Most of the time sports are seen as the height of competition, but often they also bring people together in times of cultural, social, and political upheaval. Muhammad Ali explores the way the G.O.A.T. boxer served to bring Americans together. Includes ties to 21st Century themes, as well as infographics, timelines, glossary, and index. Most of the time sports are seen as the height of competition, but often they also bring people together in times...

"Based on more than 500 interviews, including Muhammad Ali's closest associates, and enhanced by access to thousands of pages of newly released FBI records, this is a thrilling story of a man who became one of the great figures of the twentieth century."--

History will remember the rivalry of Joe Frazier and Muhammad Ali as one for the ages. A trilogy of extraordinary fights that transcended the world of sports and crossed into a sociocultural drama that divided the country. Joe Frazier was a much more complex figure than just his rivalry with Ali would suggest. In this riveting and nuanced portrayal, acclaimed sportswriter Mark Kram, Jr. unlinks Frazier from Ali and for the first time gives a full-bodied...

"...recount[s] the politically and racially charged rivalry between African-American boxing champion Joe Louis and white German boxer Max Schmeling, which grew between their 1936 and 1938 matches. Tracing both men's careers from inception until they hung up their gloves, the authors illuminate how emblematic each was to his country while exploring the social issues of the day."--

The first African American to win the world heavyweight championship, Johnson was the preeminent American sports personality of his era. Holder of the title from 1908 to 1915, Johnson continued to box professionally until he was in his 60s. Johnson was also a cultural lightning rod whose professional success and lavish lifestyle attracted both admiration and envy. In this memoir, first published in 1927, he recounts without bitterness the prejudice,...

"The battle between Marvelous Marvin Hagler and Thomas Hearns is remembered as one of the greatest fights of all time. But in the months before the two finally collided on April 15, 1985, there was a feeling in the air that boxing was in trouble. The biggest name in the business, Sugar Ray Leonard, was retired with no logical replacement in sight, while the American Medical Association was calling for a ban on the sport. With Hagler-Hearns looking...

Introduces Muhammad Ali, detailing how young Cassius Clay learned how to box and became a legendary athlete, civil rights activist, and global icon.

Jack Johnson — the first African-American Heavyweight Champion of the World, whose dominance over his white opponents spurred furious debates and race riots in the early 20th century — enters the ring once again in January 2005 when PBS airs Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson, a provocative new PBS documentary by acclaimed filmmaker Ken Burns. The two-part film airs on PBS Monday-Tuesday January 17-18, 2005, 9:00-11:00 p.m....

"A bare-knuckled, tell-all memoir from Mike Tyson, the onetime heavyweight champion of the world--and a legend both in and out of the ring"--

Examines the life of Muhammad Ali in and out of the boxing ring, covering his ties with the Nation of Islam, his political postions, including his refusal to be drafted during the Vietnam War, his role as a symbol of Black masculinity, and life after boxing.