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ttodd86's review against another edition
5.0
Very good and well done. My only complaint, and it is minor, is that maybe there could have been a little more about his interactions with Howard Cosell.
deanopeez's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
funny
informative
inspiring
sad
medium-paced
5.0
bsuquet's review against another edition
4.0
Great read. Does a fantastic job of painting the full picture of an icon, warts and all. My only wish would be if they discussed the brain trauma that led to Parkinson’s disease in more detail. Specifically his final years.
ezreaadingo's review against another edition
5.0
I absolutely loved this book. This was a very thorough, in-depth, honest, and fair biography of one of the greatest figures of the 20th century. This book showed all sides of Ali, all the good, all the bad and all the ugly of his life. His life was tragic, amazing, inspiring, difficult, happy, and amazing...all rolled up into one. This is and unflinching look and an absolutely must read about the Greatest of All Tiiiimmmmessssssss!!!!!!!!!!
johndiconsiglio's review against another edition
3.0
Billed as the first bio to go the distance on Ali’s life, Eig’s heavyweight effort takes readers ringside for the Greatest’s greatest hits—from Sonny Liston to Smokin Joe. It’s blow-by-blow for all the familiar rounds: Olympics, Nation of Islam, Vietnam, Zaire, the Thrilla in Manila. If the veteran journalist doesn’t deliver knockout analysis, he takes some healthy cuts at explaining Ali’s enduring legacy & placing him within the context of his time—all at a welcome floats-like-a-butterfly pace. He’s also not afraid to call out below-the-belt jabs at Frazier & Malcolm X. The winner & still champion.
scottjbaxter's review against another edition
I finished Jonathan Eig's excellent book Ali: A life a few days ago. Muhammad Ali AKA Cassius Clay was certainly a remarkable figure who provides insight into multiple aspects of American history. Ali touches on sports (boxing and the olympics -- Ali lighting the Olympic torch in 1996 was a moment), religion (the African-American religious experience, and Malcolm X), politics (Vietnam), celebrity culture, and the excesses of the late 1960s and 1970s (promiscuous sex).
If you want a succinct and enjoyable look at the life of Ali, let me suggest the obituary video that the New York Times produced, What's My Name.
While Ali was a hero to so many people because, as Spike Lee once said, "he was handsome, he was articulate, and he was whopping ass. No one fused sports and politics like Ali did." Ali was stripped of his heavyweight boxing title in 1967 when he refused to be inducted into the army for the war in Vietnam. This resulted in a tremendous loss of income and a career change for Ali, who, as a high school dropout, had very few job skills outside of boxing. The question could be asked, why were other superstars of sports, Michael Jordan comes to mind, so much more interested in protecting their careers and sponsorship deals than standing up for important social and political ideas.
Muhammad Ali, in addition to his incredible talent and achievement as a boxer, as a self-promoter, and as a symbol for Black people, was a flawed person. His two biggest flaws were his willingness to trust people and his gullibility and his sex life.
Muhammad Ali's first flaw was that he was too willing to trust people.
Ali was a very social person and was always surrounded by people that he either paid or gave money to. Some people, like Angelo Dundee, worked for him offering professional services. Others, like Bundini Brown, were there for something like moral support and encouragement. (Brown created the lines "Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee" and "Rumble, young man, rumble.") Some, especially Don King and Herbert Muhammad, simply used him as a cash cow. At one point, Ali hired a lawyer to look into his finances who saw that Don King still owed him $1.2 million. The lawyer called king and said he would sue. So, King had a suitcase delivered to Ali via a contact at the Nation of Islam and Ali instructed his lawyer not to pursue the matter any further.
Muhammad Ali's second flaw was that he was a sex addict.
Ali was married four times. He had nine children (seven daughters and two sons) -- there are, more than likely, other children that he did not acknowledge. He also had many girlfriends, and also hired prostitutes. In fact, Ali was with a prostitute hours before one of his big fights in New York City. There were times when he was having sex with another woman while his wife was in the other room.
Having described two of Ali's biggest flaws, let me end this review by saying that Ali was also a remarkable human being. He could be generous and loved to make people welcome. He was known for doing magic tricks and public appearances. And he often stayed for hours longer than necessary to sign autographs for fans. He inspired an entire generation of young people to believe that they could accomplish great things regardless of the color of their skin.