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| Book Reviews | The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, 132.3 | The History Cooperative
132.3  
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July, 2008
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BOOK REVIEWS

Sweet William: The Life of Billy Conn. By Andrew O'Toole. (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2008. xi, 376 pp. Illustrations, notes, bibliography, index. $32.95.)
      Sweet William is a masterful biography of Billy Conn, whose greatest fight was a loss to Joe Louis in a heavyweight championship bout in June 1941. According to Andrew O'Toole, Conn saw boxing as a way to escape working in the Pittsburgh-area factories; seeing his father (whom O'Toole and Conn referred to as "Westinghouse" because of his employment) come home worn out every night encouraged "Sweet William" to find another way to support his family. Key to Conn's success in the ring, according to the author, were trainer Harry Pitler (who went by the name Johnny Ray because Irish fighters were better draws than Jewish ones), promoter "Uncle Mike" Jacobs, and manager Milt Jaffe. . . .
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