false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171730529m/116826.jpg 116826 13 You'd think there wouldn't be much left to say about a living icon like Muhammad Ali, yet David Remnick imbues <I>King of the World</I> with all the freshness and vitality this legendary fighter displayed in his prime. Beginning with the pre-Ali days of boxing and its two archetypes, Floyd Patterson (the <I>good</I> black heavyweight) and Sonny Liston (the <I>bad</I> black heavyweight), Remnick deftly sets the stage for the emergence of a heavyweight champion the likes of which the world had never seen: a three-dimensional, Technicolor showman, fighter and minister of Islam, a man who talked almost as well as he fought. But mostly Remnick's portrait is of a man who could not be confined to any existing stereotypes, inside the ring or out.<p> In extraordinary detail, Remnick depicts Ali as a creation of his own imagination as we follow the willful and mercurial young Cassius Clay from his boyhood and watch him hone and shape himself to a figure who would eventually command center stage in one of the most volatile decades in our history. To Remnick it seems clear that Ali's greatest accomplishment is to prove beyond a doubt that not only is it possible to challenge the implacable forces of the establishment (the <I>noir</I>-ish, gangster-ridden fight game and the ethos of a whole country) but, with the right combination of conviction and talent, to triumph over these forces. <I>--Fred Haefele</I> 488053 1998 King of the World total:286|5:103|4:136|3:43|2:3|1:1| 286 1195 353 48 116826 0330371894 9780330371896 226 40 4.18 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171730529m/116826.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/116826.King_of_the_World 4 3 false Tue Apr 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Wed Apr 02 10:27:20 -0700 2008 Fri Apr 04 10:43:03 -0700 2008 more...]]> 116826 0330371894 9780330371896 226 40 4.18 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171730529m/116826.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/116826.King_of_the_World 4 1 false Sun Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2006 Mon Apr 16 13:45:18 -0700 2007 Mon Apr 16 14:07:24 -0700 2007
Err no. I was probably lucky in picking up this book. There are probably a dozen biographies about Al...more...]]> 116826 0330371894 9780330371896 226 40 4.18 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171730529m/116826.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/116826.King_of_the_World 5 1 false Wed Feb 18 22:37:45 -0800 2009 Wed Feb 18 22:46:02 -0800 2009
This book is the story of the rivalry between Ali and Sonny Liston. Yeah, yeah, everyone says it is about Ali because everyone idolizes Ali; but Liston gets equal treatment here.

So here's the deal. Today everyone talks as if they have always love...more...]]> 116826 0330371894 9780330371896 226 40 4.18 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171730529m/116826.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/116826.King_of_the_World 3 0 false Fri Aug 14 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Aug 15 12:00:02 -0700 2009 Sat Aug 15 12:10:23 -0700 2009 Thomas Hauser's Ali biography or (even better) Nick Tosches' The Devil and Sonny Liston. Remnick's mastery of post-journalese narrative does make the book a decent, quick read. But I grimaced every time Remnick de...more...]]> 116826 0330371894 9780330371896 226 40 4.18 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171730529m/116826.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/116826.King_of_the_World 4 0 false Thu Oct 15 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Sep 24 12:47:02 -0700 2009 Thu Oct 15 18:35:38 -0700 2009
Cassius Clay (19th-century abolitionist): "For those who respect the laws of God, I have this argument. [Bible:] For those who believe in the laws of man, I have this argument. [State Constitution:] And for those who believe neither in the laws of God nor man, I have ...more...]]> 116826 0330371894 9780330371896 226 40 4.18 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171730529m/116826.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/116826.King_of_the_World 5 1 false Mon Jun 18 09:18:15 -0700 2007 Mon Jun 18 09:22:55 -0700 2007 116826 0330371894 9780330371896 226 40 4.18 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171730529m/116826.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/116826.King_of_the_World 4 0 false Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2001 Sat Nov 29 15:27:34 -0800 2008 Sat Apr 04 19:33:14 -0700 2009 more...]]> 116826 0330371894 9780330371896 226 40 4.18 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171730529m/116826.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/116826.King_of_the_World 4 0 false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sat Jan 05 18:21:42 -0800 2008 Sat Jan 05 18:21:42 -0800 2008
Actually, it's a story about how three men (Sonny Liston, Floyd Patterson, and Cassius Clay who renamed himself Muhammad Ali) all resp...more...]]> 116826 0330371894 9780330371896 226 40 4.18 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171730529m/116826.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/116826.King_of_the_World 5 0 false Mon May 04 03:49:23 -0700 2009 Wed May 20 12:03:33 -0700 2009 more...]]> 116826 0330371894 9780330371896 226 40 4.18 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171730529m/116826.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/116826.King_of_the_World 3 0 false Wed May 21 08:54:24 -0700 2008 Wed May 28 08:07:41 -0700 2008 Ali was one of the best boxers that ever lived that’s one of the reasons why I life this book. I...more...]]> 116826 0330371894 9780330371896 226 40 4.18 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171730529m/116826.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/116826.King_of_the_World 3 0 false Sat Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2000 Thu May 21 12:41:49 -0700 2009 Thu May 21 12:46:08 -0700 2009 more...]]> 116826 0330371894 9780330371896 226 40 4.18 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171730529m/116826.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/116826.King_of_the_World 3 0 false Sun Sep 28 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Wed Aug 06 14:07:28 -0700 2008 Sun Sep 28 22:37:44 -0700 2008
King of the World chronicles the first few years of Cassius Clay's boxing career, his conv...more...]]> 116826 0330371894 9780330371896 226 40 4.18 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171730529m/116826.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/116826.King_of_the_World 4 0 false Sun Sep 14 04:27:35 -0700 2008 Sun Sep 14 04:31:45 -0700 2008 Remnick starts by telling the stories of Floyd Patterson and Sonny Liston, and how the press depicted them as good negro/bad negro..setting the scene for th...more...]]> 116826 0330371894 9780330371896 226 40 4.18 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171730529m/116826.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/116826.King_of_the_World 5 0 false Fri Mar 27 09:49:08 -0700 2009 Fri Mar 27 09:52:29 -0700 2009 116826 0330371894 9780330371896 226 40 4.18 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171730529m/116826.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/116826.King_of_the_World 4 0 false Sat Sep 27 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Mon Jun 16 12:10:39 -0700 2008 Sat Sep 27 23:36:23 -0700 2008 more...]]> 116826 0330371894 9780330371896 226 40 4.18 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171730529m/116826.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/116826.King_of_the_World 3 0 false Mon Jun 02 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Fri Apr 04 13:23:19 -0700 2008 Mon Jun 02 12:10:02 -0700 2008 more...]]> 2806262 0375500650 9780375500657 5 1 4.18 http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2806262.King_of_the_World 5 0 false Sun Mar 08 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sat Jan 10 12:45:32 -0800 2009 Fri Mar 20 09:18:57 -0700 2009 more...]]> 116826 0330371894 9780330371896 226 40 4.18 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171730529m/116826.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/116826.King_of_the_World 4 0 false Sat Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Aug 17 21:08:21 -0700 2009 Tue Aug 18 20:57:42 -0700 2009 116826 0330371894 9780330371896 226 40 4.18 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171730529m/116826.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/116826.King_of_the_World 4 0 false Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sun Jul 05 06:22:59 -0700 2009 Sun Jul 05 06:24:07 -0700 2009 116826 0330371894 9780330371896 226 40 4.18 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171730529m/116826.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/116826.King_of_the_World 4 0 false Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 1998 Sat Dec 20 07:05:03 -0800 2008 Sat Dec 20 07:07:43 -0800 2008 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=116826