Jack Johnson is a Dandy: An Autobiography

by Jack Johnson

Autobiography of the boxer Jack Johnson

About the author

As the first African American world heavyweight boxing champion from 1908–to 1915. For more than thirteen years, Jack Johnson was the most famous and the most notorious African-American on Earth. Johnson attests that his success in boxing came from the coaching he received from Joe Choynski, who became his cellmate after the pair were arrested for fighting in Texas, where boxing was illegal at the time.

Reviews

[Ensiform · Rating 3 out of 5]

The autobiography of boxing great Jack Johnson. The man had a fascinating life – marrying four women, two white; opening a cabaret that allowed both blacks and whites; escaping prison through a clever ruse; travelling the globe engaging in various business and athletic exploits; spying for the U.S. government; going back to prison willingly – and so on, all in the early 1900s. His book (and I don't see why he couldn't have written the bulk himself) is very repetitive, patchy, insufficiently explanatory in places, and jumps around chronologically so as to be very confusing. However, it's still readable, and I did enjoy it. There's one section that deals with moderation in diet, the role of "the new woman" and how she should stay home, and the decline of the world due to cabarets and jazz music; this section I cannot believe Johnson wrote as he lead a very strenuous life himself, was hardly temperate, took his wives everywhere with him, and was in fact a jazz musician and cabaret owner. Other than that passage, the book was interesting throughout, and had a touching epilogue by his last wife attesting to his gentleness with women. Now, of course, I have to read a biography of him, to find out what of what Johnson wrote were lies...

[Jody Banman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Johnson wasn't nearly as good of a writer as he was a boxer, but he was a remarkable man who lived during remarkable times so it's still an interesting book. I read somewhere that Joe Louis was instructed early in his career to refrain from smiling when doing publicity in order to differentiate from Jack Johnson, his management was afraid he'd never get a title shot otherwise. That's what I remember most about Jack Johnson, more even than his sublime skill, his really quite unwise tendency to flout white racist conventions to the point of mercilessly taunting white opponents and fans. I love that he did that, but it's a wonder he wasn't lynched. He wasn't a paragon of virtue, but he was certainly no coward.

[Jak Krumholtz · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Men know how to build up and maintain big fortunes but they do not know how to maintain their health-the greatest fortune of all."

A fascinating life even if its telling bounces around here. Have to track down the Ken Burns movie now.

[Craig Schlossin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Must read for boxing fans.