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Muhammad Ali : His Life and Times
One of the most recognisable, respected and inspirational men on earth, Muhammad Ali is the world's most famous boxing hero. Ali brought unprecedented speed and grace to the sport, and his charm and wit changed forever what the world expects of a champion athlete. In the words of over two hundred of Ali's family members, associates, opponents, friends and enemies, this comprehensive and honest portrait relates his legendary sporting accomplishments, as well as the high drama of life outside the boxing ring. From Olympic gold in Rome, to stunning victory over George Foreman in Zaire, every historic victory and defeat of Ali's career is covered. His controversial embrace of the Nation of Islam - with the renunciation of his 'slave name', Cassius Clay - and the historic refusal to be inducted into the US Army makes for compelling reading. Ali became America's first national conscientious objector, and with a willingness to stage his fights in Third World locales, he continued his advocacy for people in need which was honoured in 2000 when he became a United Nations Messenger of Peace. Charismatic, dedicated and a skilful self-publicist, Ali is the living embodiment of the American Dream. This is the biography to match his achievements.
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First published June 15, 1991
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About the author
Thomas Hauser
132 books36 followersThomas Hauser (b. 1946) is the author of forty-two books on subjects ranging from professional boxing to Beethoven. His first work, Missing, was made into an Academy Award–winning film. Muhammad Ali: His Life and Times earned numerous awards for its author, including the prestigious William Hill Sports Book of the Year. In 2004, the Boxing Writers Association of America honored Hauser with the Nat Fleischer Award for Career Excellence in Boxing Journalism.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 109 reviews
November 12, 2013
It's lack of faith which makes people afraid of meeting challenges.
I bought the book in an attempt to understand Ali's influence on the Nation of Islam movement in the US. His role as a Muslim hero among the Muslim population outside US was never in question. Most non-US Muslims are not aware that Nation of Islam has its own prophets which is blasphemous notion among traditional Muslims.
Cassius Clay's conversion to Muhammad Ali is covered in great detail. The style does become cumbersome sometime as the book reads like a long traps script of a documentary. There are even video links of interviews given in the book. Cassius gravitated towards Malcolm because of the strong message of self love, which is pretty common among most GOAT (greatest of all time) sports people. The other strong attraction was the confrontational narrative which must sound so familiar to Cassius as well. No wonder he wasn't attracted to the other black civil rights activist Martin Luther King as he must have sounded rather pliant in comparison. One definite advantage of the style used in the book is that I did feel like living in the 1960's America because the language was maintained.
What did the conversion do for Ali, as he must have gotten something out of this conversion himself? Well for me he became a lot more clearer and focussed as the core message of NOI (Nation of Islam) is about segregating from the white race by defining a new black profile, complete with their own religion, separate God, firm belief in self-love even down to the new name. For the new Muslim name broke their link with the original slave masters. In Ali all of NOI core fundamental values were realised as a living breathing ideal.
Trouble is that the same galvanizing message for self conscious blacks which worked so perfectly for Ali in the beginning, also started to cramp his progression as the message was only divisive in nature. In order to really progress he had to forgive his White tormentors which the NOI teaching squarely rejected outright. Mainstream Islam does not have the same issue on the racial level at least and therefore the Islamic brotherhood proudly accepts all colours. Unfortunately the same hospitality is not accorded to people belonging to other religions.
Ali Bomaye (Ali Kill him).
I love the way all the fights are build up and described by the author. Ali was the complete fighter, both verbally and strategically inside the ring. The author has not rushed or cut corners with the interviews, which seems out of deep respect to the legend. The legend who transcended his sport to become a symbol of love. Ali had a similar effect to what Tiger Woods had on the US stock market years after, only Ali’s lifted the spirits of people all over the world each time he fought.
By the end of the book, a hero emerges. A hero who doesn't have to be either the brightest or the strongest nor the most sophisticated kid on the block. The only thing required is the profound recognition of right and wrong, and a strong urge with limitless energy to become a constructive member of the society, and Muhammad Ali had that.
His whole life reflected a fight for justice and equality for impoverished blacks of America against the White rich class, and this image deeply resonated with all the unrepresented poor of the world. Ali became a symbol for the poor, an icon for their hopes and aspirations to rise and develop.
‘ I am still gonna find out who stole my bike when I was 12 years old in Louisville, and I’m still gonna whup him. That was a gud bike.’ Muhammad Ali.
I bought the book in an attempt to understand Ali's influence on the Nation of Islam movement in the US. His role as a Muslim hero among the Muslim population outside US was never in question. Most non-US Muslims are not aware that Nation of Islam has its own prophets which is blasphemous notion among traditional Muslims.
Cassius Clay's conversion to Muhammad Ali is covered in great detail. The style does become cumbersome sometime as the book reads like a long traps script of a documentary. There are even video links of interviews given in the book. Cassius gravitated towards Malcolm because of the strong message of self love, which is pretty common among most GOAT (greatest of all time) sports people. The other strong attraction was the confrontational narrative which must sound so familiar to Cassius as well. No wonder he wasn't attracted to the other black civil rights activist Martin Luther King as he must have sounded rather pliant in comparison. One definite advantage of the style used in the book is that I did feel like living in the 1960's America because the language was maintained.
What did the conversion do for Ali, as he must have gotten something out of this conversion himself? Well for me he became a lot more clearer and focussed as the core message of NOI (Nation of Islam) is about segregating from the white race by defining a new black profile, complete with their own religion, separate God, firm belief in self-love even down to the new name. For the new Muslim name broke their link with the original slave masters. In Ali all of NOI core fundamental values were realised as a living breathing ideal.
Trouble is that the same galvanizing message for self conscious blacks which worked so perfectly for Ali in the beginning, also started to cramp his progression as the message was only divisive in nature. In order to really progress he had to forgive his White tormentors which the NOI teaching squarely rejected outright. Mainstream Islam does not have the same issue on the racial level at least and therefore the Islamic brotherhood proudly accepts all colours. Unfortunately the same hospitality is not accorded to people belonging to other religions.
Ali Bomaye (Ali Kill him).
I love the way all the fights are build up and described by the author. Ali was the complete fighter, both verbally and strategically inside the ring. The author has not rushed or cut corners with the interviews, which seems out of deep respect to the legend. The legend who transcended his sport to become a symbol of love. Ali had a similar effect to what Tiger Woods had on the US stock market years after, only Ali’s lifted the spirits of people all over the world each time he fought.
By the end of the book, a hero emerges. A hero who doesn't have to be either the brightest or the strongest nor the most sophisticated kid on the block. The only thing required is the profound recognition of right and wrong, and a strong urge with limitless energy to become a constructive member of the society, and Muhammad Ali had that.
His whole life reflected a fight for justice and equality for impoverished blacks of America against the White rich class, and this image deeply resonated with all the unrepresented poor of the world. Ali became a symbol for the poor, an icon for their hopes and aspirations to rise and develop.
‘ I am still gonna find out who stole my bike when I was 12 years old in Louisville, and I’m still gonna whup him. That was a gud bike.’ Muhammad Ali.
February 16, 2015
My life is better for having read this book - and for me it doesn’t feel dramatic, and it doesn’t feel like an exaggeration when I read this sentence back and think about it. As I write this review I’m shaking with amazement. I was so engrossed by this biography of Muhammad Ali (akin to the way I felt when reading Nelson Mandela’s Long Walk To Freedom) that at times I forgot that with each page turn I was getting closer to reading about the demise of this incredible man’s health. Muhammed Ali is so famous that despite the fact that I was not yet born when he was a professional boxer, despite the fact that I wasn’t alive during the peak of his powers, or popularity, I’d grown up hearing about him. So long before I picked up this 1991 autobiography - wonderfully written by Thomas Hauser - when I was about eighteen years old (and finally getting around to reading it), I was aware of Ali’s suffering from Parkinson’s syndrome. In fact, despite the fact that I now understand that my primary school head teacher suffered from the condition, I had never heard of Parkinson’s syndrome until I had heard of the legendary boxer. Every so often, in between the constant moments of inspiration I experienced whilst reading, I’d be overcome with feelings of guilt at the thought of the punishment boxers inflict on each other for our (anybody who is a fan of or watches the sport) enjoyment. It got me thinking about the history of the black man's involvement in the the sport - the gladiatorial nature of letting those “n*$#@&s beat the hell out of each other.” The short gaps in between boxers’ bouts before and during Ali’s time is another thing that I’m struggling to remove from mind - in the biography’s five-hundred plus pages, I worked out that for a significant period of his career the average time in between fights for Ali was eight weeks. This is when a fight was scheduled for fifteen rounds (a fact alone that will make sure I never, ever again have the audacity to attempt to compare boxers from different eras). It makes me sick when I think about it, and despite it being impossible for me to want to see “n*$@&s” beat the hell out of each other (I love being black too much) I feel guilty because I am a fan of the sport. With each chapter of this biography my emotions would take another huge swing as certain aspects of Muhammad Ali’s story made me appreciate the amazing courage black people from his era - and before his time - displayed in using this brutal sport to supercede their circumstances, and survive during an unimaginable period of racial prejudice.
As a black man I thank Muhammad Ali. This is because no matter what we say, we still live in a world of racial prejudice. I am on television, therefore sometimes I get treated more favourably but I know for a fact that I would be treated in the same negative way some of my black friends and family members are if I wasn’t an actor. Going back to thanking Ali, I often wonder what personality I would possess if I wasn’t born in 1986. What type of person would I be if I was alive during Ali’s era? I’ll never know but it’s highly unlikely that I’d be as confident a person as I am now. Even today, with the negative stereotypes assigned to my race, and often being told (in round about ways) that I should appreciate my success even more because of the odds stacked against black people, I hold my head high and love myself. I’m quite sure it’s because of the constant negative reminders I get about my skin colour that I made a choice early on to reject every single notion of beauty that didn’t involve black people, and to reject the suggestion that my life was likely to go a certain way because I am black, that I forced myself to grow thick skin. I’ve never felt inferior to anybody because of my race, and I’ve always worked hard, so although it annoyed me whenever I was told that “black people have to work harder” (a statement that I’m not afraid to say I agree with) my attitude was always eventually “bring it on and you will all see what I can do.” From a very early age I decided that anybody who had a problem with my skin colour was the one that possessed the ignorance and lack of intelligence, and that I would not let it hold me back.
I must say, though, I really do not understand how Muhammad Ali was able to have one billion times my confidence in America of the 1960’s. Anybody who doesn’t want to acknowledge the fact that black men, women and children were told that they were pieces of s&*t, that they were humiliated, denied human rights, and subjected to other hellacious and unimaginable acts, is in denial. So this is what makes Ali even more inspirational to me. And the fact that the great man himself pops up in the biography to give quotes to the author adds to the authenticity of The Life and Times. And the fact that Hauser documents the good, the bad, and the ugly of his subject gives the book balance. It wouldn’t be possible for me to be inspired by somebody without flaws - and obviously no such person exists anyway.
Despite his other-worldly talent (three-time heavy champion of the world), bravery (refusing to be drafted into the US army during the Vietnam war because it was against his religious beliefs, knowing full well that he was facing jail time. He was eventually stripped of his world title and banned from the sport. He was only twenty-five years old at the time. Wow, wow, wow.), charisma (think of another athlete who has sold a show like he did, poetry and all - if you can name one, I bet they were inspired by Ali) and aura, Muhammad Ali was indeed human.
Thank goodness for Youtube because for me it served as a video to this biography. I found myself pulling up and watching almost every single clip I could find of the legend. I’m not sure how many hours I spent watching and listening to him, and this is one of those rare occasions that I don’t want that time back - for me it was time well-spent.
Thomas Hauser tells us Muhammad Ali’s story from the beginning. His humble upbringing in Louisville, Kentucky. His winning the Light Heavyweight Gold medal for the USA at the 1960 Olympics, when he was still called Cassius Clay, aged eighteen. Claiming the World Heavyweight crown from Sonny Liston in an incredible upset four years later. His entry into the Nation of Islam, the fear this caused the white establishment. His immortal “Rumble in the Jungle’ and ‘Thriller in Manilla’ battles with the great Joe Frazier and George Foreman. His multiple marriages, the way he was let down by his entourage, clingers on, and so-called friends - financial mismanagement, nobody looking out for his health. The great man’s stubbornness and refusal to know when it was time to retire, leading to his current state of health.
I almost didn’t review this book because I’m so overcome with emotion after the journey it took me on. I don’t think I could write enough to do it justice. Kudos to Thomas Hauser because it’s clear that he must have had to embark on an obsessive amount of research to put this biography together. And I doff my hat to Muhammad Ali for appearing to allow such access into in his life, and speaking so freely and honestly.
Here are some quotes of note that I feel illustrate why Ali is at the top of my tree of inspiration:
Bryant Gumble (television journalist and sportscaster best known for co-hosting NBC’s The Today Show for 15 years):
“It is very difficult to imagine being young and black in the sixties and not gravitating towards Ali. He was a guy who was supremely talented, enormously confident, and seemed to care less about what the establishment thought of him than about the image he saw when he looked in the mirror. And to people who were young and black and interested in tweaking the establishment, and in some cases shoving it up the tail of the establishment, you had to identify with somebody like that... for all our passions of those years, we didn’t have a lot of victories. More often than not we were on the losing side, so the fact that Ali won was gravy. He was a heroic figure, plain and simple.”
Muhammad Ali (this is after one of his victories - years earlier Ali had been criticised by the press for being “too brutal” in his bout against Ernie Terrell, and toying with his opponent throughout the fight instead of ending it early “like he could have at many stages.” Years later Ali was criticized for doing the opposite to Buster Matthis and “taking too much pity on his opponent):
“I don’t care about all them people yelling: kill him, kill him. I see the man in front of me, his eyes all glassy and his head rolling around. How do I know just how hard to hit him to knock him out and not hurt him? I don’t care about looking good to the fans, I got to look good to God. I got to sleep good at night. How am I going to sleep if I killed a man in front of his wife and son just to satisfy you writers?”
Howard Bingham (Ali’s longtime friend and photographer:
“Ali is aware of what colour people are, and at times he knows their religion. But it doesn’t affect how he feels about them. A couple of weeks after he beat Joe Frazier in Manilla, we were in New York for a reception at the United Nations. Ali was watching the news on the television, and a story came on about a Jewish community center that was closing because it didn’t have enough money. It was a place for old people. They were handicapped and a lot of them had been persecuted by the Nazis in Germany. The next morning [December 2, 1975], we went up to the building where the center was. Ali looked around, talked to some of the people, and gave them a cheque for a hundred thousand dollars. That’s the way he is. And when someone asked why he did it, all he said was he had a soft spot for old people.”
Julian Bond (a speaker on the college lecture circuit. During his exile from boxing, public speaking was the only way Muhammad Ali could make money:
“I look back at that time, and I feel very strongly that Ali is part of every American’s heritage. Every American should view him with pride and love.”
I myself am not American but I certainly view Muhammad Ali with pride and love. Who, or whatever created the universe, thank you for creating such an awe inspiring individual.
As a black man I thank Muhammad Ali. This is because no matter what we say, we still live in a world of racial prejudice. I am on television, therefore sometimes I get treated more favourably but I know for a fact that I would be treated in the same negative way some of my black friends and family members are if I wasn’t an actor. Going back to thanking Ali, I often wonder what personality I would possess if I wasn’t born in 1986. What type of person would I be if I was alive during Ali’s era? I’ll never know but it’s highly unlikely that I’d be as confident a person as I am now. Even today, with the negative stereotypes assigned to my race, and often being told (in round about ways) that I should appreciate my success even more because of the odds stacked against black people, I hold my head high and love myself. I’m quite sure it’s because of the constant negative reminders I get about my skin colour that I made a choice early on to reject every single notion of beauty that didn’t involve black people, and to reject the suggestion that my life was likely to go a certain way because I am black, that I forced myself to grow thick skin. I’ve never felt inferior to anybody because of my race, and I’ve always worked hard, so although it annoyed me whenever I was told that “black people have to work harder” (a statement that I’m not afraid to say I agree with) my attitude was always eventually “bring it on and you will all see what I can do.” From a very early age I decided that anybody who had a problem with my skin colour was the one that possessed the ignorance and lack of intelligence, and that I would not let it hold me back.
I must say, though, I really do not understand how Muhammad Ali was able to have one billion times my confidence in America of the 1960’s. Anybody who doesn’t want to acknowledge the fact that black men, women and children were told that they were pieces of s&*t, that they were humiliated, denied human rights, and subjected to other hellacious and unimaginable acts, is in denial. So this is what makes Ali even more inspirational to me. And the fact that the great man himself pops up in the biography to give quotes to the author adds to the authenticity of The Life and Times. And the fact that Hauser documents the good, the bad, and the ugly of his subject gives the book balance. It wouldn’t be possible for me to be inspired by somebody without flaws - and obviously no such person exists anyway.
Despite his other-worldly talent (three-time heavy champion of the world), bravery (refusing to be drafted into the US army during the Vietnam war because it was against his religious beliefs, knowing full well that he was facing jail time. He was eventually stripped of his world title and banned from the sport. He was only twenty-five years old at the time. Wow, wow, wow.), charisma (think of another athlete who has sold a show like he did, poetry and all - if you can name one, I bet they were inspired by Ali) and aura, Muhammad Ali was indeed human.
Thank goodness for Youtube because for me it served as a video to this biography. I found myself pulling up and watching almost every single clip I could find of the legend. I’m not sure how many hours I spent watching and listening to him, and this is one of those rare occasions that I don’t want that time back - for me it was time well-spent.
Thomas Hauser tells us Muhammad Ali’s story from the beginning. His humble upbringing in Louisville, Kentucky. His winning the Light Heavyweight Gold medal for the USA at the 1960 Olympics, when he was still called Cassius Clay, aged eighteen. Claiming the World Heavyweight crown from Sonny Liston in an incredible upset four years later. His entry into the Nation of Islam, the fear this caused the white establishment. His immortal “Rumble in the Jungle’ and ‘Thriller in Manilla’ battles with the great Joe Frazier and George Foreman. His multiple marriages, the way he was let down by his entourage, clingers on, and so-called friends - financial mismanagement, nobody looking out for his health. The great man’s stubbornness and refusal to know when it was time to retire, leading to his current state of health.
I almost didn’t review this book because I’m so overcome with emotion after the journey it took me on. I don’t think I could write enough to do it justice. Kudos to Thomas Hauser because it’s clear that he must have had to embark on an obsessive amount of research to put this biography together. And I doff my hat to Muhammad Ali for appearing to allow such access into in his life, and speaking so freely and honestly.
Here are some quotes of note that I feel illustrate why Ali is at the top of my tree of inspiration:
Bryant Gumble (television journalist and sportscaster best known for co-hosting NBC’s The Today Show for 15 years):
“It is very difficult to imagine being young and black in the sixties and not gravitating towards Ali. He was a guy who was supremely talented, enormously confident, and seemed to care less about what the establishment thought of him than about the image he saw when he looked in the mirror. And to people who were young and black and interested in tweaking the establishment, and in some cases shoving it up the tail of the establishment, you had to identify with somebody like that... for all our passions of those years, we didn’t have a lot of victories. More often than not we were on the losing side, so the fact that Ali won was gravy. He was a heroic figure, plain and simple.”
Muhammad Ali (this is after one of his victories - years earlier Ali had been criticised by the press for being “too brutal” in his bout against Ernie Terrell, and toying with his opponent throughout the fight instead of ending it early “like he could have at many stages.” Years later Ali was criticized for doing the opposite to Buster Matthis and “taking too much pity on his opponent):
“I don’t care about all them people yelling: kill him, kill him. I see the man in front of me, his eyes all glassy and his head rolling around. How do I know just how hard to hit him to knock him out and not hurt him? I don’t care about looking good to the fans, I got to look good to God. I got to sleep good at night. How am I going to sleep if I killed a man in front of his wife and son just to satisfy you writers?”
Howard Bingham (Ali’s longtime friend and photographer:
“Ali is aware of what colour people are, and at times he knows their religion. But it doesn’t affect how he feels about them. A couple of weeks after he beat Joe Frazier in Manilla, we were in New York for a reception at the United Nations. Ali was watching the news on the television, and a story came on about a Jewish community center that was closing because it didn’t have enough money. It was a place for old people. They were handicapped and a lot of them had been persecuted by the Nazis in Germany. The next morning [December 2, 1975], we went up to the building where the center was. Ali looked around, talked to some of the people, and gave them a cheque for a hundred thousand dollars. That’s the way he is. And when someone asked why he did it, all he said was he had a soft spot for old people.”
Julian Bond (a speaker on the college lecture circuit. During his exile from boxing, public speaking was the only way Muhammad Ali could make money:
“I look back at that time, and I feel very strongly that Ali is part of every American’s heritage. Every American should view him with pride and love.”
I myself am not American but I certainly view Muhammad Ali with pride and love. Who, or whatever created the universe, thank you for creating such an awe inspiring individual.
September 25, 2017
4.5 stars. This is an incredible biography. A lot of biographies and autobiographies I have read get mired in detail that just does not interest. Not once did this happen in this book. For me, anyway. It is probably because of the structure where the author uses interviews which actually brings everything to life.
It is a big book but at no point was I weary of reading it. Always helps, I guess, when the subject matter is so darn interesting. With the internet and YouTube I watched the whole of Ali on ‘This is Your Life’ plus many of his bouts and interviews. Marvellous stuff. I must say though that ‘This is your life’ was filmed in Christmas 1978 and you could hear the slurring of Ali’s voice and his movements were much slower yet he went on to fight Larry Holmes and Trevor Berbick. In fact my first Ali fight I saw was the 1980 one against Holmes and I was asking my dad what all the fuss with Ali was about. He was awful in that fight. Just go back and look at some of his earlier fights. Wow!!
I heartily recommend this book to any boxing or Ali fans. There may be enough here for those not into boxing but it does go over nearly every one of his 50-odd professional fights. It does, of course, go over his joining of the Nation of Islam and the Vietnam War. There is also a part about his entourage and those that stole from him or got him to sign lots of dodgy contracts. Do yourself a favour and Ali shuffle over to your nearest bookshop and grab yourself a copy. After all that, why not 5 stars? Well, Ali was huge here in England and he was a guest on Michael Parkinson’s show about 4 times and they were incredible interviews but not mentioned once in the book. He did a lot in England but nothing mentioned.
It is a big book but at no point was I weary of reading it. Always helps, I guess, when the subject matter is so darn interesting. With the internet and YouTube I watched the whole of Ali on ‘This is Your Life’ plus many of his bouts and interviews. Marvellous stuff. I must say though that ‘This is your life’ was filmed in Christmas 1978 and you could hear the slurring of Ali’s voice and his movements were much slower yet he went on to fight Larry Holmes and Trevor Berbick. In fact my first Ali fight I saw was the 1980 one against Holmes and I was asking my dad what all the fuss with Ali was about. He was awful in that fight. Just go back and look at some of his earlier fights. Wow!!
I heartily recommend this book to any boxing or Ali fans. There may be enough here for those not into boxing but it does go over nearly every one of his 50-odd professional fights. It does, of course, go over his joining of the Nation of Islam and the Vietnam War. There is also a part about his entourage and those that stole from him or got him to sign lots of dodgy contracts. Do yourself a favour and Ali shuffle over to your nearest bookshop and grab yourself a copy. After all that, why not 5 stars? Well, Ali was huge here in England and he was a guest on Michael Parkinson’s show about 4 times and they were incredible interviews but not mentioned once in the book. He did a lot in England but nothing mentioned.
September 18, 2022
Such an interesting life so a must read not just for boxing fans but for everyone. Very easy to read with quotes from all of the main players yet comprehensive in describing all of the different stages of his life.
Felt that I knew Muhammad Ali much better for having read this - before I would have said that he was a great boxer and a joker and very entertaining person to listen to. After, I had much more admiration of him as a person and better understood the sacrifices that he made for his principles. If only he had given up boxing after he had proved it all by beating Foreman to reclaim his title.
Think it will be hard for there to be a better book about Ali than this one out there.
Felt that I knew Muhammad Ali much better for having read this - before I would have said that he was a great boxer and a joker and very entertaining person to listen to. After, I had much more admiration of him as a person and better understood the sacrifices that he made for his principles. If only he had given up boxing after he had proved it all by beating Foreman to reclaim his title.
Think it will be hard for there to be a better book about Ali than this one out there.
May 25, 2015
This is the greatest story ever told of possibly the greatest man who has ever walked this earth. Thomas Hauser has succeeded in putting together a unique compilation of different peoples' accounts of the Muhammad Ali. The book is written to match the gravitas of his life story. This book will definitely make the level headed person rethink his life and embark on several reforms in order to lead a better life. Muhammad Ali's journey from being an uneducated black man in a then prejudiced America to the most loved and recognized person in the world, is truly inspirational.
The book contains detailed accounts of all his memorable fights, the rumble in the jungle, the thrilla in manila and the fight against Sonny Liston. It also includes the remaining Ali-Frazier fights which was regarded as the greatest rivalry of the century. Ali stood as an icon fighting society's norms and paved the way for many people who then began to believe they could be great cause of Ali.
The book contains detailed accounts of all his memorable fights, the rumble in the jungle, the thrilla in manila and the fight against Sonny Liston. It also includes the remaining Ali-Frazier fights which was regarded as the greatest rivalry of the century. Ali stood as an icon fighting society's norms and paved the way for many people who then began to believe they could be great cause of Ali.
October 30, 2015
Muhammad Ali is a legend, not only in America, for being a great athlete, and a black celebrity-who took a stance on the Vietnam war- but also in the Muslim world and in Africa. This is so, because his accomplishments were a source of pride, for both groups, in a post colonial world, when Ali surfaced on the world stage.
Ali was once the most famous man alive, without a shadow of doubt. The younger global crowd may not know him today, but back in his day, even the village folks in the Arab world, knew him, because his fights were shown on cinema (since TV was not common).
That said, this book does not cover his life in a chronological fashion, rather it simply states various people's views on Ali. For outsiders, this quickly get boring, particularly, if you don't know much about Ali's life.
I don't think I will be finishing this book.
Ali was once the most famous man alive, without a shadow of doubt. The younger global crowd may not know him today, but back in his day, even the village folks in the Arab world, knew him, because his fights were shown on cinema (since TV was not common).
That said, this book does not cover his life in a chronological fashion, rather it simply states various people's views on Ali. For outsiders, this quickly get boring, particularly, if you don't know much about Ali's life.
I don't think I will be finishing this book.
August 5, 2013
i came of age after ali's reign in the ring. so while i was always aware that he was a great man, it wasn't until i read this book that i finally learned how he completely revolutionized the boxing world and how he unflinchingly gave away his enormous fortune. this book is well written and combines numerous perspectives from those closest to ali (whether they wished him well or otherwise).
April 18, 2016
This was a cracking read.
Sure, there are flaws - it definitely goes soft on Ali on a few things: his strict adherence to Elijah Muhammad, at a time where the Nation of Islam was preaching strict segregation (Ali converted to Sunni Islam in the 70s and now practices Sufism); his philandering; his attitude to Ernie Terrell and especially Joe Frazier. That said, I don't believe we'd have the range of voices in this book, without the overall positive approach and tone that the author has brought to the project, which has clearly encouraged just about all the major figures in this story to give first-hand accounts. It's also not as if the author doesn't allow negative views - there are people in this story who genuinely don't like Ali, albeit that just about everyone here finds something positive to say about him and it's clear that just about everyone considers him a remarkable figure, in the way he conducted his life in the public eye.
The version I read also stops in the early 90s. This may be a blessing, given Ali's physical deterioration since - it freeezes Ali in a moment in time, where he's still got a moderate amount of physical capability - but it does mean we miss on 20+ years of his story, no matter how miserable or heartbreaking those years are.
Nevertheless, the raw ingredients are tremendous - Olympic boxer, title challenger, underdog Championship winner, undisputed champ, draft troubles, exile, title near-miss, long slow climb back to the top, the titanic series of battles against Frazier/Norton & Foreman etc.
The use of multiple voices to tell the story gives you a rounded view of events, especially the fights & it's here that the book is tremendous - the inside view offered by people like Ali, his opponents, Angelo Dundee etc., open a whole new world of insight on those incredible (and sometimes not so good) bouts. Watching them on Youtube after reading this book, the key moments spring to life & you get an appreciation of just how incredible those fights were in the moment.
Recommended.
Sure, there are flaws - it definitely goes soft on Ali on a few things: his strict adherence to Elijah Muhammad, at a time where the Nation of Islam was preaching strict segregation (Ali converted to Sunni Islam in the 70s and now practices Sufism); his philandering; his attitude to Ernie Terrell and especially Joe Frazier. That said, I don't believe we'd have the range of voices in this book, without the overall positive approach and tone that the author has brought to the project, which has clearly encouraged just about all the major figures in this story to give first-hand accounts. It's also not as if the author doesn't allow negative views - there are people in this story who genuinely don't like Ali, albeit that just about everyone here finds something positive to say about him and it's clear that just about everyone considers him a remarkable figure, in the way he conducted his life in the public eye.
The version I read also stops in the early 90s. This may be a blessing, given Ali's physical deterioration since - it freeezes Ali in a moment in time, where he's still got a moderate amount of physical capability - but it does mean we miss on 20+ years of his story, no matter how miserable or heartbreaking those years are.
Nevertheless, the raw ingredients are tremendous - Olympic boxer, title challenger, underdog Championship winner, undisputed champ, draft troubles, exile, title near-miss, long slow climb back to the top, the titanic series of battles against Frazier/Norton & Foreman etc.
The use of multiple voices to tell the story gives you a rounded view of events, especially the fights & it's here that the book is tremendous - the inside view offered by people like Ali, his opponents, Angelo Dundee etc., open a whole new world of insight on those incredible (and sometimes not so good) bouts. Watching them on Youtube after reading this book, the key moments spring to life & you get an appreciation of just how incredible those fights were in the moment.
Recommended.
November 6, 2017
En ole suuri kamppailulajien ystävä, mutta nyrkkeilyssä on ripaus jotakin sellaista, mikä vetoaa minun alkukantaisempaan puoleeni. Lisäksi olen ollut perinteisesti kiinnostunut 1960-luvun yhteiskunnallisesta liikehdinnästä, joka ilmeni muun muassa Vietnamin sodan vastustamisena ja mustien kansalaisoikeustaisteluna.
Niinpä ei olekaan yllättävää, että jo vuonna 1991 ilmestynyt Thomas Hauserin "Muhammad Ali: Suurin ja kaunein" (Minerva, 2017) päätyi lukulistalleni. Lukukokemus olikin mielenkiintoinen, eikä ihme, sillä kyllähän maailmanhistorian kuuluisimman nyrkkeilijän ja 1900-luvun värikkäimpien urheilupersoonien joukkoon lukeutuvan Alin eli syntyjään Cassius Clayn kiehtovissa elämänvaiheissa niin kehässä kuin kehän ulkopuolella riittää aineistoa vaikka useampaan teokseen.
Thomas Hauser käyttää ns. oral history -tekniikkaa, eli luvut koostuvat paitsi Alin itsensä, myös nyrkkeilijän lähipiiriin kuuluneiden ihmisten kommenteista. Näkemykset voivat poiketa joskus radikaalistikin toisistaan, mutta niinhän se elämässä yleensäkin menee, etenkin kun kyseessä on etenkin uransa alkuaikana mielipiteitä jakanut ja urallaan monenlaisia typeryyksiäkin tehnyt persoona. Kriittisistä äänistä huolimatta teoksen perussävyu on kuitenkin peruspositiivinen ja ihailevakin.
Keskivertoa parempi urheiluelämäkerta, väittäisin.
Niinpä ei olekaan yllättävää, että jo vuonna 1991 ilmestynyt Thomas Hauserin "Muhammad Ali: Suurin ja kaunein" (Minerva, 2017) päätyi lukulistalleni. Lukukokemus olikin mielenkiintoinen, eikä ihme, sillä kyllähän maailmanhistorian kuuluisimman nyrkkeilijän ja 1900-luvun värikkäimpien urheilupersoonien joukkoon lukeutuvan Alin eli syntyjään Cassius Clayn kiehtovissa elämänvaiheissa niin kehässä kuin kehän ulkopuolella riittää aineistoa vaikka useampaan teokseen.
Thomas Hauser käyttää ns. oral history -tekniikkaa, eli luvut koostuvat paitsi Alin itsensä, myös nyrkkeilijän lähipiiriin kuuluneiden ihmisten kommenteista. Näkemykset voivat poiketa joskus radikaalistikin toisistaan, mutta niinhän se elämässä yleensäkin menee, etenkin kun kyseessä on etenkin uransa alkuaikana mielipiteitä jakanut ja urallaan monenlaisia typeryyksiäkin tehnyt persoona. Kriittisistä äänistä huolimatta teoksen perussävyu on kuitenkin peruspositiivinen ja ihailevakin.
Keskivertoa parempi urheiluelämäkerta, väittäisin.
September 14, 2021
I think I need to clarify my rating on this book.
It was the book and the writing that got the 2 stars. The subject matter, the great Muhammad Ali will always get a 5 star rating.
Muhammad Ali has been in my life for as long as I can remember. My father is a boxing aficionado, and I grew up being told stories of some of the best ring fights of all time. Ali was one of those names that came up again and again.
I had been looking for a good (would have preferred great, but will accept good) biography of Ali. In various searches, the Hauser biography was touted as being the best of the best.
This book is less a biography, and more a collection of quotes from interviews and statements from people who knew or had met Ali. I find this kind of 'writing' to be lazy, poorly organised, and frankly not at all engaging.
While it was nice to see what various people thought of the man, ultimately, the book was disjointed and sadly, rather boring.
It was the book and the writing that got the 2 stars. The subject matter, the great Muhammad Ali will always get a 5 star rating.
Muhammad Ali has been in my life for as long as I can remember. My father is a boxing aficionado, and I grew up being told stories of some of the best ring fights of all time. Ali was one of those names that came up again and again.
I had been looking for a good (would have preferred great, but will accept good) biography of Ali. In various searches, the Hauser biography was touted as being the best of the best.
This book is less a biography, and more a collection of quotes from interviews and statements from people who knew or had met Ali. I find this kind of 'writing' to be lazy, poorly organised, and frankly not at all engaging.
While it was nice to see what various people thought of the man, ultimately, the book was disjointed and sadly, rather boring.
January 20, 2019
13 days and 515 pages later I feel like it has been a true privilege to have read this book for all it, and Muhammad Ali, has revealed to me about strength, about heart, about perseverance, about humility, about confidence, about respect, commitment, principle, pride, generosity, humanity, spirituality, and love. Hauser did an extensive job of capturing all of the different perspectives on Ali's boxing career (from the smallest fights to the Thrilla in Manila), personal life, spirituality, and everything in between. A must read.
November 21, 2019
A sacred text.
October 20, 2020
Just amazing! Well written story of a life of one of the most important athlete of all time. No matter if you are a fan of boxing in general or Ali's fan this book is a must read. Really inspirational.
August 7, 2008
Finishing this book took much longer than other books I’d been reading recently, which is a testament to the density of material presented here. Though
Thomas Hauser
is listed as the author of this book, I’d argue that it’s co-written by everyone interviewed for this massive tome.
Hauser presents his narrative Studs Terkel style, often with lengthy monologues on his subject. The story is presented chronologically, with chapter titles such as “Origins” and “The Birth of Ali”. I enjoyed getting to know characters such as Don King, Bundini Brown and Howard Bingham, scurrilous, outrageous, steadfast. The spectrum of people that Ali surrounded himself with was Technicolor. But what this book offers most of and does best for the leisurely reader is a fuller portrait of a man coming of age in his times.
We’re presented with a man who entered the public spectrum as a boxer, a gold medal Olympian, someone who has grown into a myth, an icon, an important historical figure. The narrative is thorough in filling in the details left out of this mythic story, such as the politics behind the stripping of his world championship title after his draft dodging conviction and what he did in the three year interim. Who knew that he traveled the college lecture circuit and that he surrounded himself with mooches that took advantage of him every chance they got? I had no idea how deep and true the rivalry between Joe Frazier and Ali was, nor how in financial strait’s the champ was, despite good-hearted and competent intervention.
To help tell this story, Hauser relies on extensive testimony from a strange variety of sources: Angelo Dundee (Ali’s trainer) to James Michener (who met him once), Arthur Ashe (a fellow African-American sports figure paving the way) to Ted Kennedy. There are personalities that have nothing to do with boxing, and who are not part of Ali’s inner circle (Bryant Gumble, for example) who talk at length about Ali’s influence and persona. When reading these, I often think they got put in the book because they were black.
Which highlights the point that Hauser is a white journalist even more. Though I haven’t read his previous books (which include Black Lights, about boxing), I take it into consideration because a majority of this book is focused on race, the Black Muslim movement and many of its key players are of a different race than the author. How does this play out? The chapter on Ali’s conversion into the Nation of Islam (“The Birth of Ali”) is awfully unedited, going into length about the belief system. Both Malcolm X and Elijah Muhammad are quoted for pages on end. Jeremiah Shabazz gets four-plus pages, uninterrupted. If Hauser had been more familiar with the subject matter, he would have been able to edit it into a more readable primer. It was the only part I skimmed over. Why not write it with the same cursory hand that wrote Frazier’s backstory?
The strategy is echoed once more later on in the book, in exploring Ali’s current diagnosis of Parkinsonism. The medical records are very detailed and unnecessary. Again, it feels as if the author erred on the side of TMI. This bit of info the modern reader is more likely to know about anyway.
Often times Hauser over indulges in his adulation, but I suppose one can’t help it. Even though there are the Joe Fraziers in the world, who will always have quarrel with Ali (and who could blame him?), by the final pages, the reader is left to think that Muhammad Ali is one of the best loved personalities on the face of this planet.
So in all, I learned a great deal more than ever possible, had Hauser done a straightforward narrative, especially about the people involved in Ali’s life. It’s a lot to read thought and halfway through, I was ready to put the book down--but I hadn’t even reached the Rumble in the Jungle, much less the Thrilla in Manila.
Hauser presents his narrative Studs Terkel style, often with lengthy monologues on his subject. The story is presented chronologically, with chapter titles such as “Origins” and “The Birth of Ali”. I enjoyed getting to know characters such as Don King, Bundini Brown and Howard Bingham, scurrilous, outrageous, steadfast. The spectrum of people that Ali surrounded himself with was Technicolor. But what this book offers most of and does best for the leisurely reader is a fuller portrait of a man coming of age in his times.
We’re presented with a man who entered the public spectrum as a boxer, a gold medal Olympian, someone who has grown into a myth, an icon, an important historical figure. The narrative is thorough in filling in the details left out of this mythic story, such as the politics behind the stripping of his world championship title after his draft dodging conviction and what he did in the three year interim. Who knew that he traveled the college lecture circuit and that he surrounded himself with mooches that took advantage of him every chance they got? I had no idea how deep and true the rivalry between Joe Frazier and Ali was, nor how in financial strait’s the champ was, despite good-hearted and competent intervention.
To help tell this story, Hauser relies on extensive testimony from a strange variety of sources: Angelo Dundee (Ali’s trainer) to James Michener (who met him once), Arthur Ashe (a fellow African-American sports figure paving the way) to Ted Kennedy. There are personalities that have nothing to do with boxing, and who are not part of Ali’s inner circle (Bryant Gumble, for example) who talk at length about Ali’s influence and persona. When reading these, I often think they got put in the book because they were black.
Which highlights the point that Hauser is a white journalist even more. Though I haven’t read his previous books (which include Black Lights, about boxing), I take it into consideration because a majority of this book is focused on race, the Black Muslim movement and many of its key players are of a different race than the author. How does this play out? The chapter on Ali’s conversion into the Nation of Islam (“The Birth of Ali”) is awfully unedited, going into length about the belief system. Both Malcolm X and Elijah Muhammad are quoted for pages on end. Jeremiah Shabazz gets four-plus pages, uninterrupted. If Hauser had been more familiar with the subject matter, he would have been able to edit it into a more readable primer. It was the only part I skimmed over. Why not write it with the same cursory hand that wrote Frazier’s backstory?
The strategy is echoed once more later on in the book, in exploring Ali’s current diagnosis of Parkinsonism. The medical records are very detailed and unnecessary. Again, it feels as if the author erred on the side of TMI. This bit of info the modern reader is more likely to know about anyway.
Often times Hauser over indulges in his adulation, but I suppose one can’t help it. Even though there are the Joe Fraziers in the world, who will always have quarrel with Ali (and who could blame him?), by the final pages, the reader is left to think that Muhammad Ali is one of the best loved personalities on the face of this planet.
So in all, I learned a great deal more than ever possible, had Hauser done a straightforward narrative, especially about the people involved in Ali’s life. It’s a lot to read thought and halfway through, I was ready to put the book down--but I hadn’t even reached the Rumble in the Jungle, much less the Thrilla in Manila.
Read
February 19, 2022Muhammad Ali His Life and Times, was nominated for National Book Award. In 1991, Thomas
Hauser was awarded with “William Hill Sports Book of the Year” for this biography of Muhammad Ali.
As depicted by the title “Muhammad Ali His Life and Times” is the biography of Muhammad
Ali, the boxer. The book presents a detailed description of personality and life events of Muhammad Ali inside as well as outside the boxing ring. It beholds the entire era of Ali in professional as well as personal terms.
The book depicts beautifully compiled and greatly investigated series of events of life of Muhammad Ali from the beginning of his career to its end. Moreover, it uniquely engulfs his personal life as well revealing the minute details of him as person besides a professional boxer. From this book the readers get the details of the life of Ali from his very childhood to the times when he discovered himself and his talents leading towards his extraordinary and highly successful career. His frame of life where he embraced Islam and represented a beautiful relation of a human with Allah Almighty. His believes, generosity, thirst towards freedom, bold statements for basic human rights and dynamic personality all this is summed up in a few words through this book.
Ali’s mother was a religious person and took her children to church every Sunday. Ali started boxing at the age of twelve. He started boxing at the gym of a white police man Joe martin. He won a gold for US in Rome Olympics in boxing. After that Ali became popular in America and got sponsorship. Now he had one of the toughest fight of his era. He faced sonny Liston and won in the 7th round and he faced him again in the next he won with a first round knockout. Ali embraced Islam. Ali got impressed by Elijah Muhammad and started going to the mosque. On July 3,1964 Ali met Sonji who later became his wife. Ali was a patriot. He wanted to do something for his country, he decided to join the US army. But later after knowing that he was going to Vietnam he refused to the inductions because he thought that Vietnam war was killing the poor not the enemy. After this refusal Ali faced many trials and was fined and imprisoned.
His boxing license was revoked in most of the states. He got his license back in 1970 after the war had ended. Now he had one of the most historical fights of his career. He faced Joe Frazier and lost. This fight was also known as the fight of the century. Then in October 1974 he fought another great fight of his career. This time he defeated George Foreman and regained his title. After this era his life faced many ups and downs. Here, he met Khalilah. She became his second wife. Now the era of down fall of his career begins. He fought against Ken Norton and won then against Alfredo Evangelista. Ali won this one to but there was no appreciation from the audience or fans. He also fought against Antonio Inoki. It was a 15 round draw. All these fights didn’t get much rating and were not supported by the audience. Ali was not able to say “no” to people due to which people manipulated him for his money yet he still loved to spend on people who need money. Next we get to know Ali’s failure as a diplomat in various scenarios as that of Olympic boycott due to his open and direct personality yet he was a success in case of freeing refuges from Iraq. Then we have Ali vs Holmes a fight that ended terribly hurting Ali physically and he lost this fight when in tenth round it was forcefully stopped. Ali’s last fight was against
TERVOR BERBICK after Ali lost this match he said “Father time caught up with me.”
That’s how his career came to an end. Then Ali got divorced to his third wife Veronica. Then Ali faced terrible health issues and his last wife LONNIE ALI helped him through this. He spent rest of his life dedicating it to Islam and helping other people
The writing style of the writer is super natural and easy to read. The style is further embellished with numerous quotes and statements of Muhammad Ali. Each scenario in the book is presented
with every minute detail that reader feels as the live experiencer of the situation. The simplicity and slight hilariousness never fails to bring a smile on the face of the reader while imagining the whole situation. The book is in the form of a narration. Muhammad Ali was known for his great confidence, grace and pride. He was tall, handsome, witty, charming and passionate. He used to say “I’m so pretty” and “Black is beautiful”. He had a great sense of humor and he was bold and straight forward. As a boxer he was so fast that his opponents failed to follow his movements which was major reason behind his victory. His former name was Cassius Clay before he embraced Islam. He was a paradox. Despite all these positive aspects of his personality Ali was not pretty good in his personal life he had four wives. He got divorced multiple times because of his illegal and questionable acts. Therefore, it can be said that he was not much successful in his personal life. Elijah Muhammad was one of the most influential figures who brought Ali towards Islam. Elijah Muhammad was a leader who lead Nation of Islam(NOI). He was the mentor of Muhammad Ali. In Ali’s personal life first came a woman named Sonji who was a waitress by profession but Ali fell in love with her on the first sight. Sonji was beautiful and Ali decided to marry her. She truly supported and accompanied Ali with all her love and respect yet a barrier of religion existed between them which led them to divorce within a short period. Sonny Liston one of the most famous opponents of Ali whom he defeated not once rather twice and received as well as defend his title of World Heavy Weight Boxing. Liston said “Ali is a nut. You can tell what a normal man is going to do, but you can’t tell what a nut is going to do, and Ali is a nut.” He was not a man of great courage as this defeat lead him towards drugs and further darkness. Joe Frazier, a nonpolitical and competitive fighter, was also one of the major opponents of Muhammad Ali. According to him his profession gave him the chance to stand up and say, “I’m the best; I matter; I am.” Despite being rivals in the boxing ring Joe was really good with Ali in his years of exile. In addition to this, George Foreman was also one of the most prominent rivals of Muhammad Ali. He was considered to be the heaviest puncher of the history and a very successful boxer.
This book beautifully expresses the life of a great boxer, a better human, a social activist and relation with Allah almighty. Readers interested in biographies would definitely find this book interesting due to its intense details. Moreover, it also explains us the hidden and unsaid dark realities of Muhammad Ali’s life. The writing style of the writer is especially to be remarked as its more of a dialogue and the entire book is a narration. I personally find this book very motivating and encouraging. It aims its readers to work hard towards their professional dreams regardless of the hurdles and success would bow forth them and this book also conveyed a message of how a persons’ insides are different from outsides.
Hauser was awarded with “William Hill Sports Book of the Year” for this biography of Muhammad Ali.
As depicted by the title “Muhammad Ali His Life and Times” is the biography of Muhammad
Ali, the boxer. The book presents a detailed description of personality and life events of Muhammad Ali inside as well as outside the boxing ring. It beholds the entire era of Ali in professional as well as personal terms.
The book depicts beautifully compiled and greatly investigated series of events of life of Muhammad Ali from the beginning of his career to its end. Moreover, it uniquely engulfs his personal life as well revealing the minute details of him as person besides a professional boxer. From this book the readers get the details of the life of Ali from his very childhood to the times when he discovered himself and his talents leading towards his extraordinary and highly successful career. His frame of life where he embraced Islam and represented a beautiful relation of a human with Allah Almighty. His believes, generosity, thirst towards freedom, bold statements for basic human rights and dynamic personality all this is summed up in a few words through this book.
Ali’s mother was a religious person and took her children to church every Sunday. Ali started boxing at the age of twelve. He started boxing at the gym of a white police man Joe martin. He won a gold for US in Rome Olympics in boxing. After that Ali became popular in America and got sponsorship. Now he had one of the toughest fight of his era. He faced sonny Liston and won in the 7th round and he faced him again in the next he won with a first round knockout. Ali embraced Islam. Ali got impressed by Elijah Muhammad and started going to the mosque. On July 3,1964 Ali met Sonji who later became his wife. Ali was a patriot. He wanted to do something for his country, he decided to join the US army. But later after knowing that he was going to Vietnam he refused to the inductions because he thought that Vietnam war was killing the poor not the enemy. After this refusal Ali faced many trials and was fined and imprisoned.
His boxing license was revoked in most of the states. He got his license back in 1970 after the war had ended. Now he had one of the most historical fights of his career. He faced Joe Frazier and lost. This fight was also known as the fight of the century. Then in October 1974 he fought another great fight of his career. This time he defeated George Foreman and regained his title. After this era his life faced many ups and downs. Here, he met Khalilah. She became his second wife. Now the era of down fall of his career begins. He fought against Ken Norton and won then against Alfredo Evangelista. Ali won this one to but there was no appreciation from the audience or fans. He also fought against Antonio Inoki. It was a 15 round draw. All these fights didn’t get much rating and were not supported by the audience. Ali was not able to say “no” to people due to which people manipulated him for his money yet he still loved to spend on people who need money. Next we get to know Ali’s failure as a diplomat in various scenarios as that of Olympic boycott due to his open and direct personality yet he was a success in case of freeing refuges from Iraq. Then we have Ali vs Holmes a fight that ended terribly hurting Ali physically and he lost this fight when in tenth round it was forcefully stopped. Ali’s last fight was against
TERVOR BERBICK after Ali lost this match he said “Father time caught up with me.”
That’s how his career came to an end. Then Ali got divorced to his third wife Veronica. Then Ali faced terrible health issues and his last wife LONNIE ALI helped him through this. He spent rest of his life dedicating it to Islam and helping other people
The writing style of the writer is super natural and easy to read. The style is further embellished with numerous quotes and statements of Muhammad Ali. Each scenario in the book is presented
with every minute detail that reader feels as the live experiencer of the situation. The simplicity and slight hilariousness never fails to bring a smile on the face of the reader while imagining the whole situation. The book is in the form of a narration. Muhammad Ali was known for his great confidence, grace and pride. He was tall, handsome, witty, charming and passionate. He used to say “I’m so pretty” and “Black is beautiful”. He had a great sense of humor and he was bold and straight forward. As a boxer he was so fast that his opponents failed to follow his movements which was major reason behind his victory. His former name was Cassius Clay before he embraced Islam. He was a paradox. Despite all these positive aspects of his personality Ali was not pretty good in his personal life he had four wives. He got divorced multiple times because of his illegal and questionable acts. Therefore, it can be said that he was not much successful in his personal life. Elijah Muhammad was one of the most influential figures who brought Ali towards Islam. Elijah Muhammad was a leader who lead Nation of Islam(NOI). He was the mentor of Muhammad Ali. In Ali’s personal life first came a woman named Sonji who was a waitress by profession but Ali fell in love with her on the first sight. Sonji was beautiful and Ali decided to marry her. She truly supported and accompanied Ali with all her love and respect yet a barrier of religion existed between them which led them to divorce within a short period. Sonny Liston one of the most famous opponents of Ali whom he defeated not once rather twice and received as well as defend his title of World Heavy Weight Boxing. Liston said “Ali is a nut. You can tell what a normal man is going to do, but you can’t tell what a nut is going to do, and Ali is a nut.” He was not a man of great courage as this defeat lead him towards drugs and further darkness. Joe Frazier, a nonpolitical and competitive fighter, was also one of the major opponents of Muhammad Ali. According to him his profession gave him the chance to stand up and say, “I’m the best; I matter; I am.” Despite being rivals in the boxing ring Joe was really good with Ali in his years of exile. In addition to this, George Foreman was also one of the most prominent rivals of Muhammad Ali. He was considered to be the heaviest puncher of the history and a very successful boxer.
This book beautifully expresses the life of a great boxer, a better human, a social activist and relation with Allah almighty. Readers interested in biographies would definitely find this book interesting due to its intense details. Moreover, it also explains us the hidden and unsaid dark realities of Muhammad Ali’s life. The writing style of the writer is especially to be remarked as its more of a dialogue and the entire book is a narration. I personally find this book very motivating and encouraging. It aims its readers to work hard towards their professional dreams regardless of the hurdles and success would bow forth them and this book also conveyed a message of how a persons’ insides are different from outsides.
October 14, 2022
I thought I knew the Ali story but this added a lot. I read Tris Dixon's Damage around the same time and saw Ali's decline from "Parkinson's Disease" in a new light
October 16, 2013
This is a good book about a great man, possibly the greatest of men. I'm a bit young to remember Muhammad Ali the boxer, though I recall one of his last fights, a travesty of entertainment that resembled nothing less than a magnificent career in the ring dying over the course of a single bout. My generation was that of Mike Tyson, a more terrifying fighter than Ali and a far more odious human being.
Hauser's chronicle does a very fine job of stating the significance of Ali, both in the ring and within the world at large. It rightly declares him to be the most famous and best loved person on the planet, and makes it clear that this is because his allure reverberated far beyond the boxing world, focusing instead on his charisma, principles and the generosity of his spirit. The book is littered with testimonies from the man himself and those who knew him; many of these are valuable.
Where it fails is in its glossing over much of the boxing. Perhaps the effort was to not go into exhaustive detail on a fighting career that has been covered so extensively elsewhere, but the gaps are filled instead with Islamism. Not just Ali's conversion, but pages of general information on the origins of the faith and what it means to people today. Maybe it's the case this was at the request of Ali himself, but whilst I've absolutely nothing against Islam, I didn't buy the book because I wanted to read about it, and there's so much space devoted to it.
Elsewhere, the stuff about his ban from boxing is fascinating, not least because it makes clear these were the best years of his career he was missing. There's a lot covering his decline as a boxer, which is just as interesting but also quite tragic.
Hauser's chronicle does a very fine job of stating the significance of Ali, both in the ring and within the world at large. It rightly declares him to be the most famous and best loved person on the planet, and makes it clear that this is because his allure reverberated far beyond the boxing world, focusing instead on his charisma, principles and the generosity of his spirit. The book is littered with testimonies from the man himself and those who knew him; many of these are valuable.
Where it fails is in its glossing over much of the boxing. Perhaps the effort was to not go into exhaustive detail on a fighting career that has been covered so extensively elsewhere, but the gaps are filled instead with Islamism. Not just Ali's conversion, but pages of general information on the origins of the faith and what it means to people today. Maybe it's the case this was at the request of Ali himself, but whilst I've absolutely nothing against Islam, I didn't buy the book because I wanted to read about it, and there's so much space devoted to it.
Elsewhere, the stuff about his ban from boxing is fascinating, not least because it makes clear these were the best years of his career he was missing. There's a lot covering his decline as a boxer, which is just as interesting but also quite tragic.
April 26, 2018
“Muhammad was probably the first black man in America to successfully break with the white establishment and survive.”
This is one of the most comprehended biographies on Ali; showing both of his positive and negative sides. Hauser interviewed various people (relatives, friends, rivals, Ali's associates, journalists and physicians). The events are discussed from different perspectives which gives the reader the choice to choose what to believe also the availability of different sides gives a broader perspective of the situations. Ali's flaws and lows (e.g. cheating, womanizing habits, his tendency to be taken advantage of) are openly presented with contributions from multiple sources. Personally, I fell in love with Ali all over again after reading this book; I respect his devotion to his religion, Islam, and how he stood strong through it all.
Ali has played a part in all our lives; his achievements and his pride empowered us; his dedication to his beliefs and ideals inspired us all to stand up and to know where we belong; is courage motivated us. Ali is one of those people that come to this life and bring enlightenment along with them. He was a great man with a unique personality and an extraordinary life. I don't think there will ever be someone like Muhammad Ali.
His Life and Times is a well documented biography on the most phenomenal man, Muhammad Ali. Put in mind that this is not an easy read as it's detailed and needs time to be fully devoured.
March 12, 2013
In the book Muhammad Ali, by Thomas Hauser, this book was said to be told for Muhammad Ali to show that he is not just a vicious boxer that will kick your butt in the ring, but to show the other side of Ali from a close friend of Muhammad, which is Thomas Hauser. Ali has been center stage of the ring for twenty years, or in other words he has been fighting in the ring for seven president terms. During this time only two people had won the heavy eeight champiinship if the world at a younger age. And Ali was ine of them. He was challenged for his heavy weight title, and defended it ninteen times. Muhammad Ali was a great man that showed many people that if they felt like they needed or wanted to do something they could definetly do it. Also, during his time, it was said that many people were runnng from their color, ( meaning that they were`nt as happy being a black person, and were afraid to be yhemselves just because of the color if their skin) but Ali was black and proud with his accomplishments in life. He showed us that Ali is not just a vicious killer but thhat he is also a man, a human being. Like all the rest of us in the world. I really enjoyed reading this book because.peraonally I already knew who Ali was and everyone else who knows him as well will remember his actions in the ring, but reading this book allowed me to view the famous Muhammad Ali in a different way.
February 20, 2025
A befitting biography for the greatest athlete of all time. The book managed to encompass all facets of his life, including his boxing career, faith, humanitarian work and anti-war stance. Along the way showing how he transformed as an individual, to where he ultimately became more in touch with his religion, and conforming to all its values.
The book in particular, does a great job at setting the scene for some of his greatest boxing triumphs, in particular around the Sonny Liston fights, and Foreman bout in Zaire.
Arguably Muhammad Ali’s most pivotal contribution to society, in refusing to go to Vietnam in line with his religious beliefs, is covered extensively as well. And the subsequent consequences in which he faced as a result of it.
Overall the book appears to offer a true reflection of his life, not hiding away from Ali’s faults as well. This is a must read for anyone, who wants to understand why Muhammad Ali is so revered, not just from a boxing perspective, but as an individual.
5*
The book in particular, does a great job at setting the scene for some of his greatest boxing triumphs, in particular around the Sonny Liston fights, and Foreman bout in Zaire.
Arguably Muhammad Ali’s most pivotal contribution to society, in refusing to go to Vietnam in line with his religious beliefs, is covered extensively as well. And the subsequent consequences in which he faced as a result of it.
Overall the book appears to offer a true reflection of his life, not hiding away from Ali’s faults as well. This is a must read for anyone, who wants to understand why Muhammad Ali is so revered, not just from a boxing perspective, but as an individual.
5*
July 6, 2015
I have always loved Muhammad Ali growing up. It was interesting reading about him as an adult. I liked the format of the book, filled with interviews and comments from all different people in Ali's life; including Ali himself and his family. He sounds by all accounts a generous, very religious and humble man behind the scenes. He was smart about marketing himself and using bravado in order to rouse curiosity in people so they wanted to come watch his fights. Luckily he was a very gifted boxer to back up those words. In his heyday one of the best there ever was. It was written in the 90's so it is not current, but I loved reading about him. I am sad for him that some people used him for their gain and not working in his best interest. Though he did not harbor resentment or bitterness. Following the teachings of his religion he is a forgiving and caring man. Overall he was a great boxer and I feel an even greater man.
January 2, 2024
Amazing biography. Over 200 people weigh in (either through historical texts or interviews) on Muhammad Ali, his life, his career, and his impact.
The book clearly follows a chronological timeline through his life; the different voices are the star rather than any complex structure that tries to build to a climax which I'm sure other authors would be tempted to do.
Ali was involved in this project, so his voice is sprinkled throughout the book. His (current and ex-)wives and best friend speak transparently about Ali and the people around him. There are many juicy acrimonious interviews where different figures in Ali's life make accusations about one another. Reading different people's takes on particular events was very interesting. The best biography I've read.
The book clearly follows a chronological timeline through his life; the different voices are the star rather than any complex structure that tries to build to a climax which I'm sure other authors would be tempted to do.
Ali was involved in this project, so his voice is sprinkled throughout the book. His (current and ex-)wives and best friend speak transparently about Ali and the people around him. There are many juicy acrimonious interviews where different figures in Ali's life make accusations about one another. Reading different people's takes on particular events was very interesting. The best biography I've read.
August 25, 2012
I bought this at an airport bookshop 5 years ago and finally got around to reading it. It takes an interesting approach to the subject by taking many quotes from the people present at the time and Ali himself. I felt that as a person he is clearly fascinating but the format often missed a chance for the author to link the comments a little more with background information. Some key people are not given a voice which is a shame for balance (Don King) for example. The story also finishes at a point where his illness is identified and controlled a little where further knowledge of his condition in later life might have given better balance to some of the comments.
February 5, 2010
This book is a comprehensive portrait of Muhammad Ali told through the words of a hundred or so authors. It is a unique and definitive way of recounting a life.
Still, it suffers from the self-assuredness of many of its speakers. Its subject should age better than his idolaters. A generation that imparted "trust no one over the age of thirty" now suffers the irony of its children's disbelief when - without much more than opinion, adulation and gratefulness - it offers a testimony that mostly reduces to trust us; this was a great, great man.
Time will tell.
Still, it suffers from the self-assuredness of many of its speakers. Its subject should age better than his idolaters. A generation that imparted "trust no one over the age of thirty" now suffers the irony of its children's disbelief when - without much more than opinion, adulation and gratefulness - it offers a testimony that mostly reduces to trust us; this was a great, great man.
Time will tell.
December 5, 2012
I was a little wary of this book since it was an "authorized biography" and I thought it might gloss over some of the more unsavory episodes of Ali's life, but that was not the case at all. The author's extensive interviews with those around Ali painted a very complete picture of his life. It's written as kind of an oral history using direct quotes from many of the interviewees and it makes for a very enjoyable read.
December 19, 2012
A very comprehensive, mulifaceted account of an inscrutable legend. The many first-person recollections make the book balanced, although some are a little tough to slog through. I'd heard of Ali, Liston, Patterson, Foreman, Holmes, Don King, etc. but the author turns them into fully fleshed characters. I also learned a lot about the Nation of Islam. My only complaint is I would have liked more about Cassius' early life and upbringing.
August 14, 2007
For those of you who might have grown up in the 80's and only remember Ali from second hand accounts, or when he was on Different Strokes. It is a great look at an athlete that transcended sport. His genuine charisma, confidence, and eloquence are only imitated (quite pitifully) by so many athletes today.
September 9, 2011
I picked up this book because he was one of my heroes, and by the time I finished it he became my greatest hero ever. I originally wanted to experience how confident he was going into a fight, and I discovered he is much more: he's loving, deeply religious, and generous. What celebrity allows people to enter his home whenever they liked? Very touching biography.
April 12, 2012
As a huge boxing fan and more importantly, a Muhammad Ali fan, I finished this book cover to cover within 2 days. I literally put it down only to sleep. You don't have to be a boxing fan in order to enjoy the book. I personally found the latter chapters about Ali's personal life after his boxing career to be far more interesting.
November 7, 2015
محمد علي او كاشيوس مارسلس كاي ما كان شخصية عابرة بسيطة تذكر بمسيرة رياضية فقط،هو شخص تحدى كل الثوابت في حياته واجتازها،بشجاعة وبغرور ونرجسية كبيرة نجح واصبح بطل عالمي،انصح جدا بهذا الكتاب لفهم الشخص خلف البطل،المؤلف بذكاء خفض نفسه واعطى المساحة كلها للأشخاص من حول كلاي لكتابة كيف عاشو معه في مسيرته ولهذا بتجد نواحي كثيرة واراء مختلفة ما توقعك بملل رأي مؤلف واحد فقط
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