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Shortlisted for the 1999 William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award and voted one of twenty-five �Books to Remember 2000� by the New York Public Library Is there a more characteristic figure of the sixties than Muhammad Ali�playful and political, popular and non-conformist, defiant and triumphant? In a unique new book, Mike Marqusee puts the great boxer back in his true historical context to explore a crucial moment at the cross-roads of popular culture and mass resistance. He traces Ali�s interaction with the evolving black liberation and anti-war movements, including his brief but fascinating liaison with Malcolm X, as well as his encounters with Martin Luther King. Marqusee�s elegant and forceful narrative explores the origins and impact of Ali�s dramatic public stands on race and the draft, and reinterprets the �Rumble in the Jungle,� shedding new light on its triumph and tragedy. Above all, he imbues Ali�s story with a long-neglected international dimension, revealing why he was embraced with such warmth by diverse peoples across the globe. This timely antidote to the apolitical celebration of Ali as �a great American� revisits the man and the period with a fresh eye, casting new light on both his courage and his confusions. And, in a new afterword for this second edition, Marqusee reflects on Ali�s legacy in the era of the �war on terror.� From the Trade Paperback edition.