Rather it examines three aspects of Ali’s life-“his pre-championship boxing matches, the management of his career, and his current legacy” (1). Įzra attempts to turn the attention of the academy to a serious, sustained study of Ali. To the best of my knowledge, the only effort by academics to come to terms with Ali are the essays in Elliott Gorn’s edited Muhammad Ali, the People’s Champ (1998). In addition, Gerald Early’s admirable The Muhammad Ali Reader (1998) does not include a single selection from an academic historian. Writer Thomas Hauser’s oral biography Muhammad Ali: His Life and Times (1991) remains the best life treatment of the man, and journalist David Remnick’s King of the World: Muhammad Ali and the Rise of an American Hero (1998) is still the finest attempt to assess the importance of the fighter. Still, for all that, academic historians have written surprisingly little about the boxer/activist. And there was a time not very long ago when a person’s opinion of Ali was a barometer to his or her political, social, and cultural beliefs. Certainly, during the last half century Ali has been the most recognizable face in the world. And as hard as that is to believe-where does Guinness get such information?-it very well may be true.

After all, for the past generation the Guinness World Record outfit has listed Ali as the most written-about person in history.

Why another book on Muhammad Ali, Michael Ezra asks in the introduction to Muhammad Ali: The Making of an Icon.

Muhammad ali david remnick