Muhammad Ali: Through the Eyes of the World

In prose of wildly varying quality, 52 essays address the paradox of how a man who beat other men senseless for a living and served as the spokesman for a religion that taught that white people are devils became the among the most beloved figures on the planet. The broad outlines of Ali's career are known to almost everyone, from the shocking knockout of Sonny Liston to the conversion to Islam and the theft of Ali's title after he refused to be drafted into the Vietnam War. Ali's words—“No Vietcong ever called me nigger”—remain a memorable statement from the era, and his comeback with the three Frazier fights and the “Rumble in the Jungle” provided a triumphant coda that Hollywood couldn't have scripted. Essays from such luminaries as Maya Angelou, Gil Scott Heron and Dustin Hoffman contain the platitudinous, the touching, the surprising and the bizarre. However, there are some excellent pieces here, including one by Stanley Crouch, who refers to the Nation of Islam as “cultural/political LSD... an emotional hallucinogen.” Yet what impresses about this book is the sheer variety of contributors (BB King, Rod Steiger, Tom Jones, Bert Sugar), providing yet another testament to the enduring importance of the heavyweight boxer. (July)