You'd think there wouldn't be much left to say about a living icon like Muhammad Ali, yet David Remnick imbues King of the World 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 good black heavyweight) and Sonny Liston (the bad 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.

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 noir-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. --Fred Haefele


From Publishers Weekly
"I ain't got no quarrel with them Vietcong," Ali said in 1967 on refusing to be drafted. He was sentenced to five years in prison, and though the Supreme Court would overturn his conviction four years later, principle lost himAtemporarilyAhis title, big bucks, the support of many admirers and the best years of his fighting life. Vietnam postdates most of New Yorker editor Remnick's (Lenin's Tomb) coverage, as he writes little about Ali in the post-Sonny Liston era. At its best, the book recalls the boxing writings of A.J. Liebling, while Remnick's frequent use of Ali's hilarious "rapper" doggerel adds to the melancholy humor through which he describes the Louisville kid who beat gambling odds on the way to the heavyweight title but couldn't beat the medical odds. "The history of [prize] fighters," Remnick writes, "is the history of men who end up damaged." Only in his middle 50s, the once graceful Ali, last seen worldwide clutching the Atlanta Olympic torch in a trembling hand, is disabled by degenerative Parkinson's disease. To many, though, he was disabled even earlier by his conversion to Elijah Muhammad's Nation of Islam, which, whatever its controversial separatist image, "orders [Ali's] life and helps him cope with his illness," according to Remnick. The author smartly records Ali's defiant besting of adversaries in and out of the ring and shows him to be a champion human being. 16 pages of b&w photos. Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
Born Cassius Clay in segregated Louisville, KY, in 1942, Muhammad Ali became "The Greatest" boxer and world champion, admired for decency, courage, and now for his debilities from thousands of head injuries and the onset of Parkinson's disease. We follow blow-by-blow reports of his first three momentous fights; his conversion to Islam; his friendship with and later rejection of Malcom X; the draft scandal that robbed him of three crucial years and probably $10 million; and, briefly, his four marriages. Dick Hill, always first-rate, reads this well-recorded set. King of the World will circulate well in popular biography collections.AGordon Blackwell, Eastchester, NYCopyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.


The Wall Street Journal, Allen Barra
David Remnick's King of the World succeeds, more than any previous book, in bringing Ali into focus. Mr. Remnick does this not with a biography but with a study of the milieu from which Ali emerged.


The New York Times, Christopher Lehmann-Haupt
...King of the World accomplishes its author's stated purpose of showing how Ali created himself in the early 1960s.... It has been an amazing story, and Remnick captures the best of it in King of the World.


The Washington Post Book World, Heywood Hale Broun
David Remnick is no fan of boxing, which he calls "a sport designed to stun the brain" and "finally indefensible," but he gives us an eloquent picture of a man destroyed by his game and ennobled by life, a man who doesn't have to show anything anymore because he has become a symbol and symbols don't have to do but only to be.


From AudioFile
Not since Jack Johnson has a black fighter received such public vituperation during his heyday as Muhammad Ali. Now that the champ is disabled with Parkinson's the media are erring in the opposite direction. This biography brings welcome perspective, reducing the mythical saint to human proportions. Not that doing so diminishes Ali's greatness as a fighter or even his achievements out of the ringÐquite the opposite. Michigan actor Dick Hill gives a superb reading of a tasteful abridgment. He adopts a thoroughly masculine sound, befitting his subject, but stopping short of the sportscaster's swagger. Every line-reading tells. Furthermore, he imbues the many quotes from eyewitnesses, Ali included, with personality. He impersonates so many disparate characters, mostly barely literate tough guys and ethnics, that avoiding caricature is nearly impossible. But he manages always to stay within the bounds of good taste while making each person distinctive. Speaking of taste, the book contains the obligatory descriptions of pugilistic bloodletting that delights fight fans and revolts everyone else. Hill communicates the excitement of these passages without the usual sadistic glee. This reviewer has not heard this narrator before, but just on the strength of this tape, Hill gets our vote for a profile in AudioFile. There are many flashier performances on audiotape, but few better. Y.R. An AUDIOFILE Earphones Award Winner. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine


From Booklist
David Remnick, author of the Pulitzer Prize^-winning Lenin's Tomb (1993), describes the opening moments of Muhammad Ali's first fight with Sonny Liston, when the then Cassius Clay began his signature dance, "moving in and out, his head twitching from side to side, as if freeing himself from a neck crick early in the morning, easy and fluid." The bull-like Liston lunged with a jab, which missed by two feet: "At that moment, Clay hinted at what . . . he was about to introduce to boxing and to sports in general--the marriage of mass and velocity."In this completely fresh and utterly compelling account of Ali's early career--through his refusal to be inducted into the army ("I ain't got no quarrel with them Vietcong")--Remnick manages to capture what has largely eluded a host of other starstruck writers (Mailer, et al.): a balanced mix of the myth and the reality of Ali, a sense of how the gestalt of a nation in transition happened to land on the beautiful brown shoulders of a cocky young man from Louisville. How does Remnick do it? By avoiding the tendency to become swept away, as Mailer was, by Ali as metaphor and, instead, by carefully turning the soil of his early years and, especially, by looking closely at the supporting players in the drama of those first fights. Remnick's portraits of Floyd Patterson, the sensitive champion, beloved by civil-rights advocates (but, ultimately, despised by Ali) and of Sonny Liston, the evil bear, are not only remarkably humanizing, stereotype-shattering character studies in their own right but also make us realize more clearly than ever just how subversive Ali's unique mix of flamboyance, commitment, and playfulness must have seemed to an establishment mindset comfortable only with the polarized view of blacks symbolized by Patterson and Liston. "I'm free to be what I want," Ali declared when he joined the Nation of Islam, and if such declarations have become the stuff of cliche today, fodder for The Jerry Springer Show, they were anything but that in 1964, when the howls of press and public made clear that, in most minds, Ali was only free to be . . . Sonny Liston or Floyd Patterson. This is the best book ever on Muhammad Ali and one of the best on America in the 1960s. Bill Ott


From Kirkus Reviews
A literate, intelligent evocation of the great heavyweight champion. Remnick (Resurrection, 1997, etc.), the Pulitzer Prize winner who is now editor of the New Yorker, openswiselywith the September 1962 fight between Floyd Patterson and Sonny Liston. His profiles of both men are remarkable studies of the sociological backdrop for Ali's entrance upon the scene. Patterson was cast as the good, humble Negro aligned with God; Liston, an ex-con who worked as an enforcer for the mob, as the big, bad, scary black. The brash, poetry-spouting Cassius Clay (as he was still known) fit neither stereotype. Despite his 1960 Olympic gold medal, his obvious speed, and his boxing skills, sportswriters hated the impudent young fighter. He was ``considered . . . little more than a light-hitting loudmouth.'' Clay was no one's pick to steal the title from the overpowering Liston. Remick does a fantastic job of setting the stage for that February 1964 fight, noting that even Clay's people had their doubts: One insider merely hoped ``that Clay wouldn't get hurt.'' The jabbering, taunting Clay pummeled the plodding, dispirited Liston, who simply quit after the sixth round. It was shortly after the fight that Ali's association with the Nation of Islam was revealed. His friendship with Malcolm X and his espousal of the Black Muslim creed, along with his promotional rantings of ``I am the greatest!,'' did not endear him to the public. But he kept winning, beating Liston yet again in 1965 in the most controversial hit in heavyweight history. Remnick's reenactment of that one-punch, ``phantom punch'' knockout in the first round is brilliant. Remnick tails off with Ali's 1967 refusal of the military draft and his subsequent suspension, not going into quite enough depth to explain Alis virtual canonization by the American press and public. But no matter: This is a great look at a warrior who came to symbolize love.'' (16 pages b&w photos, not seen) (Author tour) -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.


Review
"By now we all have our notions about what Ali meant -- to his time and to the history of his sport. Of course David Remnick sheds light on these subjects, but where King of the World really shines is in the ring itself. With telling detail, Remnick captures the drama, danger, beauty, and ugliness of a generation's worth of big heavyweight fights." -- Bob Costa


From the Hardcover edition.


Review
"By now we all have our notions about what Ali meant -- to his time and to the history of his sport. Of course David Remnick sheds light on these subjects, but where King of the World really shines is in the ring itself. With telling detail, Remnick captures the drama, danger, beauty, and ugliness of a generation's worth of big heavyweight fights." -- Bob Costa


From the Hardcover edition.


Book Description
"Succeeds more than any previous book in bringing Ali into focus . . . as a starburst of energy, ego and ability whose like will never be seen again."--The Wall Street Journal

"Best Nonfiction Book of the Year"--Time

"Penetrating . . . reveal[s] details that even close followers of [Ali] might not have known. . . . An amazing story." --The New York Times

On the night in 1964 that Muhammad Ali (then known as Cassius Clay) stepped into the ring with Sonny Liston, he was widely regarded as an irritating freak who danced and talked way too much. Six rounds later Ali was not only the new world heavyweight boxing champion: He was "a new kind of black man" who would shortly transform America's racial politics, its popular culture, and its notions of heroism.
        No one has captured Ali--and the era that he exhilarated and sometimes infuriated--with greater vibrancy, drama, and astuteness than David Remnick, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Lenin's Tomb (and editor of The New Yorker). In charting Ali's rise from the gyms of Louisville, Kentucky, to his epochal fights against Liston and Floyd Patterson, Remnick creates a canvas of unparalleled richness. He gives us empathetic portraits of wisecracking sportswriters and bone-breaking mobsters; of the baleful Liston and the haunted Patterson; of an audacious Norman Mailer and an enigmatic Malcolm X. Most of all, King of the World does justice to the speed, grace, courage, humor, and ebullience of one of the greatest athletes and irresistibly dynamic personalities of our time.

"Nearly pulse-pounding narrative power . . . an important account of a period in American social history." --Chicago Tribune

"A pleasure . . . haunting . . . so vivid that one can imagine Ali saying, 'How'd you get inside my head, boy?'" --Wilfrid Sheed, Time


From the Publisher
"By now we all have our notions about what Ali meant -- to his time and to the history of his sport. Of course David Remnick sheds light on these subjects, but where King of the World really shines is in the ring itself. With telling detail, Remnick captures the drama, danger, beauty, and ugliness of a generation's worth of big heavyweight fights." -- Bob Costa


From the Inside Flap
"Succeeds more than any previous book in bringing Ali into focus . . . as a starburst of energy, ego and ability whose like will never be seen again."--The Wall Street Journal

"Best Nonfiction Book of the Year"--Time

"Penetrating . . . reveal[s] details that even close followers of [Ali] might not have known. . . . An amazing story." --The New York Times

On the night in 1964 that Muhammad Ali (then known as Cassius Clay) stepped into the ring with Sonny Liston, he was widely regarded as an irritating freak who danced and talked way too much. Six rounds later Ali was not only the new world heavyweight boxing champion: He was "a new kind of black man" who would shortly transform America's racial politics, its popular culture, and its notions of heroism.
        No one has captured Ali--and the era that he exhilarated and sometimes infuriated--with greater vibrancy, drama, and astuteness than David Remnick, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Lenin's Tomb (and editor of The New Yorker). In charting Ali's rise from the gyms of Louisville, Kentucky, to his epochal fights against Liston and Floyd Patterson, Remnick creates a canvas of unparalleled richness. He gives us empathetic portraits of wisecracking sportswriters and bone-breaking mobsters; of the baleful Liston and the haunted Patterson; of an audacious Norman Mailer and an enigmatic Malcolm X. Most of all, King of the World does justice to the speed, grace, courage, humor, and ebullience of one of the greatest athletes and irresistibly dynamic personalities of our time.

"Nearly pulse-pounding narrative power . . . an important account of a period in American social history." --Chicago Tribune

"A pleasure . . . haunting . . . so vivid that one can imagine Ali saying, 'How'd you get inside my head, boy?'" --Wilfrid Sheed, Time

FROM OUR EDITORS

New Yorker editor David Remnick's biography of Muhammad Ali shows the man for what he was: larger than life. Paying great attention to Ali's early career, Remnick shows Ali as an athlete who personified a larger cultural movement and represented a sea change in American culture. Ali showed us a new path, and Remnick's book is a chronicle of how Ali became the man we remember him as. A fascinating blend of sociology, fight reportage, history, and wit, King of the World is essential for anyone who hopes to understand Ali, and the early 1960s, more completely.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

On the night in 1964 that Muhammad Ali (then known as Cassius Clay) stepped into the ring with Sonny Liston, he was widely regarded as an irritating freak who danced and talked way too much. Six rounds later Ali was not only the new world heavyweight boxing champion: He was "a new kind of black man" who would shortly transform America's racial politics, its popular culture, and its notions of heroism.

No one has captured Ali - and the era that he exhilarated and sometimes infuriated - with greater vibrancy, drama, and astuteness than the Pulitzer Prize-winning author David Remnick. In charting Ali's rise from the gyms of Louisville, Kentucky, to his epochal fights against Liston and Floyd Patterson, Remnick creates a canvas of unparalleled richness. He gives us empathetic portraits of wisecracking sportswriters and bone-breaking mobsters; of the baleful Liston and the haunted Patterson; of an audacious Norman Mailer and an enigmatic Malcolm X. Most of all, King of the World does justice to the speed, grace, courage, humor, and ebullience of one of the greatest athletes and irresistibly dynamic personalities of our time.

SYNOPSIS

New Yorker editor David Remnick's new biography of Muhammad Ali shows the man for what he was: larger than life. Paying great attention to Ali's early career, Remnick shows Ali as an athlete who personified a larger cultural movement and represented a sea change in American culture. Ali showed us a new path, and Remnick's book is a chronicle of how Ali became the man we remember him as. A fascinating blend of sociology, fight reportage, history, and wit, King of the World is essential for anyone who hopes to understand Ali, and the early 1960s, more completely.

FROM THE CRITICS

Budd Schulberg

Here's a fine book to remind us again that Ali was born with a gift for living (and believing) in a world without end.
-- The New York Times Book Review

Hal Hinson

In the preface to his collection The Devil Problem and Other True Stories, David Remnick writes: "Reporters are interested above all ... in stories." If so, then Remnick has lived a charmed life. In terms of sheer drama and significance, no story in our collective lifetime compares to the collapse of the Soviet Union, which Remnick covered for the Washington Post and used as the basis of his Pulitzer Prize-winning book, Lenin's Tomb. With his latest book, King of the World, the author's subject is not only the most heroic sports figure of the 20th century, but also, as Remnick puts it, "one of the most compelling and electric American figures of the age."

The result is a book that's strong in its grasp of social forces but also sensitive in attention to human detail. What drew Remnick -- who was recently named editor of the New YorkerKing of the World is a book about a boxer, not a book about boxing. Remnick is most interested in what happens outside the ring. When Remnick begins his story, Muhammad Ali is still Cassius Clay, and must share the stage with two of his most fearsome opponents, Sonny Liston and Floyd Patterson. Patterson, Remnick writes, was the Good Negro, "an approachable and strangely fearful man, a deferential champion of civil rights, integration, and Christian decency," while Liston, "a veteran of the penitentiary system before he came to the ring," reluctantly took on the role of the Bad Negro. Each represented a stereotype Ali would ultimately transcend. "I had to prove you could be a new kind of black man," Ali tells the author. "I had to show that to the world."

Remnick's deft staging and insight make familiar events seem fresh in the retelling. Less well-traveled territory -- Ali's relationship with the Nation of Islam, his friendship with (and ultimate repudiation of) Malcolm X and the transition from Cassius Clay to Muhammad Ali -- is also handled well. Remnick only follows Ali's story through the champion's 1967 refusal to enter the armed forces. ("Man," he famously said, "I ain't got no quarrel with them Vietcong.") He saves his most impassioned writing for the fight Ali wages against the American military. As a result of his stand, Ali was sentenced to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine. However, the real cost for his refusal was something like $10 million in purses and endorsements. What was worse, Remnick writes, it also cost him his title. "His title, which he had coveted from the time he was twelve."

Visiting the 54-year-old Ali on his Michigan farm, Remnick finds that the three-time heavyweight champion of the world thinks about death "all the time now." Suffering severely from Parkinson's, Ali has been robbed of his most powerful weapon -- his voice. And yet he has not been silenced. Of the few remaining icons of the '60s, Remnick observes, Ali is by far the most adored. "He hit people for a living, and, yet, by middle age he would be a symbol not merely of courage, but of love, of decency, even a kind of wisdom." With King of the World, David Remnick has written a great book about Muhammad Ali -- a book that is worthy of its subject. -- Salon

New York Times

Penetrating. . .an amazine story, and Mr. Remnick captures the best of it.

Christopher Lehmann-Haupt - The New York Times

It has been an amazing story, and Mr. Remnick captures the best of it in King of the World.

Wall Street Journal

Succeeds more than any previous book in bringing Ali into focus. Read all 15 "From The Critics" >

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING

By using the Clay-Liston battle as a pivot and placing Muhammad Ali in an accurate social context, David Remnick constructs a narrative very much like Ali himself: astute, double-hearted, irresistible. And like Ali, Remnick is so completely in charge of his craft that it becomes an art. — Toni Morrison

By now we have our notions about what Ali meant -- to his time and to the history of his sport. Where King of the World really shines is in the ring itself. With telling detail, Remnick captures the drama, danger, beauty, and ugliness of a generation's worth of big heavyweight fights. — Bob Costas

David Remmick constructs a narrative very much like Ali himself: astute, double-hearted, irresistible. He is so completerly in charge of his craft that it becomes an art. — Toni Morrison

Remnick is . . . one of the signature figures in a wonderful new generation of nonfiction writers. — David Halberstam

Remnick constructs a narrative very much like Ali himself: astute, double-hearted, irresistible. He is so completely in charge of his craft that it becomes an art. — Toni Morrison