The rise of the most extraordinary athletic talent of our
century--Muhammad Ali
There had been mythic sports figures before Cassius Clay, but when he
burst upon the sports scene in the 1950s, he broke the mold. Those were
the years when boxing and boxers were at the mercy of the mob and the
whim of the sportswriters. If you wanted a shot at a title, you did it
their way.
Young Clay did it his way--with little more than an Olympic gold medal
to his credit, he danced into Sonny Liston's baleful view and provoked
the terrifying champ into accepting him as his next challenger. The rest
is history.
Muhammad Ali has become a mythic hero, an American icon, a self-invented
legend. As both a mirror and a molder of his times, Ali became the most
recognizable face on the planet, a key figure in the cultural battles of
the times. This is the story of his self-creation, and his rise to
glory, written by a Pulitzer Prize-winning author.