Overview

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Winner of the PEN/ESPN Award for Literary Sports Writing Winner of The Times Sports Biography of the Year The definitive biography of an American icon, from a best-selling, Pulitzer Prize-winning author with unique access to Ali's inner circle. ""Finally Muhammad Ali has a biography as big, complex, and memorable as the man himself."" --T.J. Stiles, author of Custer's Trials and The First Tycoon Muhammad Ali 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. Jonathan Eig, hailed by Ken Burns as one of America's master storytellers, sheds important new light on Ali's politics, religion, personal life, and neurological condition through unprecedented access to all the key people in Ali's life, more than 500 interviews and thousands of pages of previously unreleased FBI and Justice Department files and audiotaped interviews from the 1960s. Ali: A Life is a story about America, about race, about a brutal sport, and about a courageous man who shook up the world. ""As Muhammad Ali's life was an epic of a life so Ali: A Life is an epic of a biography . . . for pages in succession its narrative reads like a novel--a suspenseful novel with a cast of vivid characters."" -- Joyce Carol Oates, New York Times Book Review

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9781328505699

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Reviews

A New York Times Bestseller and Notable Book of 2018 Winner of the 2018 PEN/ESPN Award for Literary Sports Writing Winner of The Times Sports Biography of the Year This richly researched, sympathetic yet unsparing portrait of a controversial figure for whom the personal and the political dramatically fused could not come at a more appropriate time in our beleaguered American history. As Muhammad Ali's life was an epic of a life so Ali: A Life is an epic of a biography...pages in succession its narrative reads like a novel -- a suspenseful novel with a cast of vivid characters. -Joyce Carol Oates, New York Times Book Review [A] relentless, image-altering biography. --Wall Street Journal The first comprehensive biography worthy of this titanic figure. --Washington Post Stunning . . . Eig's brilliant, exhaustive book is the biography the champ deserves. --NPR.org Eig's revelatory bio traces the late boxer's path from pariah to national treasure. --People Drawing on interviews with Muhammad Ali's friends, family, and colleagues--as well as recently discovered recordings from the 1960s and extensive FBI files--Eig tells the life story of the legendary boxer, political radical, and hero in all its complexity. --Entertainment Weekly Jonathan Eig's masterful new biography of the champ is both captivating and highly relevant to the current discussions on race in America . . . Eig's boxing descriptions are taut and lively . . . He presents boxing in all of its majesty and violence . . . Muhammad Ali was one of the most compelling figures in the 20th century, and Eig does ample justice to capturing his extraordinary and enduring legacy. --Seattle Times 'Ali' is a big, fat, entertaining and illuminating read . . . What makes Eig's book stand out is its broad scope, its detailed reportage and its lively, cinematic writing. --Minneapolis Star-Tribune Exhaustive and engaging. --Boston Globe Eig's book is a fine read on the great boxer's life, taking him on as he was and always seeking the truth that hits closest to bone. It covers the tumultuous middle, and then the oddly sanitized and bland second half of the American Century, an era in which Muhammad Ali was among the biggest and brightest players on the stage -- living a life that, far from signifying nothing, will in its outrageous grandeur and stunning humanity, stand the test of time. --Chicago Review of Books Eig never loses grasp of the basic humanity of his subject, allowing Ali the man to take center stage from Ali the legend. Locked on that purpose, Eig delivers a biography that reflects his subject well--complex but straightforward, human but legendary. --Chapter 16 Finally Muhammad Ali has a biography as big, complex, and memorable as the man himself--or as close as any book can come. From panoramic views of Ali's place in racial, political, and cultural conflicts, to gripping accounts of his fights, to vivid close-ups of his outsized personality and relationships based on new sources, Ali will fascinate you from beginning to end. --T. J. Stiles, author of Custer's Trials and The First Tycoon --No Source

This richly researched, sympathetic yet unsparing portrait of a controversial figure for whom the personal and the political dramatically fused could not come at a more appropriate time in our beleaguered American history. As Muhammad Ali's life was an epic of a life so Ali: A Life is an epic of a biography...pages in succession its narrative reads like a novel -- a suspenseful novel with a cast of vivid characters. -Joyce Carol Oates, NYT Book Review Finally Muhammad Ali has a biography as big, complex, and memorable as the man himself--or as close as any book can come. From panoramic views of Ali's place in racial, political, and cultural conflicts, to gripping accounts of his fights, to vivid close-ups of his outsized personality and relationships based on new sources, Ali will fascinate you from beginning to end. --T. J. Stiles, author of Custer's Trials and The First Tycoon Some people want to grow up to be an astronaut. Or maybe even president. Or heavyweight champion of the world. I always wanted to be a storyteller. The hardest story to tell is one that's been told and told well before. In Ali, Jonathan Eig, a fearless reporter, as relentless on his turf as Muhammad Ali ever was within the ring, has taken on one of twentieth-century America's biggest, baddest, most important stories and told it bigger and badder than it's ever been told before. Ali: A Life floats like a butterfly and stings likes a bee. Stop the fight. It's over. Eig in a knockout. --Jane Leavy, author of Sandy Koufax and The Last Boy: Mickey Mantle and the End of America's Childhood Ali is a marvelous biography--deeply reported, illuminating, dripping with detail chapter after chapter--in every way worthy of one of the great figures of twentieth-century America. --David Maraniss, author of When Pride Still Mattered: A Life of Vince Lombardi Finally, after so many works focusing on this fight or that, the whole man, the whole life, is presented here. And what a revelation it is--to be able to see how this remarkable man was shaped by his world, and how that world was, in turn, profoundly influenced by this exceptional and complicated kid from Louisville. Bravo! --Ken Burns A warm, compelling portrait of a winsomely enduring man. Eig's richly impressive roster of interviews informs an authoritatively critical biography that is both punchy and sure-footed. --David J. Garrow, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Bearing the Cross and Rising Star Jonathan Eig's Ali is a tour de force! It is an independent, insightful and masterful assessment of 'The Greatest!' Eig's biography puts flesh and bone on Ali's fuller humanity. It is a must-read for sports fans, boxing fans, students of American history, culture and religion. --Dr. Randal Maurice Jelks, author of Benjamin Elijah Mays, Schoolmaster of the Movement A monumental study the scope of which has not been matched. An utterly absorbing and richly detailed account of the most charismatic and controversial athlete of the twentieth century. --Mike Silver, author of The Arc of Boxing [A] first-rate biography . . . Eig does a fine job of covering all the bases . . . An exemplary life of an exemplary man who, despite a few missteps, deserves to be remembered long into the future. --Kirkus Reviews, starred review This evenhanded account will likely be one of the most read . . . Eig has produced a thorough overview of a complex person . . . Sharp quotations and expert pacing make the 600-plus pages light on their feet. --Publishers Weekly Finally Muhammad Ali has a biography as big, complex, and memorable as the man himself--or as close as any book can come. From panoramic views of Ali's place in racial, political, and cultural conflicts, to gripping accounts of his fights, to vivid close-ups of his outsized personality and relationships based on new sources, Ali will fascinate you from beginning to end. --T. J. Stiles, author of Custer's Trials and The First Tycoon Some people want to grow up to be an astronaut. Or maybe even president. Or heavyweight champion of the world. I always wanted to be a storyteller. The hardest story to tell is one that's been told and told well before. In Ali, Jonathan Eig, a fearless reporter, as relentless on his turf as Muhammad Ali ever was within the ring, has taken on one of twentieth-century America's biggest, baddest, most important stories and told it bigger and badder than it's ever been told before. Ali: A Life floats like a butterfly and stings likes a bee. Stop the fight. It's over. Eig in a knockout. --Jane Leavy, author of Sandy Koufax and The Last Boy: Mickey Mantle and the End of America's Childhood Ali is a marvelous biography--deeply reported, illuminating, dripping with detail chapter after chapter--in every way worthy of one of the great figures of twentieth-century America. --David Maraniss, author of When Pride Still Mattered: A Life of Vince Lombardi Finally, after so many works focusing on this fight or that, the whole man, the whole life, is presented here. And what a revelation it is--to be able to see how this remarkable man was shaped by his world, and how that world was, in turn, profoundly influenced by this exceptional and complicated kid from Louisville. Bravo! --Ken Burns A warm, compelling portrait of a winsomely enduring man. Eig's richly impressive roster of interviews informs an authoritatively critical biography that is both punchy and sure-footed. --David J. Garrow, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Bearing the Cross and Rising Star Jonathan Eig's Ali is a tour de force! It is an independent, insightful and masterful assessment of 'The Greatest!' Eig's biography puts flesh and bone on Ali's fuller humanity. It is a must-read for sports fans, boxing fans, students of American history, culture and religion. --Dr. Randal Maurice Jelks, author of Benjamin Elijah Mays, Schoolmaster of the Movement A monumental study the scope of which has not been matched. An utterly absorbing and richly detailed account of the most charismatic and controversial athlete of the twentieth century. --Mike Silver, author of The Arc of Boxing [A] first-rate biography . . . Eig does a fine job of covering all the bases . . . An exemplary life of an exemplary man who, despite a few missteps, deserves to be remembered long into the future. --Kirkus Reviews, starred review This evenhanded account will likely be one of the most read . . . Eig has produced a thorough overview of a complex person . . . Sharp quotations and expert pacing make the 600-plus pages light on their feet. --Publishers Weekly

A New York Times Bestseller and Notable Book of 2018 Winner of the 2018 PEN/ESPN Award for Literary Sports Writing Winner of The Times Sports Biography of the Year This richly researched, sympathetic yet unsparing portrait of a controversial figure for whom the personal and the political dramatically fused could not come at a more appropriate time in our beleaguered American history. As Muhammad Ali's life was an epic of a life so Ali: A Life is an epic of a biography...pages in succession its narrative reads like a novel -- a suspenseful novel with a cast of vivid characters. -Joyce Carol Oates, New York Times Book Review [A] relentless, image-altering biography. --Wall Street Journal The first comprehensive biography worthy of this titanic figure. --Washington Post Stunning . . . Eig's brilliant, exhaustive book is the biography the champ deserves. --NPR.org Eig's revelatory bio traces the late boxer's path from pariah to national treasure. --People Drawing on interviews with Muhammad Ali's friends, family, and colleagues--as well as recently discovered recordings from the 1960s and extensive FBI files--Eig tells the life story of the legendary boxer, political radical, and hero in all its complexity. --Entertainment Weekly Jonathan Eig's masterful new biography of the champ is both captivating and highly relevant to the current discussions on race in America . . . Eig's boxing descriptions are taut and lively . . . He presents boxing in all of its majesty and violence . . . Muhammad Ali was one of the most compelling figures in the 20th century, and Eig does ample justice to capturing his extraordinary and enduring legacy. --Seattle Times 'Ali' is a big, fat, entertaining and illuminating read . . . What makes Eig's book stand out is its broad scope, its detailed reportage and its lively, cinematic writing. --Minneapolis Star-Tribune Exhaustive and engaging. --Boston Globe Eig's book is a fine read on the great boxer's life, taking him on as he was and always seeking the truth that hits closest to bone. It covers the tumultuous middle, and then the oddly sanitized and bland second half of the American Century, an era in which Muhammad Ali was among the biggest and brightest players on the stage -- living a life that, far from signifying nothing, will in its outrageous grandeur and stunning humanity, stand the test of time. --Chicago Review of Books Eig never loses grasp of the basic humanity of his subject, allowing Ali the man to take center stage from Ali the legend. Locked on that purpose, Eig delivers a biography that reflects his subject well--complex but straightforward, human but legendary. --Chapter 16 Finally Muhammad Ali has a biography as big, complex, and memorable as the man himself--or as close as any book can come. From panoramic views of Ali's place in racial, political, and cultural conflicts, to gripping accounts of his fights, to vivid close-ups of his outsized personality and relationships based on new sources, Ali will fascinate you from beginning to end. --T. J. Stiles, author of Custer's Trials and The First Tycoon Some people want to grow up to be an astronaut. Or maybe even president. Or heavyweight champion of the world. I always wanted to be a storyteller. The hardest story to tell is one that's been told and told well before. In Ali, Jonathan Eig, a fearless reporter, as relentless on his turf as Muhammad Ali ever was within the ring, has taken on one of twentieth-century America's biggest, baddest, most important stories and told it bigger and badder than it's ever been told before. Ali: A Life floats like a butterfly and stings likes a bee. Stop the fight. It's over. Eig in a knockout. --Jane Leavy, author of Sandy Koufax and The Last Boy: Mickey Mantle and the End of America's Childhood Ali is a marvelous biography--deeply reported, illuminating, dripping with detail chapter after chapter--in every way worthy of one of the great figures of twentieth-century America. --David Maraniss, author of When Pride Still Mattered: A Life of Vince Lombardi Finally, after so many works focusing on this fight or that, the whole man, the whole life, is presented here. And what a revelation it is--to be able to see how this remarkable man was shaped by his world, and how that world was, in turn, profoundly influenced by this exceptional and complicated kid from Louisville. Bravo! --Ken Burns

Author Information

JONATHAN EIG is the critically acclaimed, best-selling author of numerous books, including Luckiest Man and Opening Day. He is a contributing writer to the Wall Street Journal and is currently working with Ken Burns to develop a four-part documentary on Ali.

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