Table of Contents

Prologue: The English Prize Ring 1. Hats in the Ring "The Tremendous Man of Colour" First Blood Professors of Pugilism Ideology and the Ring 2. The First American Champions The Rise of "Yankee" Sullivan The Battle of Hastings "The Great $10,000 Match between Sullivan and Hyer" 3. The Age of Heroes "The Good Time Coming" The Era of John Morrissey The Fate of Champions 4. The Meanings of Prize Fighting Working-Class Culture in Antebellum Cities Meaning in Mayhem The Rites of Violence 5. Triumph and Decline "The Great Contest for the Championship of the World" Civil Wars "... The Gangs Who Rage and Howl at the Ropes" 6. "Fight Like a Gentleman, You Son of a Bitch, If You Can" The Rise of Sports The Strenuous Life Fighting Clerks, Boxing Brahmins, Vigorous Victorians 7. The End of the Bare-Knuckle Era "My Name's John L. Sullivan and I Can Lick Any Son-of-a-Bitch Alive" The New Order "... Nigh New Orleans upon an Emerald Plain ..." "The Champion of All Champions" Epilogue: The Manly Art Afterword to the Updated Edition Notes Selected Bibliography Index

About the Author

Elliott J. Gorn is Professor of History and American Civilization at Brown University. He is author of many books, including Dillinger's Wild Ride: The Year That Made America's Public Enemy Number One and Mother Jones: The Most Dangerous Woman in America, and coauthor of A Brief History of American Sports.

Reviews

"Gorn has done a splendid job of colorfully sketching the development of nineteenth-century prize fighting; the book is beautifully written, extensively researched, and rooted in a sophisticated understanding of American social and cultural history. He demonstrates that a single work can combine engaging narrative and incisive analysis... A delightful and path-breaking book."-American Historical Review "A book of great insight and intellectual depth... Combining exhaustive research with lucid writing, Gorn has produced a book that is at once instructive, thought-provoking, and fascinating to read. He convincingly illustrates how boxing was transformed from an unauthorized activity of the urban bachelor sub-culture to a more respectable pastime within the entertainment industry of the late nineteenth century. In the process, he reveals how boxing dramatized the differences between Irish and Anglo-Saxon Americans, working and middle classes, wrongdoers and Christians, and perhaps most significantly, between men and women. Gorn artfully reveals the simultaneous fascination and disgust that people felt towards boxing, and the deep-seated emotional responses engendered by the sport. He captures the various meanings that prize fighting had for its participants and carefully details the ceremonies, rituals, and pageantry of the sport. The Manly Art is pure delight."-Journal of Sport History "Gorn is an adventurous historian with a talent for informed speculation. He has written an exciting narrative history of boxing and then gone a step further to ask a series of questions that extend his focus to the whole of nineteenth-century American culture."-The Nation "Gorn's finely conceived and craftsman-like book catches the spirit of a young nation rushing to industrialization and how prize fighting was affected by, and came to reflect, much of the national mood and character. The Manly Art is first-rate social history rendered in felicitous prose."-Chicago Sun-Times "The Manly Art is an important contribution to the study of nineteenth-century American culture. Writing with clarity, vigor, and grace, Gorn combines detailed narrative with convincing interpretations. He offers the reader a judicious selection of quotations from the sporting press that captures the drama, sensuality, and brutality of the ring and its craftsmen."-Journal of American History