's a shame Gorn didn't consider more sources or include more anecdotes, as John Fair did in his excellent Bob Hoffman bio, but this book is a primer on how to teach 19th century sports history. Highly recommended.

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

As much a history of working class America and the emergence of commercialized leisure in the 19th century as of boxing, this is a fascinating read.

Gorn does a great job of situating the history of the prize ring within the broader history of immigration and the shifting social mores of the time.

[Sydney · Rating 3 out of 5]

Elliott Gorn, a professor of History and American Civilization at Brown University, uses The Manly Art to bring attention to the lesser studied subject of sports history and how it would influence and shape American society. Gorn begins by discussing prize fighting in England and how it would eventually disseminate to the United States through immigration, in particular, by the Irish immigrants. The Manly Art covers a range of topics that convey the sheer appeal of bare-knuckle prize fighting despite it never being legalized. The monograph discusses the Victorian ideal, which was desperately sought after, and how it was challenged by the appeal of prize fighting, while also considering that the fighting often embodied a sense of Victorianism. Gorn compares the ring to a downsized version of Western Civilization by using his chosen topics and stories of the prize fights that people hungrily ate up. The ring, as many other sports of the time, were meant to teach a sense of manliness that was embodied to promote one’s strength and protect one’s honor. “To understand bare-knuckle prize fighting...is necessarily to understand something about nineteenth-century America. Ideology, ethnicity, social class formation, violence, urbanization, gender roles, religious world views, productive relationships, all are part of sports history in general and boxing history in general” (pg. 12).

Gorn’s task to tackle the world of bare-knuckle prize fighting was a hefty one. In a lesser known field of history, Gorn chose to use sports history as a means of paralleling the nineteenth-century in America. Both saw the uprising of a working class which would fill the majority of American life. The ideal of the American Dream was constantly fresh in the minds of the working class who wished to move from their lesser standing by whatever means necessary. For some men, the only way to move up was to join the ring and fight. While looking particularly at the “champions” of the era, we can see that just as moving up socially in the world was nearly impossible, it was rarely achieved by those who chose to fight. Three “heroes” of pugilism are highlighted, of those only Morrissey was successful after his time in the ring through political ties and the lucrative business of gambling and saloon houses.

Gorn’s thesis of comparing prize fighting to American civilization is well covered, he provides not only stories, but primary sources and pictures of the men who were decorated champions of the era. His intent “is to interpret boxing, not merely to describe it...in order to reconstruct the culture of the ring” (pg 14). Overall, the monograph moves in a relatively chronological fashion beginning with the popular prize fights in England to end of the era in a fight between Corbett and Sullivan. He touches on the issues that were faced by those in America by mirroring them in the prize fighting ring.

The strongest chapter, The Meanings of Prize Fighting, is essential to understanding Gorn’s monograph, easily the quickest paced chapter, readers take a break from stories to see the true parallels and outcomes of prize fighting. Prize fighting was equally positive and negative when it defined masculinity and the working class ideals. Violence, for the sake of violence, was used to mirror the harsh reality of the world around them. Men would find emotional comfort in one another rather than their wives, and would also show promise in their physical strength and abilities. Prize fighting did hold promise of opportunities, but also created more anti-immigrant sentiment, by blaming the violence of the less-cultured minds of those not from America. “Boxing during the age of heroes captured the values, the ethos, the distinct culture of countless working men who felt dispossessed amidst the Victorian era’s heady optimism” (pg. 147).

The Manly Art thrives on its use of primary sources to bolster Gorn’s argument that the prize fighting ring mirrored that of American society. Particularly the use of newspaper articles provided the positive and negative views on pugilism, from sources like the National Police Gazette and the New York Times, the monograph treats the reader to many colorful sources. As previously stated, Gorn uses more than one view to show the world of bare-knuckle prize fighting not only in America, but in its Anglo roots as well. Gorn has many shining moments, particularly with his preface which prepares the reader for the text as a whole. The images throughout the book are used to enrich the subject material and give the reader a visual to their champions of old.

[Croisley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Don't be fooled by the terrible title, this is a fascinating overview of shifting attitudes towards leisure in American history. Boxing is really a tool for surveying the way Americans of different time periods and backgrounds viewed sport. There is novel historical detail for boxing fans but it's still more of a social science book.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. It was a fascinating look into the society and complex issues of the nineteenth century through the lens of the development and changes of boxing. Highly recommended.

Read for Hist. 368

[Ebonique Boyd · Rating 3 out of 5]

A surprisingly significant work.

[Chris Brimmer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good sports writing and passable history writing.

[Teddy Conover · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it. The bridge Gorn draws from the alternative, subculture, non-mainstream world of boxing in the mid 1800s to the mass commercialized version of the end of the century was so compelling. Just beautiful writing, connecting of themes, and an extremely early version of the power of sports history as cultural history. His ideas of the dramatizing of violence to understand the chaos of the industrializing world and the healing that boxing provided civil war combatants are just incredible connections that remind me of the value of good work and good history.

[Xavier University Library · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lively and entertaining history of boxing’s ascendancy from a widely pilloried and quite illegal pursuit of the “uncivilized” lower classes to a sport where the upper-crusts could prove their worth (Teddy Roosevelt hosted and participated in boxing events in the White House.) Gorn is able to interweave social and political issues of the times all told with a cast as colorful and wild as the early days of this country.

[Kelli · Rating 4 out of 5]

This inter-disciplinary approach to American history is fascinating and Gorn is a surprisingly good writer. As an American Studies major, I enjoyed it. I recommend it to anyone who is interested in American social history.

[Wayne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Provides as much insight into American culture as it talks about boxing. If you liked the movie Cinderella Man you will like this book.

[Rick · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a great book about the history of pugulism and eventually boxing. It paints the history of New York and the areas where bare-knuckle prize fighting started.

[Whitney · Rating 4 out of 5]

A seriously interesting way to read the history of America. I wish all history books were this good.

[Emily · Rating 2 out of 5]

In the middle it got a little slow but by the end I couldn't put it down again.

[Atherton Asbury · Rating 3 out of 5]

started reading this last night. Pretty interesting read on pugilism and its roots. The old timers were a lot harder than the gents today.