The Muhammad Ali Reader

Trade Paperback

In celebration of Muhammad Ali's seventieth birthday, a newly repackaged edition of the acclaimed essay anthology that is an unparalleled full-bodied portrait of The Greatest-the poet, the champion, the legend, Muhammad Ali-with contributions from a roster of outstanding sportswriters and literary journalists

"The best book ever about Ali."-Salon

"These pieces poignantly and poetically capture the exquisite essence of the Greatest."- Playboy

From his status as Heavyweight Champion of the World to his ongoing battle with Parkinson's disease, Muhammad Ali is a celebrated icon known the world over for his athletic championships and his civic and humanitarian enterprises. Ali has been both underdog and champion, villain and prince, playboy and staunch Muslim, exalted hero and reviled conscientious objector- "the very spirit of the 20th Century," (Norman Mailer).

Organized by decade and illustrated with sixteen pages of classic photos, The Muhammad Ali Reader tells Ali's story in more than thirty essays from a stellar array of authors, athletes, and social commentators, including A. J. Liebling, Tom Wolfe, George Plimpton, Norman Mailer, Pete Hamill, Gary Wills, Hunter Thompson, and Joyce Carol Oates. Floyd Patterson defends Ali's right to criticize the Vietnam War; Malcolm X explains how Ali went from "entertainer" to "threat" with his declaration as "a man of race"; Ali shares some intimate and definitive thoughts in a Playboy magazine interview; and Gay Talese gives us a front seat on a 1996 ride to Cuba where Ali meets up with Fidel Castro.

Fascinating and diverse, this collective portrait reveals the many facets of the awe-inspiring, controversial, and beloved man and legend known to all as The Greatest: the one and only Muhammad Ali.