Mendoza the Jew Boxing, Manliness, and Nationalism, A Graphic History

Inspired by the resounding success of Abina and the Important Men (OUP, 2011), Mendoza the Jew combines a graphic history with primary documentation and contextual information to explore issues of nationalism, identity, culture, and historical methodology through the life story of Daniel Mendoza. Mendoza was a poor Sephardic Jew from East London who became the boxing champion of Britain in 1789. As a Jew with limited means and a foreign-sounding name, Mendoza was an unlikely symbol of what many Britons considered to be their very own "national" sport. Whereas their adversaries across the Channel reputedly settled private quarrels by dueling with swords or pistols--leaving widows and orphans in their wake--the British (according to supporters of boxing) tended to settle their disputes with their fists.

Mendoza the Jew provides an exciting and lively alternative to conventional lessons on nationalism. Rather than studying learned treatises and political speeches, students can read a graphic history about an eighteenth-century British boxer that demonstrates how ideas and emotions regarding the "nation" permeated the practices of everyday life. Mendoza's story reveals the ambivalent attitudes of British society toward its minorities, who were allowed (sometimes grudgingly) to participate in national life by braving pain and injury in athletic contests, but whose social mobility was limited and precarious.

Ronald Schechter is Associate Professor of History at the College of William and Mary. His book Obstinate Hebrews: Representations of Jews in France, 1715-1815 (2003) won awards from the American Historical Association and the Society for French Historical Studies. Schechter is also the editor of The French Revolution: The Essential Readings (2001) and the translator/editor of Nathan the Wise by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing with Related Documents (2004).

Liz Clarke is a professional artist and illustrator based in Cape Town, South Africa.

Part I: The graphic history

Chapter 1: The Making of a Boxer
Chapter 2: Boxing Lessons
Chapter 3: Odiham
Chapter 4: Stilton
Chapter 5: Doncaster
Chapter 6: "Poor Dan Mendoza"
Chapter 7: So what?
Part II: Primary sources

Part III: Historical context

Part IV: The making of Mendoza the Jew

Part V: Now it's your turn

Suggestions for Further Reading
Glossary