Jack Johnson, a free-living, highly individualistic heavyweight boxing champion, was a black man who came of age and came to fame at a time when African Americans faced severe discrimination in American culture. When Johnson earned his boxing title in 1908, African Americans faced many forms of racial bias. They were consigned to the back of the bus. They were limited to attending inferior schools and working at menial jobs. They were regularly denied their right to vote. If a black man were considered to be "uppity," he might find himself hanging from a tree, lynched by a white mob. In comparison, here was Jack Johnson, no lowly field worker or janitor but the heavyweight champion of the world. Furthermore, Johnson showed no humility as he savored his fame. He drove expensive cars, tossed extravagant parties, and broke the ultimate social taboo for a black...