| Contents |
Preface : Miami, 1964 -- Cassius Marcellus Clay -- The loudest child -- The bicycle -- "Every day was heaven" -- The prophet -- "I'm just young and don't give a damn" -- America's hero -- Dreamer -- "Twentieth-century exuberance" -- "It's show business" -- Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee -- The ugly bear -- "So what's wrong with the Muslims?" -- Becoming Muhammad Ali -- Choice -- "Girl, will you marry me?" -- Assassination -- Phantom punch -- True love -- A holy war -- No quarrel -- "What's my name?" -- "Against the furies" -- Exile -- Faith -- Martyr -- Song and dance and prayer -- The greatest book of all time -- Stand by me -- Comeback -- "The world is watching you" -- A different fighter -- The five-million-dollar match -- Ali v. Frazier -- Freedom -- Trickeration -- A fight to the finish -- Heart of darkness -- Fighter's heaven -- "Ali boma ye!" -- Rumble in the jungle -- Moving on up -- Impulses -- Ali-Frazier III -- Getting old -- "They may not let me quit" -- "Do you remember Muhammad Ali?" -- Staggered -- Crown Prince -- Old -- Humpty Dumpty -- The last hurrah -- Too many punches -- "He's human, like us" -- A torch -- The long, black Cadillac -- Postscript. |
| Abstract |
"The definitive biography of an American icon, from a New York Times best-selling author with unique access to Ali's inner circle. He was the wittiest, the prettiest, the strongest, the bravest, and, of course, the greatest (as he told us himself). Muhammad Ali was one of the twentieth century's most fantastic figures and arguably the most famous man on the planet. But until now, he has never been the subject of a complete, unauthorized biography. Jonathan Eig, hailed by Ken Burns as one of America's master storytellers, radically reshapes our understanding of the complicated man who was Ali. Eig had access to all the key people in Ali's life, including his three surviving wives and his managers. He conducted more than 500 interviews and uncovered thousands of pages of previously unreleased FBI and Justice Department files, as well dozens of hours of newly discovered audiotaped interviews from the 1960s. Collectively, they tell Ali's story like never before--the story of a man who was flawed and uncertain and brave beyond belief. "I am America," he once declared. "I am the part you won't recognize. But get used to me--black, confident, cocky; my name, not yours; my religion, not yours; my goals, my own. Get used to me." He was born Cassius Clay in racially segregated Louisville, Kentucky, the son of a sign painter and a housekeeper. He went on to become a heavyweight boxer with a dazzling mix of power and speed, a warrior for racial pride, a comedian, a preacher, a poet, a draft resister, an actor, and a lover. Millions hated him when he changed his religion, changed his name, and refused to fight in the Vietnam War. He fought his way back, winning hearts, but at great cost. Like so many boxers, he stayed too long. Jonathan Eig's Ali reveals Ali in the complexity he deserves, shedding important new light on his politics, religion, personal life, and neurological condition. Ali is a story about America, about race, about a brutal sport, and about a courageous man who shook up the world." -- Publisher's description |
