Muhammad Ali: Ringside

by John Miller (Editor), Aaron Kenedi (Editor), James Earl Jones

Perhaps no other figure in recent history has had the wide-reaching impact of the man many know simply as The Greatest. For four decades Muhammad Ali has been a symbol of honesty and strength in sports, politics, religion, and civil rights. Throughout his remarkable career, Ali was one who truly had to be seen to be believed. But while Ali's achievements have frequently been chronicled in prose, never before has his extraordinary career been documented in images. Muhammad Ringside is dedicated to one of the most popular athlete-entertainers of all time. Included are vintage posters and programs, fight tickets, handwritten letters, classic photographs, speeches, scorecards, contracts, and rare autographs, all from Ali's personal memorabilia. Divided chronologically into four sections, one for each decade from the 1960s to the 1990s, the book includes written narrative recountings of Ali's accomplishments by noted writers and entertaining quotes from Ali's contemporaries.

Genres: Sports

128 pages, Hardcover

First published September 15, 1999

About the author

John Miller has edited a number of intriguing anthologies for Chronicle Books, including Lust and White Rabbit. He runs Big Fish Books, a packaging company in San Francisco.

Reviews

[Cwn_annwn_13 · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would consider this a coffeetable book more than anything. The boxing photography in this is great. The writing is a mixed bag. Its mainly overblown hero worship of Ali from various celebrities and liberal media establishment journalists/writers. The two things I found interesting was an excerpt from an interview with Ali shortly after the first Liston fight where he step by step, round by round goes through what he did and what was going through his head during his first encounter with Liston. Surprisingly (because I normally don't like Mailer) I also thought Norman Mailers descriptive round by round recount of the Ali-Foreman fight was good. Besides those two excerpts and the photography this books not worth your time.

[Bryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is standard worship of the Ali legend. Barnes n Noble has a half dozen discount books interchangeable with it. The articles and quotes come from other magazine stories or Ali books which I've already read. Still, some of the photography and fight posters are interesting artifacts. Since Ali is the most photographed person in history, new and interesting pictures of him keep surfacing.

I would recommend Thomas Hauser's oral biography, Howard Bingham's photography collection, and the Ali Reader.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not really consistent as a book: it contains four pieces by prominent writers, each one loosely corresponding to a decade from the 1960s to the 1990s. The fight posters and memorabilia are the most appealing part--beautiful!

[Carol Storm · Rating 5 out of 5]

The ultimate Ali scrapbook -- filled with colorful pictures and inspiring quotes.

[Vanessa Beavers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful tribute to a giant of a man

[J · Rating 4 out of 5]

Writing is 3.5 stars, photography 4.5.

[Andy Pham · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is contains a lot of good information about Muhammad Ali's life. This book includes the story of how he became such a successful boxer. This book contains every main fight that he needed to become successful. This also contains information on how he became so wise. Good book