An interesting book. But not nearly as comprehensive and thoughtful as Thomas Hauser's biography. One gets the feeling that Ali was looking to make a few bucks without spilling his guts.

I've read parts of this book and it held my interest simply because the subject is interesting. But there is nothing in there that I've not read, known or heard before about Ali. The author makes a conclusion of Ali's style on the basis of just one fight, even if that fight is -- to quote Ali himself -- his "greatest". It is also too short, about 200 pages in paperback and contains very few photos of its larger-than-life subject. So what if Ali created a style that he had to maintain as part of his identity before us his fans and the rest of society? That is not a very original or striking psychological observation.

Okay bio, but it's kind of hard to go wrong with a life story this good and a personality this dynamic. I hoped the book would be better, because I really like Ali.

This is a good summary of various questions about the variant readings and dialect of the Quran. The study explores the issues and various questions about the claimed variant dialects and than variant readings (differing meanings) and existence of various versions of the Quran and proves that all are isolated claims. The book is written from Sunni perspective and views of the Shia are disregarded or claimed to be unfounded. It also have a chapters on the origins of the first Mushaf and questions about abrogation where he agrees with abrogation of Quran with Sunnah in disagreement with Shia's point of view. It is not very conclusive and perhaps could not be but it lists all the famous interpretations and you make up your mind. It is a nice collection of information about the subject. Book is finalized with the qiraat and variations in qiraat.

This book adds to information provided in other exceedingly well-documented books on the same period--including Arieh Avneri's Claim of Dispossession: Jewish Land Settlement 1878-1948 and Joan Peters' From Time Immemorial.

It too cites numerous British census, agricultural, statistical and other reports, and the writings of C.F. Volney, Mark Twain, Edward Robinson (1841) and British consul James Finn (1878). But Idinopulos also turns to other primary and secondary sources, including the 1854-59 German writings (still untranslated) of Ulrich Seetzen, who traveled the Middle East disguised as an Arab.

In the earliest chapters, Idinopulos confirms an important conclusion of Avneri and Peters--that a large Arab migration into Palestine followed the Jewish immigration that began in about 1870. He also notes that thousands of Jews previously lived in the land, and that Palestine was otherwise largely, though not completely, desolate. More than two thirds of the land west of the Jordan River was desert and swamp, including much of the coastal Sharon plain and the interior. Less than a third of it was fertile. Except for a few wealthy landed Muslim families, inhabitants were unlanded and conditions terrible.
Travelers were routinely attacked by Bedouin thieves. The Ottomans overtaxed everyone, adding for Jews and Christians special dhimmi "protection" taxes." Epidemics of Bubonic Plague, malaria and cholera were common.

Idinopulos, however, did not consult the rich Turkish, Jordanian, Egyptian, Russian or other sources used by Efraim and Inari Karsh in Empires of the Sand. That major drawback naturally limits and skews some conclusions.

For example, his map of the Palestine Mandate does not show land east of the Jordan River, although the Mandate included all of current-day Jordan, which Britain unilaterally ceded to the Emir Abdullah in 1922. Idinopulos breezes through this point, attributing its sole importance to political relations between the left-wing labor Zionists and right-wing Revisionists. Its significance was far greater than that.

In an unfootnoted passage, he also reports that in correspondence with King Faisal, Britain's Henry McMahon promised the Arabs domination over Palestine. This is the Arab view, adopted years after the 1915 correspondence.

Efraim and Inari Karsh and David Fromkin give a sharply different picture: McMahon felt he gave no such assurance, and the Karshes substantially document that Faisal knew it. Isaiah Friedman supports them, with translations of the original correspondence, in Palestine: A Twice Promised Land? Among the strongest evidence is Faisal's signature on a 1919 treaty with Chaim Weizman--agreeing that Palestine, including Jordan, was to be a national home for the Jews. Idinopulos omits that important treaty from his history.

We do learn that the Jewish people acquired land by legitimate purchases, often at above-market prices and that Arabs who complained of Jewish immigration "in the darkness of night were selling land to the Jews." British refusal to invest exacerbated problems, just as Ottoman tax laws had done. But while Zionist-induced prosperity increased the Arab population markedly, Arab violence also increased. Intense Arab inter-factional fighting was in part encouraged by Britain, by empowering Jerusalem Mufti Hajj Amin el-Husseini, had given power to the most uncompromising and divisive of Arab forces.

In 1937, the Peel Commission recommended a partition and population transfers like those that had occurred with the Greeks and Turks after their 1922 war. The Arabs rejected the plan because it allowed for a Jewish state, and in 1939, Britain attempted to appease the Arabs by cutting off Jewish immigration.

The early chapters are worth reading for the fine writing and detail. Overall, beware of the errors and glaring omissions. Alyssa A. Lappen

complete guide to frustration. this book is far too simplified as a display to fundamental stance and punching techniques. i would recommend "the boxers start-up".

This book contains almost no information. It is simply a series of photos of the author with famous boxers. I believe, but cannot be certain, that it is self-published. A total waste.

Mr. Acunto has written an outstanding book on many aspects of the sport of boxing for the person who wants to start participating in the sport. It provides a solid foundation for those who want to learn the sweet science and all of its fundamental intricacies. Both the pictures and the text are quite helpful.

Total and utter sheer pap, glurge and mush.

Ali isn't just the most written about boxer ever, he's also the most written about athlete. What a shame that most of the books written about him, like his mushy tribute from one of his many daughters, totally whitewash (no pun intended) one of the most controversial and intriguing figures of the 20th century. I wish somebody would write a biography of Ali that told it like it is, good and bad.

Hana Ali does a marvellous job at presenting her father, the famous and unforgettable Muhammad Ali, and some of his writings. We admired him when he became the World Champion of his boxing category. We admired and supported him when he refused to go and fight in Vietnam for conscientious reasons ; « No Vietcong ever called me a nigger ») and when the system got its vengeance by getting his boxing title off him and putting him in the « can » for quite many years, punishing him for his objection but also punishing his wife and his children. We admired his will power when he reconquered his title. To read his poems, his writings is most invigorating. His daughter presents him as a hero and an angel. We feel his faith in a God of goodwill and charity, of love and peace in every single sentence, in every single page. We understand the total admiration his daughter cultivates for him. Especially since he now endures his natural ordeal which is named Parkinson's. Some pages of that book are beautiful, and that is enough to say so. His love for the poor, for the deprived, for the dispossessed is one more reason to think he was and is a great man, a great spirit, a soul all Afro-Americans can be proud of, a model for younger generations of any race who have lost the desire and the strength to fight for a better future for humanity. An inspiring book that we should all read and comment, that we should have teenagers read and comment in school. Only one flaw in that perfect gem : the one instance when he cannot convince his daughter to eat her vegetables, and he accepts her to dispose of them in the toilet. Has Hana thought of those in the world who have no vegetables at all to eat ? I have been educated in this absolute morality that considers that food is too hard to be bought, cooked, prepared for it to be in any way thrown away. Even bread crumbs can be used to bread some meat or to thicken your soup. But nevertheless, it is and remains an inspiring book. Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, Paris Universities II and IX.

Born Cassius Clay in segregated Louisville, Kentucky, Muhammad Ali grew up to become one of the greatest heavyweight boxing champions ever to step into the ring. Author, Ntozake Shange, details some of the highlights of Ali's life in this very spare, bare-bones biographical sketch. Each two page spread touches on an event in Muhammad Ali's life: his upbringing during the Jim Crow era in a solid, nurturing family; the bike theft that turned him towards boxing..."Somebody stole my bike, and I'm gonna whup 'em good."; his Olympic gold medal; the conversion to Islam, and his fights against Sonny Liston and Joe Frazier. Ms Shange is obviously an avid Ali fan, and the book comes off more as a tribute or hero worship than real biography. There's no meat here, no depth or understanding, just a short timeline of a few unconnected, important events in his life. The strongest part of Float Like A Butterfly are Edel Rodriguez's action-packed, comic-book-like artwork. His big, bold, and appealing illustrations are evocative and dramatic, and often tell more about Ali's life than the text. Written for youngsters 4-8, Float Like A Butterfly is a weak addition to the picture book biography genre. Kids interested in Muhammad Ali and/or boxing would do better to read James Haskin's Champion: The Story of Muhammad Ali.

Dull

The book Muhammad Ali: Champion is a boring biography of Muhammad Ali. This book tells about what Ali has been through and mainly about his boxing career.

I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone. If you've heard of Ali and want to know more about him this would not be the book to get. Once you start reading this book it's kind of interesting but as you get to the middle it gets slow. I didn't this book because as I was reading it I lost my interest.

This is perhaps one of the most inaccurate and propagandized literary works done on the Babi movement. I have studies its history and literature for several years, as I continue to persue my graduate degree in Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University. My conclusion is that the facts are misconstrued to fix an alterior objective--perhaps a dogmatic religious prejudice that emerges within the Ahmaddiy sect of Islam.