Bare-knuckle Britons and fighting Irish : boxing, race, religion and nationality in the 18th and 19th centuries / Adam Chill.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Chill, Adam, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Boxing--Great Britain--History.

Boxing.

History.

Great Britain.

Physical Description:

x, 237 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Jefferson : McFarland, 2017.

Summary:

Boxing was phenomenally popular in 18th and 19th century Britain. Aristocrats attended matches and patronized boxers, and the most important fights drew tens of thousands of spectators. Promoters of the sport claimed that it showcased the timeless and authentic ideal of English manhood-a rock of stability in changing times. Yet many of the best fighters of the era were Irish, Jewish or black. This history focuses on how boxers, journalists, politicians, pub owners and others used national, religious and racial identities to promote pugilism and its pure English pedigree, even as ethnic minorities won distinction in the sport, putting the diversity of the Empire on display. Book jacket.

Contents:

1 Blood Sport, Identity and the Making of Bare-Knuckle Prizefighting, c. 1660-1770 9

2 Britishness, Minorities and the Revival of Prizefighting, 1770-1790 26

3 Sport as Symbol: Prizefighting in the Age of the French Revolution, 1790-1802 49

4 National Spirit, Minorities and Prizefighting During the War with Napoleon, 1803-1812 72

5 The Rise of "Boxing's Professionals": Journalists and Boxers in the Postwar Years, 1812-1823 99

6 The Career of Jack Langan, Ethnic Entrepreneur 124

7 Emphasizing Englishness in the Age of Reform, 1825-1833 149

8 The Spread and Transformation of Bare-Knuckle Boxing in the Victorian World, 1834-1867 170.

ISBN:

1476663300

9781476663302

OCLC:

981962378