Author: Mike Marqusee
Publisher: Seagull Books
Year: 1999
Language: English
Pages: 310
ISBN/UPC (if available): 8170461731
Description
In this unique new book, the author 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.
Is there a more characteristic figure of the sixties than Muhammad Ali - playful and political, popular and non-conformist, defiant and triumphant? The author traces Ali's 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.
Marqusee's elegant and forceful narrative explores the origins and impact of Ali's dramatic public stand on race and the draft, and reinterprets the 'Rumble in the jungle', shedding new light on its triumph and tragedy. Above all, he imbues Ali's story with a long-neglected international dimension, revealing whey 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 lights on both his courage and confusions.
Contents
Acknowledgements
Introduction: Ali in the Prison of the Present
The Baby Figure of the Giant Mass
A Change Is Gonna Come
Bringing It All Back Home
Beyond the Confines of America
At the Rendezvous of Victory
Conclusion: Crowns and Garlands
Note on Sources
Index