Product Description

Thirty years after he burst onto the scene as a gold medal light-heavyweight at the Rome Olympics, Muhammad Ali is still a magical figure. His accomplishments in the ring were the stuff of legend -- the two fights with Sonny Liston, when he proclaimed himself "The Greatest" and proved he was; the three epic wars against Joe Frazier; the stunning victory over George Foreman in Zaire; and the shocking loss and final win that made him the first man to win back the heavyweight crown twice, fourteen years after he had first claimed it.

Ali's life has been played out as much on the front pages as on the sports pages. With brilliant immediacy and unprecedented candor, bestselling author Thomas Hauser recreates this extraordinary man. In the words of more than 200 of Ali's family members, opponents, friends, world leaders, and others who have known him best, the real Muhammad Ali emerges: deeply religious, mercurial, generous, a showman in and out of the ring.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #54994 in Books
• Published on: 1992-06-15
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 544 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Hauser compiles opinions from a wide-ranging roster of interviewees to create a portrait of the controversial boxing champ that bristles with insights, jabs and tributes. Photos.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review
Los Angeles Sentinel This is by far the best book ever written about Muhammad Ali, and one of the best ever written about a celebrity-entertainment-controversial figure....It gets inside "the real Muhammad." -- Review

Review
The New York Times Book ReviewThe first definitive biography of...the boxer who transcended sports as no other athlete ever has.

Budd SchulbergChicago TribuneHow many Muhammad Ali's have we seen during his tempestuous ride through 30 years of roller-coaster American history? Ali rode that roller coaster with zest and pride and humor and class.

Publishers WeeklyA feast for fans, this composite portrait bristles with insights, jabs, and tributes.

The Sporting NewsCompelling...I doubt that we shall ever see a more comprehensive portrait of this extraordinary athlete.

Los Angeles SentinelThis is by far the best book ever written about Muhammad Ali, and one of the best ever written about a celebrity-entertainment-controversial figure....It gets inside "the real Muhammad."

The NationA new generation is about to rediscover this exemplar of the Zeitgeist of the 1960s....The awesome pressures mortals can't imagine...were somehow converted into motivation by Ali. And this comprehensive, poignant and knowing book is sure to be a catalyst of his coming renaissance....Ali was bigger than boxing, and so is this book.

New York PostMuhammad Ali: His Life and Times is a measuring stick for at least three decades of America -- who we were, how we changed and what we became.

New York Daily NewsExtensive and fascinating detail; first-rate....The triumph of the "witness" technique in biography may be judged complete.

The Boston GlobeA magnificent book [about] a life that needs to be understood whether you care a whit about boxing or not.

National Public RadioYou're liable to find Muhammad Ali in the sports section of your bookstore, and that's certainly one place it belongs. Ali was a massive presence in sports for decades. But this book should be in the biography section as well, because like all good biography, it teaches us something about what it means to try to make a meaningful life in this slippery world. And it should be in the history section, because Ali has been a force in contemporary events second to no American.

Customer Reviews

A "must read" for Ali fans
Muhammad Ali has always played a large part in my life. He showed me that being black did not make me inferior at a time when almost everything and everyone said the opposite. This book gave me a fresh perspective on his achievements and his beliefs, thanks to contributions from sources as diverse as Joe Frazier and Cheryl Tiegs. The stories are wide-ranging and informative. Some were laugh out loud funny (very embarrassing when you're on a train). Some were depressing (stories surrounding Ali's entourage and the Holmes fight almost made me cry). There are even some from people who don't like Ali or see him as someone worthy of praise. All of them gave me a deeper, more rounded insight into a man that I viewed with awe and reverence. I started the book seeing Ali as some kind of distant super hero and ended it seeing him as a warm, caring human being with the same flaws and insecurities as anyone else. Along the way I laughed a lot and learned even more. The book is funny, engaging, and inspirational...just like the man himself.

Good book about Ali's accomplishments, but . . .
For those who want to know about the real Ali, I recommend "The Tao Of Muhammad Ali" by Davis Miller, which offers far more about the person rather than dates and figures. I enjoyed "Muhammad Ali: His Life And Times", it had a lot of things in it I didn't know, but if you want to read just one great book about Ali, then make it "The Tao Of Muhammad Ali".

Inspiring champion; awe-inspiring human being
MUHAMMAD ALI: HIS LIFE AND TIMES, through accounts of noteworthy admirers and close-associates, chronicles the life and times of a living legend. Long-time pugilistic journalist and award-winining author Thomas Hauser has painstakingly compiled a wealth of information to support what seems to be his thesis: that no matter how amazing Muhammad Ali was in the ring, his worth as a boxing champion is far exceeded by his worth as a citizen of this world. In 500 pages of text, we are able to follow Ali in his growth from a brash, boisterous heavyweight contender to a highly devoted man of God who brings happiness wherever he tarries. For fight fans, all of the classic bouts from Liston I to Manilla are covered; anecdotes to be especially savored are those leading up to the first Liston fight, where Ali was arguably out of his mind in the extent to which he went in taunting his opponent, as well as the unadvised beating Ali suffered at the hands of Larry Holmes in the twilight of his career. Most interesting were the sections of the book that dealt with Ali's relationship with Malcolm X and the Nation of Islam at the beginning of his first reign as heavyweightchampion and his conscientiously objecting to fighting in Vietnam. It is obvious that Hauser is captivated by his subject and looks upon Ali with great reverence. At times this can lead to the feeling that the author went to great lengths selecting interviews which sanitize and exagerate the legacy of Ali. Still, so many different people can't be distorting the truth; it is undeniable that Ali has a heart of gold and it brought a smile to my face everytime I read about him performing magic tricks for children, or meeting with fans, no matter what, to show his appreciation for their humanity. It is tragic and anger-provoking that Ali was taken advantage of by so many people that he loved and provided for, but it is a blessing that his spirit exists in this bio for future generations to learn of.