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Muhammad Ali: A Memoir
Sir Michael Parkinson interviewed Muhammad Ali four times and in this memoir you are given a ringside seat for all of the interviews.
Muhammad Ali was God's Gift to the interviewer. Funny, articulate, outspoken with a fascinating life story, unparalleled talent and controversial views. These 4 interviews charted Ali's life, revealing significant phases at different times, charting the rise and fall of this kaleidoscope of a man.
In Muhammad Ali: A Memoir Sir Michael Parkinson will bring his award-winning journalistic talents to bear on this extraordinary man. The book will mix personal recollections of the times they met with selected transcripts of the famous and, in the case of the 1974 meeting, infamous interviews all brought together and contextualised by a sober and honest assessment of the life and times of a figure that, it is certain, we will never see the like of again.
Muhammad Ali: A Memoir is a fresh, revealing and personal account of the life of the most important and enduring cultural figures of our age.
Muhammad Ali was God's Gift to the interviewer. Funny, articulate, outspoken with a fascinating life story, unparalleled talent and controversial views. These 4 interviews charted Ali's life, revealing significant phases at different times, charting the rise and fall of this kaleidoscope of a man.
In Muhammad Ali: A Memoir Sir Michael Parkinson will bring his award-winning journalistic talents to bear on this extraordinary man. The book will mix personal recollections of the times they met with selected transcripts of the famous and, in the case of the 1974 meeting, infamous interviews all brought together and contextualised by a sober and honest assessment of the life and times of a figure that, it is certain, we will never see the like of again.
Muhammad Ali: A Memoir is a fresh, revealing and personal account of the life of the most important and enduring cultural figures of our age.
226 pages, Paperback
First published November 24, 2016
12 people are currently reading
115 people want to read
About the author
Michael Parkinson
85 books9 followersSir Michael Parkinson, CBE (born 28 March 1935) was an English broadcaster, journalist and author. He presented his chat show, Parkinson, from 1971 to 1982 and from 1998 to 2007. He has been described by The Guardian as "the great British talkshow host".
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
December 21, 2016
I enjoyed it, more in allowing a reminiscing of the Parkinson's interviews. While meant for the fan (skims the history), it will not add much for readers of Muhammad Ali's story. It unearths little of Parkinson's views of his experience, perhaps because he does not brood over the interviews anyway! So nothing surprising in there. Parkinson's voice is the same generous-spirited, enthusiastic and often dismayed man he presented as himself in the interviews.
January 1, 2022
Read in 2 sittings but far a part. Learnt a lot more about Ali than I thought I knew & good insight into Parkinson as an interviewer too. Worth the read.
Ali referenced as a ‘kaleidoscope of a man’. That he was.
Ali referenced as a ‘kaleidoscope of a man’. That he was.
March 24, 2020
An interesting and informative memoir of the chat show host's encounters with one of the greatest boxers of all time.
Although there is nothing groundbreaking or new here it still conveys a sense of warmth in the words just as Parkinson did in his interviews. There are some outside references that I feel would have been the work of Parky's son which just feel alien to the rest of the words.
What I enjoyed about it as a memoir is that it does allow itself to show Ali's flaws as well as his greatness. It isn't completely gushing and that is a pitfall that more memoirs need to avoid.
Quite readable for fans of either Parkinson or Ali. It does lack the depth of a full biography but it does allow you a glimpse into the past and those who lived it.
Although there is nothing groundbreaking or new here it still conveys a sense of warmth in the words just as Parkinson did in his interviews. There are some outside references that I feel would have been the work of Parky's son which just feel alien to the rest of the words.
What I enjoyed about it as a memoir is that it does allow itself to show Ali's flaws as well as his greatness. It isn't completely gushing and that is a pitfall that more memoirs need to avoid.
Quite readable for fans of either Parkinson or Ali. It does lack the depth of a full biography but it does allow you a glimpse into the past and those who lived it.
February 10, 2022
Not knowing much about Muhammad Ali, except he was maybe the greatest boxer of all times, this book showed me some extra details about his life, incarceration reasons and his conversion to Islam.
On the other hand, the author couldn't deep dive enough into Ali's personality, except the surface comments that are obvious to everyone. I enjoyed the interview transcripts as it show what an amazing and explosive personality Ali had and what a showman he became.
On the other hand, the author couldn't deep dive enough into Ali's personality, except the surface comments that are obvious to everyone. I enjoyed the interview transcripts as it show what an amazing and explosive personality Ali had and what a showman he became.
April 18, 2022
The actual transcripts of Parky’s interviews are a thin part of an already thin book. Much of the connective tissue is drawn from other books.
The howlers, however, are all the author’s, including one about Marvel comics sending Superman to team up with Ali.
The howlers, however, are all the author’s, including one about Marvel comics sending Superman to team up with Ali.
December 9, 2018
Michael Parkinson's series of BBC interviews with Muhammad Ali, in 1971, January (a New York studio-based co-production with ABC that Parky himself is less than complimentary about) and December'74 and, finally, 1981 are some of the most famous in British TV history.
Much of this short book, published after Ali's death, revolves around Parkinson's recollections of these interviews and edited transcripts of them. Interesting as that is, plenty of the actual footage is easily available on YouTube. Watching them is clearly the preferable option.
That said, the transcripts reveal some fascinating exchanges, and usually, they're the ones Parkinson dwells on. Tetchy as some of their onscreen verbal duels were, Parkinson finds much to admire about Ali but – as a proper journalist – he digs into the darkness as well.
Some of the things Ali said about race (particularly about women, intermarriage, 'white devils' and the 'wrong' kind of black men) in the early/mid-1970s is truly repellent. And not just by today's standards, either. As Elijah Muhammad's mouthpiece, Ali said a lot of vile things that would see him absolutely savaged by today's press even as they stood up for his right not to go and kill the Viet Cong.
Like any observer or admirer of Ali, Parkinson (who once did his George Plimpton impression and stepped into the ring to spar with Smokin' Joe) reserves much of his criticism for Ali's sadistic, years-long campaign of belittling and verbally humiliating Joe Frazier. Writing about the two men's bitter rivalry after their second fight, Parkinson suggests “Frazier frightened Ali as a fighter in a way that no one else had ever or would ever do. He was the one chink in his armour of invincibility, the itch he couldn't scratch, and that would anger and frustrate a man as proud and vainglorious as Ali.” It's a convincing argument and just one example of Parkinson's insightful thoughts about Ali's character and life.
Between the interview-related material, Parkinson skips through an Ali biography that's decent enough and leans heavily on the best book ever written about the man – Thomas Hauser's 'Muhammad Ali: His Life and Times'. Sadly, for a book with much to admire, Parkinson (clearly no fan of boxing) undermines his credibility by dropping some staggeringly ill-researched, foolish comments about the sport's history, and Ali's place in it.
For starters, while the Mob have always had their claws in the boxing business somewhere, Parkinson's eagerly swallowed the Hollywood line that the Mafia controlled EVERYTHING about boxing. It's a wild over-exaggeration, made all the more laughable when he claims Ali was different and took the sport out of the hands of organised crime. Yes, Ali, who, late in his career was promoted by, erm, that fine, upstanding citizen, Don King.
By the way, see Jack Newfield's brilliant character assassination 'the Life and Crimes of Don King' for more on just what a repellent human being the happy, smiling fella with the big hair really was.
In one particularly clumsy passage Parkinson sets Ali aside from Sonny Liston or Floyd Patterson whose “dysfunctional, desperately poor upbringings could easily lead to a life of crime or substance abuse, which would then lead neatly in to the arms of the Mob.” While Parkinson is right in Liston's case, he's flat-out wrong in implying Patterson was in any way comparable. Yes, Patterson had a poor, crime-ridden youth, but he ended up being saved by Cus D' Amato (who would – for a while anyway – do the same for Mike Tyson three decades later) and won a gold medal at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics. Aside from having shared a ring twice (Liston hammered him both times) they had little in common.
Bizarrely, Parkinson (claiming David Remnick's Ali biography 'King of the World' as a source) notes that boxing had its origins in plantation owners forcing their slaves to fight “wearing iron collars... [often] to the point of death.” No. Just no, as anyone who knows what the ancient Greeks got up to in their Olympics will tell you.
But, worst of all, Parkinson claims that Ali “took this brutal spectacle out of smoke-filled, backstreet halls...”
WHAT?
Tell that to Jack Dempsey and Gene Tunney who, in 1926 and 1927 pulled in crowds of roughly 105,000 and 120,000. Or Joe Louis and Max Schmeling, whose 1936 and 1938 fights were every bit (and more) significant as Ali's wars with Frazier and Foreman.
Parkinson's ignorance of the real wider context, and sloppy research aside, his personal experiences with Ali, or at least the Ali who appeared on television, make this an enjoyable, often compelling personal account of a great, difficult and complex man.
Much of this short book, published after Ali's death, revolves around Parkinson's recollections of these interviews and edited transcripts of them. Interesting as that is, plenty of the actual footage is easily available on YouTube. Watching them is clearly the preferable option.
That said, the transcripts reveal some fascinating exchanges, and usually, they're the ones Parkinson dwells on. Tetchy as some of their onscreen verbal duels were, Parkinson finds much to admire about Ali but – as a proper journalist – he digs into the darkness as well.
Some of the things Ali said about race (particularly about women, intermarriage, 'white devils' and the 'wrong' kind of black men) in the early/mid-1970s is truly repellent. And not just by today's standards, either. As Elijah Muhammad's mouthpiece, Ali said a lot of vile things that would see him absolutely savaged by today's press even as they stood up for his right not to go and kill the Viet Cong.
Like any observer or admirer of Ali, Parkinson (who once did his George Plimpton impression and stepped into the ring to spar with Smokin' Joe) reserves much of his criticism for Ali's sadistic, years-long campaign of belittling and verbally humiliating Joe Frazier. Writing about the two men's bitter rivalry after their second fight, Parkinson suggests “Frazier frightened Ali as a fighter in a way that no one else had ever or would ever do. He was the one chink in his armour of invincibility, the itch he couldn't scratch, and that would anger and frustrate a man as proud and vainglorious as Ali.” It's a convincing argument and just one example of Parkinson's insightful thoughts about Ali's character and life.
Between the interview-related material, Parkinson skips through an Ali biography that's decent enough and leans heavily on the best book ever written about the man – Thomas Hauser's 'Muhammad Ali: His Life and Times'. Sadly, for a book with much to admire, Parkinson (clearly no fan of boxing) undermines his credibility by dropping some staggeringly ill-researched, foolish comments about the sport's history, and Ali's place in it.
For starters, while the Mob have always had their claws in the boxing business somewhere, Parkinson's eagerly swallowed the Hollywood line that the Mafia controlled EVERYTHING about boxing. It's a wild over-exaggeration, made all the more laughable when he claims Ali was different and took the sport out of the hands of organised crime. Yes, Ali, who, late in his career was promoted by, erm, that fine, upstanding citizen, Don King.
By the way, see Jack Newfield's brilliant character assassination 'the Life and Crimes of Don King' for more on just what a repellent human being the happy, smiling fella with the big hair really was.
In one particularly clumsy passage Parkinson sets Ali aside from Sonny Liston or Floyd Patterson whose “dysfunctional, desperately poor upbringings could easily lead to a life of crime or substance abuse, which would then lead neatly in to the arms of the Mob.” While Parkinson is right in Liston's case, he's flat-out wrong in implying Patterson was in any way comparable. Yes, Patterson had a poor, crime-ridden youth, but he ended up being saved by Cus D' Amato (who would – for a while anyway – do the same for Mike Tyson three decades later) and won a gold medal at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics. Aside from having shared a ring twice (Liston hammered him both times) they had little in common.
Bizarrely, Parkinson (claiming David Remnick's Ali biography 'King of the World' as a source) notes that boxing had its origins in plantation owners forcing their slaves to fight “wearing iron collars... [often] to the point of death.” No. Just no, as anyone who knows what the ancient Greeks got up to in their Olympics will tell you.
But, worst of all, Parkinson claims that Ali “took this brutal spectacle out of smoke-filled, backstreet halls...”
WHAT?
Tell that to Jack Dempsey and Gene Tunney who, in 1926 and 1927 pulled in crowds of roughly 105,000 and 120,000. Or Joe Louis and Max Schmeling, whose 1936 and 1938 fights were every bit (and more) significant as Ali's wars with Frazier and Foreman.
Parkinson's ignorance of the real wider context, and sloppy research aside, his personal experiences with Ali, or at least the Ali who appeared on television, make this an enjoyable, often compelling personal account of a great, difficult and complex man.
May 8, 2019
Who doesn't know Muhammad Ali a legendary boxer, Champion of the world, to whom everyone from Lennox Lewis, Manny Pacquiao and Mike Tyson a champion at the age of 23. Michael Parkinson AKA Parky who has interviewed so may famous people from actors and sports personalities
This book looks at the interviews that Michael Parkinson also known as Parky and the four interviews that he has taken on Muhammad Ali. The book shows the script between Parky and Ali. An easy book to read and find out about Ali's life from being born as Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr in a poorest family to meeting Elijah Muhammad and Malcolm X to converting to Islam and boxing at the age of twelve.
I recommend reading this book as it shows Parky's account of meeting the champion and forming a friendship till Ali's Death.
This book looks at the interviews that Michael Parkinson also known as Parky and the four interviews that he has taken on Muhammad Ali. The book shows the script between Parky and Ali. An easy book to read and find out about Ali's life from being born as Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr in a poorest family to meeting Elijah Muhammad and Malcolm X to converting to Islam and boxing at the age of twelve.
I recommend reading this book as it shows Parky's account of meeting the champion and forming a friendship till Ali's Death.
January 31, 2018
Very interesting read, learnt a lot about Muhammad Ali. Great fighter with some far out views that I didn't know about! Michael Parkinson is a great story teller. I think I may read his autobiography at some point this year.
October 4, 2018
Ali’s a bit of a hero of mine. I’ve read many of the biographies. I’d recommend this one as a starter - gives a decent insight into what he was like without the depth you get in the Remnick, Hauser and Hoffer books.
March 4, 2019
A good book on GOAT
I have read Remnick's book and others, I have read numerous articles on the Greatest. This book is probably one of the most lucid and free flowing of them all. It is a quick read, took me a few hours to finish, and tells you a lot about the Legend. Recommended.
I have read Remnick's book and others, I have read numerous articles on the Greatest. This book is probably one of the most lucid and free flowing of them all. It is a quick read, took me a few hours to finish, and tells you a lot about the Legend. Recommended.
December 23, 2016
Read it in a day. Nothing new but nice easy summing up of great man by great journalist
February 19, 2017
A decent enough read. Nothing new, deep or startling but a light and easy read post-Christmas.
June 20, 2017
Enjoyed the book, because I very much like the subject, though there was nothing new in it that I hadn't read about before.
Not a long book either.
Not a long book either.
Read
September 12, 2017That good I had to read it in one day. Off to binge Muhammad Ali's interviews, he really was intelligent and funny.
AND HE WAS A POET
AND HE WAS A POET
August 22, 2019
As a huge fan of Muhammad Ali, I was looking forward to reading this book and gaining a new insight to the life of a man I know a lot about.
In the first chapter, Parkinson does this and provides plenty of detail about the downside of Ali's religious and political leanings. As the book goes on, these are left to the wayside a little, instead talking more about how Ali taunted opponents and owned the spotlight everywhere he went.
One of the biggest issues with the book is how Ali's interviews will never translate to paper well; it will always miss his Southern drawl and rapid fire responses. More enjoyable, I believe, is watching his interviews on YouTube, giving a much more rounded view of The Greatest.
This was an entertaining read and fans of Parkinson or Ali would enjoy, I just believe there are better texts about Ali out there.
In the first chapter, Parkinson does this and provides plenty of detail about the downside of Ali's religious and political leanings. As the book goes on, these are left to the wayside a little, instead talking more about how Ali taunted opponents and owned the spotlight everywhere he went.
One of the biggest issues with the book is how Ali's interviews will never translate to paper well; it will always miss his Southern drawl and rapid fire responses. More enjoyable, I believe, is watching his interviews on YouTube, giving a much more rounded view of The Greatest.
This was an entertaining read and fans of Parkinson or Ali would enjoy, I just believe there are better texts about Ali out there.
June 20, 2019
A brief, more personal account on the champ's life from a professional friend. Michael Parkinson hosted Muhammad Ali for what may have been his most memorable and iconic interviews. It's enjoyable for fans to see how his understanding of Ali evolved over the years of the heavyweight champ's career. This is by no means an objective detailed biography of the champ's extraordinary life. It is, however, a refreshing and compassionate memoir of the Ali's finer moments, further exploring some unknown details of his personal life that present added insight into what made the People's Champ, the People's Champ.
May 9, 2023
My husband who had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease for 2 years at the age of 63 had all his symptoms reversed with Ayurveda medicine from natural herbs centre . com after undergoing their Parkinson’s natural protocol. God Bless all Parkinson’s Caregivers. Stay Strong, take small moments throughout the day to thank yourself, to love your self, and pray to whatever faith, star, spiritual force you believe in and ask for strength. I can personally vouch for these remedy but you would probably need to decide what works best for you.
May 14, 2024
+ Interesting reading Parky’s views on Ali
+ Ali was such a captivating global star, it’s great gave a deep dive on certain aspects of his career
+ Enjoyed the structure of the book, covering his career in between interviews
- Some of the depth on his career between interviews wasn’t needed, it felt like a boxing biography, which I have read before
- would have liked greater depth on Ali behind the scenes, preparing for interviews with him, a deeper dive into how the broadcaster felt about him sharing his views, etc.
+ Ali was such a captivating global star, it’s great gave a deep dive on certain aspects of his career
+ Enjoyed the structure of the book, covering his career in between interviews
- Some of the depth on his career between interviews wasn’t needed, it felt like a boxing biography, which I have read before
- would have liked greater depth on Ali behind the scenes, preparing for interviews with him, a deeper dive into how the broadcaster felt about him sharing his views, etc.
April 21, 2023
A really quick read if you want to get a general idea of who Ali was, though i felt Parkinson was not fond of Ali as much as he was Frazier, you can still see he admired, and genuinely wanted to challenge Ali (which is what Ali respected about him) and you can see how Parkinson grows to admire him later in life as he ages. He also gives a glimpse of the stages of development from the the beginning, middle to end.
March 21, 2021
An interesting perspective of a life that you think yhou know all about.
August 20, 2024
I have always admired Muhammad Ali for his exploits. This is an interesting book as it really just did look at his interviews by Michael Parkinson through the years. Michael Parkinson obviously had a great deal of admiration for this incredible fighter. It was funny, poignant and sad in many ways, but thoroughly enjoyed this read.
July 1, 2021
A short and informative memoir that flickers through the highlights (and lowlights) of Muhammad AIi through Parkinson’s personal interactions.
The transcripts of their interviews was incredibly interesting and revealing of the very separatist preachings Ali was a captain of within the Nation of Islam. The book also does a good job of balancing praise with critiquing his undesirable qualities of bigotry, self-adoration and infidelity (though perhaps I wanted more criticism).
It’s not a detailed biography by any means and I am skeptical of the factual truth behind some of the history of boxing that is mentioned throughout, however, for someone who knew little other than Ali’s catchphrases this book was certainly fun and illuminating on the background to one of the greatest - and prettiest - athletes of all time.
The transcripts of their interviews was incredibly interesting and revealing of the very separatist preachings Ali was a captain of within the Nation of Islam. The book also does a good job of balancing praise with critiquing his undesirable qualities of bigotry, self-adoration and infidelity (though perhaps I wanted more criticism).
It’s not a detailed biography by any means and I am skeptical of the factual truth behind some of the history of boxing that is mentioned throughout, however, for someone who knew little other than Ali’s catchphrases this book was certainly fun and illuminating on the background to one of the greatest - and prettiest - athletes of all time.
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews