Howard L. Bingham (–2016)

An entertaining review of Ali's life during the sixties,. The book addresses the influence of the Vietnam War, the Nation of Islam, and the civil rights movement on Ali. The main focus is on the legal battle over Ali's refusal to serve in Vietnam as a conscientious objector, and on the political and social issues driving the case. Ali's life was certainly influenced by events, but the authors argue that Ali, by standing on principle, was a hero who impacted events himself. I enjoyed this book, and learned a great deal about the events of the period in general, and Muhammad Ali in particular.… (more)

This is a conversational general reader's account of Ali's experiences before, during, and after his refusal to submit to induction into the US armed forces during the Vietnam War era. His reasons were religious and spiritual, but the general public did not believe him. But he stuck to his position, was stripped of his boxing title, underwent a seriously exhausting legal battle, and eventually prevailed, returned to the ring and regained the title. A readily accessible account of important events in an important American figure.… (more)

Fascinating book about Ali but I think it suffered in two respects: first, it is more of a journalistic narrative of the events as they happened than a hardcore philosophical analysis of the rightness or wrongness of Ali's case, and I think it fails to go deep enough into the consequences of letting each man choose his war, so to speak; and second, I felt like much of the history of Joe Louis and Jack Johnson was unnecessary, though it is obvious why the author put it in there, as it clarifies Ali's place as a black heavyweight champion. In fairness to Ali, they changed the rules to target him specifically, and his test scores should have prevented him from even qualifying for the draft; until they changed the rules, they DID prevent him from qualifying.

The facts are definitely intriguing. I am not led to believe that Ali is a hero, despite the author's seeming insistence on this point. But I can see why others believe this. Certainly all the other characters in this saga are scoundrels, so comparatively Ali is all the saints wrapped up into one.… (more)