Muhammad Ali

 Ali: A Life by Jonathan Eig, 2017

Read in September 2018

This is the definitive biography of Muhammad Ali and arguably the most famous man on the planet and certainly one of the most significant and celebrated figures of the 20th century. He was also the greatest boxer of all time.

The book was a meticulously researched document of a complicated man and the author had access to previously unreleased FBI and government files along with interview tapes and access to all the important people in his life.

This all made for a fascinating and enjoyable book. Not only was Ali a world champion prize fighter but he was also an actor, a poet, a preacher, a draft resistor, a racial justice activists, and comedian. He had changed his religion, his name and refused to fight in the Viet Nam War. He also fought in the boxing ring too long and suffered severe neurological conditions.

He was also an icon of my childhood and early adulthood. I remember him fighting as Cassius Clay and his conversion to Islam along with his name change. It was always an event when he was getting ready for a fight. He seemed to be on the news all the time when he was refusing to be inducted into the Army and I vividly recall those days as it was also a time when the Viet Nam War was on my mind and every young man approaching draft age.

Later we were always excited when he was fighting for the championship and his boxing fights were world events like the Rumble in the Jungle in 1974 and the Thrilla from Manila in 1975. Those bouts were before all the cable pay to see fights and were TV events that everyone watched. It's hard to believe people today would watch fights the way we did back in the 1970's.

It was very sad to see him in his later days as he suffered with Parkinson's.