Overall, this strikes me as a somewhat lazy book. Rather than offer any original writing, the editors simply cobble together previously published writings by Alex Haley (actually a "Playboy" interview of the young Ali by Haley), Norman Mailer, Joyce Carol Oates, and Peter Richmond, along with a very short introduction by James Earl Jones. The book jacket also boasts of "contributions from" the likes of Malcolm X, Jackie Robinson, George Plimpton, Jim Brown, and numerous others, but this turns out to refer simply to brief quotations that pepper the book, mostly as photo captions.

The quality of the text by the four featured writers is fine. Certainly you can't go wrong with Norman Mailer. His book "The Fight," from which the chapter in this book is excerpted, was one of the first serious works about boxing and Muhammad Ali that I read back in the 70s, and the first thing I ever read by Mailer. I was a big fan of Ali going in, and a fan of Mailer as well coming out.

One can always quibble with editing decisions in a book like this, but being familiar with Mailer's "The Fight," I found some of the choices made here rather peculiar. For example, in Mailer's very lengthy account of the Ali-Foreman fight itself, he presents the fifth round as the most dramatic, action-filled, significant round of the entire fight. In this excerpt, the editors choose to include some of Mailer's set-up for that round (e.g., "[Foreman] came out in the fifth with the conviction that if force had not prevailed against Ali up to now, more force was the answer, considerably more force than Ali had ever seen."), but then simply replace that entire climactic round with ellipsis.

I don't believe I had previously read the other three selections, or at most I had read excerpts from them. But none of them are newly rediscovered gems that will come as revelations to serious Ali fans. They are not weak or uninteresting, but they are recycled material with which many readers will already be familiar.

Similarly, there are many fine photos in the book, but little that has not appeared in one or more similar Ali books in the past. (In terms of both text and photos, I strongly prefer Wilfrid Sheed's superficially similar picture book "Muhammad Ali" to this one.) One exception is that this book includes many fight programs, posters, and tickets that I had not previously come across.

The book is marred by many factual errors committed by the editors in their photo captions. There are many things that a proofreader even minimally familiar with Ali's career should have caught, so one must unfortunately infer considerable sloppiness or laziness on the part of those who put this book together.

For example, contrary to what this book tells you, Ali did not defeat Joe Frazier by fifteen round decision in their third fight. Ali was awarded a technical knockout when Frazier's handlers conceded between the fourteenth and fifteenth rounds. Ali's 1972 fight against George Chuvalo was not a fifteen round decision, but a twelve round decision. (He had defeated Chuvalo by fifteen round decision in an earlier fight in 1966; that might be what confused the editors.) The book states flatly that Ken Norton broke Ali's jaw in the second round of their March 1973 fight. Maybe, but different parties have claimed anything from the first to the twelfth round, so the matter is not without uncertainty. The photo identified as being from Ali's 1971 fight against Jurgen Blin is in fact a photo from the 1974 fight against Foreman.

Though flawed, this book still has worthwhile elements. With such a compelling central character, you would expect nothing less. It's not the best Ali book out there by a long shot, but insofar as it recruits a few more young newcomers into the legions of Ali fans, and gives the rest of us an excuse to reminisce about an extraordinary man and his extraordinary life, it cannot be all bad.

A great book for Ali fans and boxing fans alike. It is a fun trip through the boxing exploits of one of America's, and the Worlds, greatest athletes. A fun table book that you can pick up over and over again. If you want the complete book of Ali's life- this isn't it. What it covers is Ali the Champ fight by fight!

If you're a boxing fan or just an Ali fan, this book will help you relive memories like no other photo book or biography will. If you're NOT, you will still marvel at the art and the wonderful writing on page after page. The text is not sappy, faceless writing like so many other photo or art books. Instead, these are well-written essays from people who know boxing and know Ali -- and their appreciation will make you appreciate Ali's achievements, charisma, and larger-than-life persona that has led so many to name him the athlete of the century. (If you're looking for more of a narrative, Davis Miller's new "The Tao of Muhammad Ali" is the perfect complement to this book.)

This is a decent read, though not too learn anything about Malcolm x. It was written while Elijah Muhammad was still alive, so some of the seedier details of the story of their split are left out, probably out of a fear of villifying the NOI. The script that was eventually used for Spike Lee's film is an improvement, both dramatically and historically. Clearly, though, Baldwin deserved some credit in the film, as there were passages of dialogue and story elements that remain. He actually has credit in the film, but not on the promo work on the tape cover. All things told, I'd only recommend it to Baldwin and Malcolm X completists.

the beginning was powerful when he reveiwed his childhood. his speeches were a bit biased, but they told a good story about life. What is life? Is life, life? Are we life? Does the cookbook give the proper recipe for twice baked potatoes? Loving is Life. Malcolm X had trouble finding this realization, but his message was bold, powerful, and worth reading about. Cheese is good. Beef, it's what's for dinner.

I added this book to my project for multi-cultural children's book in the class for children's literature. The text shows how chinese people get ready for New Year and it, inviting poeple home with a lot of food, putting read papaer in the house, or putting on a new clothe. It is so fun to see what they do looking at the colorful pictures. It does not contain historical background in detail;however, it is a good children's book to introduce children to other culture and evoke their interest.