Product Overview
Shortlisted for the 1999 William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award and voted one of twenty-five Books to Remember 2000 by the New York Public Library
Is there a more characteristic figure of the sixties than Muhammad Aliplayful and political, popular and non-conformist, defiant and triumphant? In a unique new book, Mike Marqusee puts the great boxer back in his true historical context to explore a crucial moment at the cross-roads of popular culture and mass resistance. He traces Alis interaction with the evolving black liberation and anti-war movements, including his brief but fascinating liaison with Malcolm X, as well as his encounters with Martin Luther King. Marqusees elegant and forceful narrative explores the origins and impact of Alis dramatic public stands on race and the draft, and reinterprets the Rumble in the Jungle, shedding new light on its triumph and tragedy. Above all, he imbues Alis story with a long-neglected international dimension, revealing why he was embraced with such warmth by diverse peoples across the globe.
This timely antidote to the apolitical celebration of Ali as a great American revisits the man and the period with a fresh eye, casting new light on both his courage and his confusions. And, in a new afterword for this second edition, Marqusee reflects on Alis legacy in the era of the war on terror.
