Includes bibliographical references (p. [451]-456) and index.

"For seven years and two months in the days that followed World War I, Jack Dempsey, with his swarthy brow, his fierce good looks, and his matchless dedication to the kill, was heavyweight champion of the world. He was the wild and raucous champion of the wild and raucous 1920s, when Al Capone ran free, jazzmen trumpeted a new night music, women smoked cigarettes in public, and people talked about free love but couldn't buy a legal drink." "A Flame of Pure Fire is the extraordinary story of a man and a country growing to maturity in a blaze of strength and exuberance that nearly burned them to ash. While focusing on the '20s, Roger Kahn also portrays the poverty-stricken Dempsey in his childhood, the man on trial for avoiding service in World War I, the sometime actor (but mostly disappointed husband) in Hollywood, and the genial restaurateur in New York."--BOOK JACKET