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	Mohrbooks Literary Agency Marie Arendt
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The Arts

LAST ON HIS FEET

Youssef Daoudi Adrian Matejka

Jack Johnson and the Battle of the Century

This is the graphic portrait of early-twentieth-century boxer Jack Johnson and the tortured world in which he lived.

On the morning of July 4, 1910, thousands of rabid fans stormed a newly built stadium in Reno, Nevada, to bear witness to the "Battle of the Century." At the height of the Jim Crow era, Jack Johnson, the world's first Black heavyweight champion - and most infamous athlete in the world because of his race - was paired against Jim Jeffries, a former heavyweight champion then heralded as the "great white hope," who could restore the racial hierarchy that Johnson had shattered. Offering front-row seats to this historic showdown, artist Youssef Daoudi and poet Adrian Matejka intersperse dramatic boxing action with vivid flashbacks to reveal how Johnson, the self-educated son of emancipated slaves, reached the pinnacle of sports - all while facing down a racist justice system. Through the legerdemain of breathtaking illustrations and soul-numbing verse, Last on His Feet restores dignity to a contentious civil rights figure who has for more than a century been denied his proper due. Adrian Matejka is the author of The Big Smoke, which won the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and a National Book Award. He teaches creative writing at Indiana University in Bloomington. Youssef Daoudi, a comic artist, writer and illustrator, is the author of Monk!. Previously, he was an art director for multinational advertising firms.

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Book Published 2023-02-21 by Liveright

Comments

Through a combination of breathtaking illustrations and striking verse, Last on His Feet honors a contentious civil rights figure who has for more than a century been denied his proper due. Read more...

A powerful work - no gimmicks, straightforward narrative with a timeless appeal, beautifully lyrical. Jack Johnson knew his place in this world and liked the finer things in life. He carved inroads to success with fists of righteous anger and keen business sense in a time when the odds were overwhelmingly stacked against someone like him. But if you think Jack Johnson would bend the knee -- then you don't know Jack!

With action, suspense, and introspection, Last On His Feet provides the reader a front row seat to the 'Fight of the Century.' A riveting tale of physical triumph against the backdrop of racism at the turn of the 20th century; a must-read for sport and history fans alike.

French: Futuropolis

Last On His Feet is not only a testament to the incredibly complex life of Jack Johnson, but it's also an example of how some stories require more than straight-ahead prose. How some lives can only be captured by the ballet of poetry and razor-sharp imagery, especially a life as beautiful and brutal as Johnson's. Matejka and Daoudi rise to the occasion and turn a tale about one of the most courageous and controversial champions, into an experience so immersive you can almost smell blood and sweat coming from the pages. This is a masterpiece.

A desert boxing match becomes an epic, a tragic symbol, and a thunderous encapsulation of America's bloody racial history in this passionately told graphic history from Daoudi (Monk!) and Matejka (The Big Smoke) about America's first Black heavyweight champion, Jack Johnson (18781946)... This is a big brawl of a book that, like the greatest boxing matches, finds the poetry in the violence.

Lyrical narration and powerfully evocative black-and-white illustration combine for an uncommonly propulsive, completely immersive biography.

Jack Johnson, Black Champion: PW Talks with Youssef Daoudi and Adrian Matejka Read more...