Product Description

This narrative explores the origins and impact of Muhammed Ali's dramatic public stands on race and the draft. It traces his interaction with the evolving black liberation and anti-war movements and encounters with leading figures. This book offers a historical essay that re-examines Muhammed Ali's role as a symbol of dessent and uses the man as a portal to an understanding of an era. The author explains how Ali's penchant for turning events upside down often made him a symbol of heroism abroad and of disrespect for the status quo at home.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #698835 in Books
• Published on: 2000-05-11
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 320 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Hero to some, traitor to others, Muhammad Ali managed to land powerful punches both in and out of the ring. What changed him from athlete to personality to a heavyweight of global reach? "At the core of the Ali story", Mike Marqusee reminds us, "is a young man who made daunting choices and stuck to them in the face of ghastly threats and glittering inducements." Redemption Song explores those choices in the context of the turbulent times in which they were made.

Ali and the 60s were a naturally synergistic fit. It was a time of great change, and Ali, the seeker, had remarkable access to the fomenters of that change. They, in turn, had a prime influence on his symbolic rebirth and re-emergence. As Redemption Song recounts, the night the young Cassius Clay upset Sonny Liston for the title in 1964, he skipped the traditional post-fight party and headed straight for Miami's black ghetto where he met with Black Muslim leader Malcolm X, singer Sam Cooke and the running back Jim Brown, an early advocate of black rights in sports. The next morning, announcing to the white world that "I'm free to be what I want" and "I don't have to be what you want me to be," he confirmed rumours about his conversion to Islam.

The conversion to Islam was only one of Ali's "daunting choices". As Marqusee moves through the decade, he carefully traces Ali's choices to confront the establishment and stand as a symbol of civil rights and the anti-war effort; his relationships with Malcolm X, Joe Louis, Jackie Robinson and Martin Luther King; and the importance of his travels to Africa. There's plenty of boxing too, but Marqusee is more interested in how Ali expanded that arena to take in the kinds of fights that go beyond the ropes. It's a tall order, but Redemption Song fulfils it with solid reporting and worthy analysis. --Jeff Silverman, Amazon.com

Review
"Among the slew of recent Ali books, here's one that returns the political sting to 'The Greatest'... As Marqusee portrays him, Ali is still the righteous outlaw, as badass as ever and still in the eye of a global storm."-- Time Out New York "Fascinating, well-written, entertaining and significant. Redemption Song provides rare and important insights into Muhammad Ali and his immense global impact on a turbulent and ground-breaking era." -- Leon Gast, director of When We Were Kings "As Marqusee charts how Ali helped create a global consciousness, he succeeds in knocking Ali off the respectable pedestal on which American culture had placed him, resurrecting him as the radical figure he truly was... a vibrant historical essay." -- Publishers Weekly "A thrilling book about a true and enduring hero ... Mike Marqusee has done him, and us, proud." - John Pilger "Excellent ... Reminds us just how explosive and divisive a figure Ali was." - Independent on Sunday

John Pilger
A thrilling book about a true and enduring hero.

Customer Reviews

I ain't got no quarrel with this book.
This is yet another excellent book on The Greatest, and one that deserves more coverage than has been given in the press. Marqusee uses three sixties icons - Ali, Dylan and Malcolm X - to illustrate the confusion and unrest that occurred during this tumultuous decade and he has suceeded in producing a thoughtful and insightful interpretative biography.

To Marqusee, Malcolm X exerted a tremendous influence on the young Ali, more so than even the Champ admitted and it is this focus that gives Redemption Song much of its verve. The section where Malcolm, expelled from the Nation of Islam, became a pariah to one of his close friends and heroes is particularly heartbreaking and relatively critical of Ali, which is a rarity in writing on the man.

Marqusee also encourages the reader to link the story of Dylan's flight from politics to existentialism to Ali's increasing politicisation, which is another tremendous achievement. In addition, there are pieces on the importance of the African independence movements and how they affected Ali's world view, and a wary coda that establishes Ali's central role in the rise of Don King.

All in all, an excellent work.

We flowered in this generation - triumphantly
This is a scintillating book and is a must for those born in or who feel close to whatever it was that came to be called the Sixties. In this sense it would be a great book to send to Lord Tebbit of Bigotry for a present. It'll also do nicely for those, like Norm, who might want a digestible summary of the life and times of Muhammad Ali and Malcolm X. It will also make you want to pick up Martin Duberman's biography of Paul Robseon, stick on Bob Dylan and much more. In Marqusse's book, Ali is a sliver thread running through the turbulent, often murderous decade. It contains a striking and genuinely moving evocation of Ali in all his manifestations and through all his ages - made all the more poignant by the knowledge of how the game eventaully laid him to waste. We read about the white context for black life and sport, the rumbling earthquake that was Ali as he converts to Islam, his involvement with the Nation of Islam, the draft fiasco, the raising of black consciousness and Ali's role as reluctant ambasssador. The book concludes by following Ali's career to its tawdry end. In many ways it's at its strongest here as it charts the Frazier fights, the rumble in the jungle (a reminder that so much of today's sport is mere pantomime - and not just boxing), the defeat by Larry Holmes and on into retirement. There is a moving vignette with reporters from the Times of India and Marqusse's finally puts his restraint to one side to attack the iniquity and slavery of modern sportdom. CLR James described Ali as the "future in the present". In this wonderful book, Marqusse brings us back to the future - ringside with the greatest and his shining humanity.

This is a book about mankind's struggle for freedom.
By using Ali as the leading man in his story, Mike Marqusee is immediately able to reach all of humanity in an instant. And, by countering with Malcolm X, he injects the seriousness of his message and the time that is the subject of his analysis.

Ali is "The Greatest" symbol of resistance against Governmental and Societal oppression in modern times. But, he was not alone. Marqusee tells of Dylan, Sam Cooke, Dr. King, Jack Johnson, DuBois, Lumumba, Garvey, the Black Panthers, etc., etc. All of them fought personal battles against the injustices of their time. "Redemption Song: Muhammad Ali and the Spirit of the Sixties " tells their stories, too.

This book is a treasure. It tells the tale of the Sixties with a clear and soulful voice. It should be an inspiration to the youth of today.

"Fight the Power!"

John