num_pages: 640
description: The definitive biography of an American icon from a New York Times best-selling author with unique access to Alis inner circle He was the wittiest the prettiest the strongest the bravest and of course the greatest (as he told us himself). Muhammad Ali was one of the twentieth centurys most fantastic figures and arguably the most famous man on the planet. But until now he has never been the subject of a complete unauthorized biography. Jonathan Eig hailed by Ken Burns as one of Americas master storytellers radically reshapes our understanding of the complicated man who was Ali. Eig had access to all the key people in Alis life including his three surviving wives and his managers. He conducted more than 500 interviews and uncovered thousands of pages of previously unreleased FBI and Justice Department files as well dozens of hours of newly discovered audiotaped interviews from the 1960s. Collectively they tell Alis story like never beforethe story of a man who was flawed and uncertain and brave beyond belief. I am America he once declared. I am the part you wont recognize. But get used to meblack confident cocky; my name not yours; my religion not yours; my goals my own. Get used to me. He was born Cassius Clay in racially segregated Louisville Kentucky the son of a sign painter and a housekeeper. He went on to become a heavyweight boxer with a dazzling mix of power and speed a warrior for racial pride a comedian a preacher a poet a draft resister an actor and a lover. Millions hated him when he changed his religion changed his name and refused to fight in the Vietnam War. He fought his way back winning hearts but at great cost. Like so many boxers he stayed too long. Jonathan Eigs Ali reveals Ali in the complexity he deserves shedding important new light on his politics religion personal life and neurological condition. Ali is a story about America about race about a brutal sport and about a courageous man who shook up the world. 
language: English
title: Ali: A Life
publisher: Mariner Books