King of the World

The Titans Reigned SupremeFantastic book - more than just the Ali Story - This is one of the best-written and thought out books of the happenings amongst a small circle of the greatest heavy weights.You get a rare insight into the lives and minds of Floyd Patterson, Sonny Liston and Cassius Clay - and the awakening/becoming of Muhammad AliI went into this book wanting to feed my hunger for knowledge of Muhammad Ali and came out of with a craving for more Sonny Liston - I now want to know all I can about him.Only a brief period in time is covered - but it's an in-depth look at that time and the people and the places that made up boxing and some of the world outside boxing.This is a great book for anyone interested in these titans - for anyone interested in Patterson, Liston and Ali - for anyone interested in the history of legends.One of the best books I've experienced - I truly felt like I was there at times - in that era - that energy of the people and the timesThis is one of those books where you wish there was a part 2

Remnick is smart enough not to contribute just another Ali biography to the shelves, and instead focuses his efforts on Ali 1960 - 1965...from his post-Olympic days through to the second fight with Liston. These are the years when Ali became Ali...the champ at the height of his powers.But there's a special bonus in this book - a good portion of it deals with Sonny Liston. You talk about your seminal 20th Century characters. They don't get any more interesting than this guy: the abused son of a sharecropper, long stretches of imprisonment, a fight career directed by mob interests, a violent death. In short, a writer's dream. Remnick brings Liston together with Floyd Patterson (and you'll never find a greater constrast) and walks you through these two battles before turning his attention to Ali. Thus, you get a full portrait of Liston prior to encountering the force of nature that was then Cassius Clay.The effect is a curious sympathy that you have for Liston as he enters the maelstrom developing around Ali. In most retellings, Liston is cast as the personification of evil. Remnick made me see him in a different light.My advice for a great Ali study program:1. Watch 'When We Were Kings' [Best documentary ever]2. Read 'The Fight' by Norman Mailer 3. Read 'King of the World'4. Buy any book featuring Howard Bingham's photography of Ali.

David Remnick's "King of the World" is one of the best sports biographies ever written. Rarely has an athelete done as much to define his generation or been more controversial than Ali. Hard to believe today, with all of the adoration heaped upon Ali, but he was once a hated figure. This book chronicles his rise up until the time he refused to be drafted for the Vietnam War. Most surprising are the details about his involvement with the Nation of Islam and how that involvement both ruined his first marriage and caused him to turn his back on his great friend, Malcolm X. This book is for sports fans and anyone else interested in reading about an extrodinary life.

I'm a big boxing fan, and am fascinated with both Muhammed Ali, how he evolved from Cassisus Clay, and Sonny Liston. There's a lot of great boxing writing, however, and I thought every angle of these two had already been covered, both in facts and in their roles as mythic figures. So it was with great pleasure (and surprise) I found David Remnick's book so terrific. Besides learning new facts that only a good investigative reporter could dig up 35 years after the fact, the book read like a great story. The prose really flowed, but not in a pretentious way that took away from the subjects, and I think even non-boxing fans would enjoy the tale of when these two tragic men (though Ali wouldn't become tragic for decades)met to fight for the heavyweight crown. I plan on buying a hardcover for my boxing book collection (a shelf I'm VERY discriminating about.)Thanks David Remnick!

This book was fascinating. I remember the grown-ups talking about these fights when I was a kid. I knew they were a big deal, but I didn't know why. Now I do. Mr. Remnick has illuminated the times and the political/racial atmosphere in which these fights took place. I found the short biographies of Floyd Patterson and Sonny Liston especially enlightening. It's surprising to read how loathed Ali was at the time. And how lucky he was! If the first Liston fight hadn't been postponed because of Ali's hernia... when Liston had really trained and was ready... well, who knows? This has been the best sports book I've read in years, and I can't recommend it highly enough. What a wild ride!