Immortalized as the battle of the century by Ring Lardner, the Dempsey-Carpentier heavyweight title bout marked America's first experience with the intersection of show business, high society, politics, and the underworld at a single sporting event. "The Battle of the Century: Dempsey, Carpentier, and the Birth of Modern Promotion" offers the definitive history of this landmark event's genesis and impact.

To explain why the fight had such a far-reaching influence on mass entertainment and modern culture, newspaperman Jim Waltzer invites readers to travel the path to the 1921 heavyweight...