Book Description

This highly acclaimed, prize-winning biography of one of the foremost political philosophers of the twentieth century is here reissued in a trade paperback edition for a new generation of readers. In a new preface the author offers an account of writings by and about Arendt that have appeared since the book’s 1982 publication, providing a reassessment of her subject’s life and achievement.

Praise for the earlier edition:

“Both a personal and an intellectual biography . . . It represents biography at its best.”—Peter Berger, front page, The New York Times Book Review

“A story of surprising drama . . . . At last, we can see Arendt whole.”—Jim Miller, Newsweek

“Indispensable to anyone interested in the life, the thought, or . . . the example of Hannah Arendt.”—Mark Feeney, Boston Globe

“An adventure story that moves from pre-Nazi Germany to fame in the United States, and . . . a study of the influences that shaped a sharp political awareness.”—Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch

•Winner of the 1983 Alfred Harcourt Prize Award for Biography and Memoirs
•Winner of the Fourth Annual Kenneth B. Smilen/Present Tense Literary Award for Biography
•Winner of the 1983 Yale Governor’s Prize
•Nominated for the 1983 National Jewish Book Award in History

Elisabeth Young-Bruehl, who now practices as a psychoanalyst in New York City, is on the faculty of the Columbia Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research.

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Reviews (2)

A wonderful biography, with a flaw
Young-Bruehl is a master biographer. Her principal subject is not so much Hannah Arendt, but Arendt's mind; to that subject, Young-Bruehl's account is faithful and without flaws. Hannah Arendt was by all accounts a singular philosopher. Her work spanned philosophical categories other philosophers, upon entering, become trapped inside: political theorist, phenomenologist, ancient philosopher, and theologian. Young-Bruehl deftly handles and communicates the originality of Arendt's intellectual bent, depth, and perspective. For the bulk of the biography, Young-Bruehl offers Arendt herself the same thoughtful treatment--empathetic, appreciative, but never adoring. It is only at the book's very end, on a single page, that Young-Bruehl indulges in moralizing: she chides "some Jews" for failing to appreciate that Arendt's unflinching insight, and not her indifference to her people, produced her callous, even cruel 'observation' that not all Jews who died in the Holocaust were saints ("Eichmann in Jerusalem.") Much like her subject did, Young-Bruehl thus fails adequately to appreciate that what was for Arendt an intellectual asset was also a personal failing; some 'truths' are better left unsaid. However, Young-Bruehl's treatment is otherwise so careful, thorough, and insightful, that even this flaw is as open to view as its subject.

a fascinating ,well written and judicious biography
This book has become something of a classic. It unearths a mass of detail about Arendt's life - the pages on her upbringing and experiences before her flight from Europe are particularly memorable. However, the main focus is kept firmly on the way Arendt's thought developed during her life. The author [who knew Arendt in her later years] is well versed in philosophy and political thought and so her account becomes a useful companion to studies of Arendt's many contributions to modern thought: 'totalitarianism', 'the banality of evil', the loss of public space in the contemporary west and much more. This book is not the kind of simple minded attempt to reduce thought to biography that we see all too often. While it is no hagiography [Arendt comes in for some serious criticism on occasion], it ends with a sense of celebration for a life well lived, one of passionate thinking motivated by 'love of the world' ... Read more

Book Description

An intellectual dialogue of the highest plane achieved in America, the correspondence between John Adams and Thomas Jefferson spanned half a century and embraced government, philosophy, religion, quotidiana, and family griefs and joys. First meeting as delegates to the Continental Congress in 1775, they initiated correspondence in 1777, negotiated jointly as ministers in Europe in the 1780s, and served the early Republic--each, ultimately, in its highest office. At Jefferson's defeat of Adams for the presidency in 1800, they became estranged, and the correspondence lapses from 1801 to 1812, then is renewed until the death of both in 1826, fifty years to the day after the Declaration of Independence.

Lester J. Cappon's edition, first published in 1959 in two volumes, provides the complete correspondence between these two men and includes the correspondence between Abigail Adams and Jefferson. Many of these letters have been published in no other modern edition, nor does any other edition devote itself exclusively to the exchange between Jefferson and the Adamses. Introduction, headnotes, and footnotes inform the reader without interrupting the speakers. This reissue of The Adams-Jefferson Letters in a one-volume unabridged edition brings to a broader audience one of the monuments of American scholarship and, to quote C. Vann Woodward, 'a major treasure of national literature.' ... Read more

Reviews (13)

Two of Americas greatest minds in their own words
What a joy it is to read the correspondence between two of America's greatest founding fathers. Through this collection of letters we begin to get into the minds of men who created and shaped this nation. We read of their dreams, expectations and fears for this new nation as well as typical correspondence between friends. That is when they were talking to each other. When the two men weren't, Abigail continued to write Jefferson to try and heal the breach. My favorite letter is from John Adams to Jefferson to tell him to stop writing his wife. This is a book for anyone who loves the human side of history and enjoys getting to know the real people behind the legends. I first read it in college, and then spent ten years trying to find it again. Now that I have, it will never leave my bookshelf.

The Adams-Jefferson Letters
The Adams-Jefferson Letters: The Complete Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson and Abigail and John Adams edited by Lester J. Cappon is a remarkable book containing letter correspondence of the time when the United States was being formed and for fifty more years.

It is very interesting to read their letters to find out what really was on their minds concerning issues of the day. Americana at its best is what you come away with after reading these letters. The letters are in chronological order and are placed in order of response to the letter sent. Thomas Jefferson was a very prolific letter writer and the subjects the he discussed with John Adams vary greatly, but that is what made these letters very interesting. Also, the depth and the detail of the letters is remarkable.

Abigail Adams for a woman of her time was well versed and her letters to both Jefferson and her husband showed character, wit, and resolve. She was well aware of what was going on around her and you could tell by her letters that she loved her husband while he was away in the duty of his country.

This collection of letters is a real treasure, if you read or study the American Revolution, you have to own this book. This makes an excellent reference volume to fall back on when you get to the footnotes and want a more detailed reference, you can with these letters readily at hand.

I would recommend this volume for your home library.

Letters worthy of their Authors
There is no substitute for the real thing... As successful as McCullough, Ellis, Wood, or any author may be at recreating and judging their lives and times, you cannot know them better than by reading their words. While I don't recommend this as an introduction of any of the three characters (Feminists be warned! Abigail is barely a feminist and gets short treatment since she wrote far fewer letters to Jefferson than John), it offers a leap in understanding for anyone who has a rudimentary background in the period.

All passion spent, but wisdom remains...
When Jefferson and the Adamses retired from public life, the result was the basis for this wonderful little book. Lester Cappon has produced one of the gems of scholarship on the autumn relationship of Adams and Jefferson. Perhaps the greatest testament to the scholarship and skill of the editor is the fact that this book has remained in print continuously since 1959. Though unlikely ever to score the impressive sales record of the recent biography of John Adams, this work is for those interested readers who want to learn more about the early days of the republic. One warning, the participants were all products of the 18th century. One should not be misled by the formality of the prose (any more than one should be misled by the gushy emotionalism of the victorian era). Adams reveals himself (this was his justification for his life and beliefs) in a straight forward manner. Jefferson, tells us more about himself by his personality by his lack of candor.

A consumate reference

This is an absolutely invaluable volume; the complete correspondence of two of our most important and able minds whose untiring efforts did much to shape our new nation and its form of government.

The fact that our current government has departed so far from their vision is the fault of lesser men who followed these early men of genius, who were so devoted to the ideal of a workable constitutional republic. Indeed, for the last several generations of politicians it sometimes seems that principle has been replaced by expediency in our public servants.

John Adams and Thomas Jefferson were, without any doubt at all, true geniuses who mastered a large variety of disciplines, from literature to philosophy, theology, governmental design, the mastery of several languages, engineering, astronomy, navigation (see their remarks concerning Nathanael Bowditch, pp. 534,536,540), and especially diplomacy and political intrigue.

Jefferson's remarks about the pronunciation of the ancient Greek language (pp. 536-539) shows a deep and penetrating interest in a subject that today is of interest only to advanced scholars. Indeed, most of their correspondence in their later years demonstrates an interest and, indeed, vast knowledge on a wide variety of subjects. Theirs was an age of generalists -- men who were conversant on a broad range of subjects -- as opposed to today, when we tend to specialization.

Much of their early correspondence included references to Dr. Benjamin Franklin, with whom they were associated while the three of them represented the United States in Europe and England, in creating trade treaties and diplomatic ventures, including relations with the Barbary states (pirates). Abigail Adams also engaged in correspondence with Thomas Jefferson, and many of her letters are included.

We are in debt to several scholars who compiled the materials in this book from the libraries and writings of Jefferson and Adams, of whom Lester Cappon, the editor of this volume, has given much credit.

This book is a gold mine for anyone interested in either of these great men, or in the early history of the United States, or for that matter, the world during that epoch.

Joseph Pierre

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Amazon.com's Best of 2001

The traditional title for St. Augustine's classic devotional work The Confessions can be misleading. Because it is a transliteration, not a translation, of the Latin title, it encourages readers to think of the work as an autobiography, when in fact it is a prayer. Saint Augustine's Childhood, Garry Wills's translation of the first book of the Confessiones renders the work in fresh language, corrects scores of misinterpretations, and explains the prayerful nature of the book's structure, style, imagery, and rhetoric. The text describes infancy and the period during which children learn to talk, seamlessly incorporating scriptural allusions that have pockmarked previous translations. The concise notes and commentary, and a crucial appendix, bring Augustine's ideas about language acquisition into dialogue with more contemporary theories, such as Noam Chomsky's. Like Wills's short biography of Augustine for the Penguin Lives series, this project is masterfully rendered, and will be appreciated equally by scholars, students, and the general reader. Wills's sophistication is leavened by an appealing lightness. He describes one Latin term as "a nice frog-croak of a word"; a period of Augustine's adolescence is "a year of mild hell-raising"; and, paraphrasing Chesterton, Wills memorably suggests that "original sin becomes easier to understand at the moment when, on a long summer's afternoon, bored children begin to torture the cat." --Michael Joseph Gross ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A travesty of Augustine's work
The absurdities produced by Wills' eccentric treatment of Augustine multiply like rabbits. One example: Wills insists on calling Augustine's son Adeodatus "Godsend" rather than Adeodatus. It is true that the etymology of the name roughly corresponds to "Godsend," but given the fact that almost every name in antiquity "meant something," this tick is supremely annoying. His translations are clunky to the extreme. He translates the classic line, "Our hearts are restless until they rest in you" (inquietum est cor nostrum donec requiescat in te) as "Our heart is unstable until stabilized in you."

If you have to read the Confessions in English, by all means stick with Henry Chadwick. ... Read more

Book Description

When Muhammad Ali met Joe Frazier in Manila for their third fight, their rivalry had spun out of control. The Ali-Frazier matchup had become a madness, inflamed by the media and the politics of race. When the "Thrilla in Manila" was over, one man was left with a ruin of a life; the other was battered to his soul.

Mark Kram covered that fight for Sports Illustrated in an award-winning article. Now his riveting book reappraises the boxers -- who they are and who they were. And in a voice as powerful as a heavyweight punch, Kram explodes the myths surrounding each fighter, particularly Ali. A controversial, no-holds-barred account, Ghosts of Manila ranks with the finest boxing books ever written.

Reviews (36)

Legacies of Great Fighters
Although Ghosts of Manilla is ostensibly focused on the 1975 "Thrilla in Manila" in which Muhammad Ali outlasted Joe Frazier in a brutal slugfest, the book really digs into who these men were before boxing, how boxing affected them, and how we should look upon them. Those looking for lots of boxing excitement will probably be disappointed. The fight descriptions are the least well done parts of the book. Those who are looking into what heavyweight boxing is really like will get more than they bargained for. The personal record on Muhammad Ali is dramatically revised downward, and you will again be reminded that boxing is a brutal sport. After the fight, "one left with the ruin of a life, the other battered to his soul." When offered a chance to watch the fight on videotape, Muhammad Ali declined. "I don't wanna look at hell again." The book's stylistic weakness is that the author is very opinionated, and often borders on sarcasm in conveying his views.

Mr. Kram has been a boxing reporter for many years, and has had close access to most of the people he writes about in the book. As a result, he can portray his own discussions and observations from a first-hand perspective. He seems to have decided to "tell it like it is" on events that many reporters probably observe but do not comment about in public. On the other hand, he does this telling as tastefully as possible while not pulling his punches.

The book is much more about Mr. Ali than about Mr. Frazier. The key themes that are new about Mr. Ali are that he was controlled by the Black Muslims through fear of being killed, had an uncontrolled sexual appetite, did severe damage to the personalities of the black boxers he verbally humiliated, treated one of his daughters poorly, and was an unprincipled self-promoter. The book also covers familiar territory about whether or not he was a hero for resisting the draft, a good role model for young people, and the effect that boxing had on his developing Parkinson's Disease.

I learned more about Mr. Frazier than I had known before. The man was an enigma to me at the time of the fight. Now, I think I understand him better. I was sorry to see how bitter he has become, due to his treatment by Mr. Ali and the public.

To me, Mr. Ali's appeal lay mostly in his unorthodox fighting style and in his willingness to try new things. Although both attributes are mentioned in the book, I think they were overly downplayed. I never expect boxers to be role models for children. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the book was the part that focused on what it meant to people how the heavyweight champion comported himself. That certainly says a lot about our society.

After you finish this book, I suggest that you think about how you would have played the cards that were dealt to Mr. Ali and Mr. Frazier. What would you have done differently? What would you have liked to have done differently?

Satisfy yourself by meeting your own high standards!

Not a Love Song to Professional Boxing
Mark Kram appears to know the boxing world inside and out. My biggest complaint is that at times the metaphors and allusions the author uses are more than a bit on the purple side. However, the book in general is well written and holds your attention. The author knows his subject well.

What a subject! He's somewhat merciless to Ali. But he cites more than a little evidence to show Ali as an arrogant, pretentious, and mean bully to his opponents, and frequently to his close associates. One has to feel sorry for many of the women that he got involved with--although with some of them you have to feel sorry for Ali. Ali comes off in Kram's book as being the perennial petulant child. As a political leader he is portrayed as laughably uninformed which could not be compensated for by his very real personal charm and charisma.

Kram sees the Black Muslims in a very negative light. He sees Ali as being almost totally dominated and manipulated by them. He touches on Ali's abandonment of Malcom X--a man of much distinction in Kram's eyes. He also hints that Sonny Liston might have thrown his two fights against Ali out of fear of the Muslims. He quotes George Foreman as saying that Liston was the only opponent who ever backed him up in a ring. He also draws a highly sympathetic portrait of Liston--much like David Remnick in his 1999 book. It's good to see the restoration of a man who has been maligned by so many people. Sonny was no saint, but then who would be with the kind childhood and life that he had to suffer from? May his spirit rest in peace. By comparison, Ali had a life of ease and privilege.

Kram is very kind towards some of the other of Ali's opponents. He obviously displays much sympathy and compassion for Joe Frazier. The poor boy from a family of 25 children in South Carolina. He was the real flesh and blood black model for Stallone's Hollywood treatment/white transformation. He portrays Frazier as a sympathetic person and great fighter with little of the meanness and malice of Ali. The author deals at length with Ali's racist taunts of Frazier.

The author is also obviously very fond Floyd Patterson. Another unfairly maligned heavyweight--and underrated one as well. Ali's verbal treatment of Patterson, Frazier, and others was not one of the highlights in his career. He apparently learned much from professional wrestling theatrics. And today's pro wrestling probably owes some of it's hype to his example.

Kram, the veteran sports writer, writes admiringly of Sugar Ray Robinson and sees him as being truly the greatest boxer of all time. He admits that Ali might be the greatest heavyweight of all time--although he claims he was not a particularly good inside fighter and did not have particularly impressive hooks. He admits to his very impressive skills and also his magnetic charm. However, in this book he more or less tells the Ali worshippers that they need to take a lot of cold showers. From his view, this guy is not the great hero that so much sports writing puffery has proclaimed him to be in recent years. It's very hard to be the great political figure and leader when you haven't a clue as to what politics is about. Writers should definitely cool any comparisons to Martin Luther King or Malcom X.

Finally, this book will not make you want to pick up the gloves for a career as a boxer. Moreover, if you have children, it will cause you to want to injure them if they ever even think about pursuing boxing. When I was younger I admired the courage and skill of those who were accomplished boxers. But now I have to agree with the ex-amateur boxer, Rod Serling, who portrayed the "sport" as a decadent, disgusting, barbaric aberration. This isn't sport, it's about brain damage to the participants and the moral degradation of the "fans". At one time I, too, was one of those "fans". Hopefully, boxing will eventually be seen for what it is and die a quiet death of irrelevance. Anyway, this book is truly about the "living death" of the two gladiators of the "thrilla from Manila".

Kram doesn't like Ali, but he doesn't really get it
It seems that Kram's primary goal in Ghosts of Manila is to deconstruct Ali's mythical legacy. He claims to be one of the few journalists who saw and still see Ali as he truly was - a not-so-bright, often mean-spirited, self-promoting man and easily manipulated tool of the Nation of Islam. He rejects the idea of Ali being a real symbol of the civil rights movement, and instead, he portrays him as a propaganda machine for the Nation of Islam. The author also takes serious issue with Ali's treatment of Frazier who he portrays as a fine human being with a few minor flaws whose life was permanently changed for the worse as a result of his bouts with Ali.

Now, there are definitely truths to Kram's viewpoints. Sure, Ali was not really the civil rights hero he's often portrayed to be. He was also an incorrible womanizer, and he didn't treat a lot of people around him very well. Unfortunately, Kram goes overboard in his attempt to completely destroy the Ali myth. For instance, maybe Ali wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed, but he was smart enough to use psychological warfare against both Frazier and Foreman inside and outside of the ring. Neither Frazier nor Foreman could fight back in like manner suffering devastating losses as a result. Also, Kram forgets a big reason why Ali was so loved. He was so damn charismatic. One needs only to view the Oscar-winning documentary "When We Were Kings" to appreciate Ali's appeal.

The story of Frazier's life is indeed sad, and he is still not appreciated as the great fighter that he was. Unfortunately, no matter how much Kram wants to build up Frazier's legend while destroying Ali's myth, the fact remains that Ali's place in sports history is secure because of his arrival at the right time in boxing and politics and not to mention, he was a hell of a fighter.

I did learn a great deal from this book, and I do agree with the author on many points about Ali's myth. I just think that he went for the overkill and failed.

A cheap shot, but an essential look at Ali
A cheap shot, but an essential look at Ali

The Times' caption on the cover of "Ghosts of Manila" says, "...at times unbearably vivid". I feel there is no better way to express the angst I felt while reading this highly informative book by Mark Kram. Muhammad Ali has been the greatest hero in my life, and it is despairing to see so many skeletons fall out of the closet.

I am not saying that I endorse the book wholeheartedly. For, in his attempt at the de-beatification of Ali, Kram gets carried away and hits Ali left, right and center. He does it to such an extreme that you doubt whether Kram's intentions are honest. You start to wonder whether Kram is taking cheap shots now at a man who cannot defend himself. It is clear from the book that Kram's relations with Ali during his career were not cozy, and he just might be hitting back at Ali.

However, honestly speaking, I do not want to debase the book either. Kram's account is one of the most vivid and informative literature in boxing you will find. No one in my view has described the careers of two of the greatest champions of the ring, Ali and Joe Frazier, with such blunt objectivity.

While Ali has had reams and reams written about him, Smokin' Joe Frazier has been quite undeservingly sidelined in boxing history. This seems to be the leitmotif of Kram's work. It is apparent that Kram is a big fan of Smoke, and he uses this book to take Smoke's side and slam Ali. This gives one a clear opportunity to criticize Kram: was it Ali's fault that he was the most charismatic and skilled champion in history, and that Joe was just unfortunate to compete in Ali's era?

Whatever the underlying reason for Kram's disaffection for Ali, he has done a great job of producing an insightful critique of Ali, about a man we do not fully know; a side we have never seen. When the book ends, you will, if you're an Ali fan, feel weak in the guts, and will be forced to question your admiration of Ali, if at least for some time. (One revelation that is most disturbing is about the cherished Hudson incident, where Ali is said to have tossed his Olympic gold medal in the Hudson River. Kram reveals that the incident never even happened!)

Joe Frazier is given preferential treatment by Kram, who must nonetheless be praised for letting us know more about a great champion that most of have forgotten. Joe's rise from being a farm boy to a great champion is very moving. It is interesting when Kram reveals that Joe practiced his punching skills by hitting carcasses at a butchery in Philadelphia where he worked. This was copied by Sylvester Stallone in "Rocky". More importantly, Kram blasts a great myth that has existed about Joe: that he wasn't a proud black, that he was a "white man's champion". Kram roundly blames Ali for propagating this idea about Joe, who lacked the smartness and intelligence to fight back and dispel the notion. According to Kram, Ali, worried that new champ Joe might disturb his position as the foremost black hero of America, spread the notion to consolidate his position in the black community. This reason is termed by Kram as the most important one in Ali and Joe's rivalry, which continues to this day. The ugliness of the rivalry can be gauged by the way Joe reacted to Ali lighting the torch at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996, infamously saying that he felt like pushing Ali down in the flame.

An important note is that this book is more about what happened out of the ring than inside, because Kram apparently doesn't want to take the attention away from the personal lives and rivalry of the two fighters and place it at the boxing techniques of the two, which is what most writers are wont to do.

All said and done, "The Ghosts of Manila" is simply a must read for any boxing fan. For all theories that exist, there must be objective and clear-sighted studies done to clearly project the real side of things. This is what Kram's book is, and this is what it should be ultimately praised for.

You might conclude from the above review that I have mixed feelings for the book, which, in most ways, is right. Perhaps the correct view to take is that you could either love or hate this book, but you will not be able to ignore it.

A footnote might well be that for many days I wasn't at peace with myself for why I had admired Ali so much, and whether I should still continue with my admiration of him as "The Greatest". But then, I have come to the conclusion that none of us is without faults. Great people are no exception; it's just that their faults are in the limelight. In retrospect, we have seen how much Ali has done as an ambassador for peace in the world; how much hope he still gives us even with his debilitating disease; and how much he is still loved. It's my suggestion to Mark Kram to let bygones be bygones, and join in with the rest of us.

the author is bitter and biased
The reader will get the sense that the author Mark Kram is bitter and filled with contempt. He shrewdly attempts to downgrade Ali's essence simply because of his hidden racist ideologies. Don't buy it, there are many amazing books on Muhammad Ali, written by people who can absorb what Ali emanates and can put that into writing. But this one should be forgotten. He claims that Ali is NOT a hero because he hasn't done anything worthy of that title. So to read an entire book from an author who has no understanding of what makes a human being larger than life is a waste of money and time. ... Read more

Book Description

From the world's foremost agency of independent photographers, Magnum Photos, comes a stunning photographic portrait of the Olympic gold medalist, heavyweight champion, and 20th-century icon Muhammad Ali. Astonishingly intimate images by some of the world's best photographers capture Ali's flamboyant style and extraordinary charisma. His shocking upset victory over Sonny Liston, his conversion to the Nation of Islam, his outspoken stances on social issues, which made him a controversial figure during the turbulent 1960s: all unfold before us in these compelling images.

Stripped of his title when he refused induction into the armed services in 1967 and unable to fight until the U.S. Supreme Court upheld his draft appeal in 1971, Ali went on to compile a 56-5 record, wage furious ring battles with Joe Frazier and George Foreman that were among boxing's biggest events, and become the only man ever to win the heavyweight crown three times. Ali remains one of the world's most recognized and beloved figures, whose lighting of the flame at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta moved millions the world over. His exceptional life and achievements provide fertile material for this remarkable photo-essay. AUTHOR BIO: Magnum Photos, a photographic cooperative founded in 1947 by Henri Cartier-Bresson, Robert Capa, David Seymour, and George Rodger, has editorial offices in New York, London, Paris, and Tokyo. The Magnum Photo Library houses some one million images. Dave Anderson, a sports columnist for The New York Times, was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for distinguished commentary. He has written more than 20 books, including four best-sellers with John Madden. ... Read more

Book Description

Thirty years of ringside reporting from one of the world's most honored sportswriters

A living legend on both sides of the Atlantic, British sportswriter Hugh McIlvanney is best known for his incisive ringside boxing commentaries. Employing a writing style as muscular as it is graceful, McIlvanney never fails to infect the reader with his enthusiasm and sense of awe for the sport, while at the same time revealing the deeper truths at work in all such extreme expressions of human will and physical prowess. As one critic put it, "The genius of McIlvanney is his ability to magnify and precisely delineate those elements of sport that contain fundamental truths about the human condition."

First published in 1983 to great acclaim, this sport classic is reprinted with the addition of recent dispatches to span 30 years of ringside reporting. The Hardest Game includes McIlvanney's commentaries on such immortal bouts as "The Rumble in the Jungle" (Foreman vs. Ali, Zaire, 1974) and "The Thriller in Manila" (Ali vs. Frazier, Philippines, 1975), and the most memorable fights in the careers of Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield, Lennox Lewis, and others.

"Anyone who admires writing as muscular as it is graceful should buy this book." -- The Daily Telegraph

Reviews (1)

McIllvaney is Incredible!
Probably the most eloquent sportswriter I've encountered, he combines his wonderful writing technique with a thorough knowledge of the sport gleaned from years spent ringside. Best of all are his comments on the sport of boxing in general, which succinctly describe the multitude of paradoxes that exist within an environment that is at once brutal and, in its own way, incredibly noble. McIllvaney understands boxers and their suffering and transmits their lives so realistically, it's as if one knows them personally. You can't go wrong with this one! ... Read more

Book Description

A fan’s-eye-view of one of tennis’ most notorious stars.

The greatest sports stars characterize their times. They also help to tell us who we are. John McEnroe, at his best and worst, encapsulated the story of the eighties. His improvised quest for tennis perfection and his inability to find a way to grow up dramatized the volatile self-absorption of a generation. His matches were open therapy sessions and they allowed us all to be armchair shrinks.

Tim Adams sets out to explore what it might have meant to be John McEnroe during those times and to define exactly what it is we want from our sporting heroes: how we require them to play out our own dramas; how the best of them provide an intensity that we can measure our own lives by.

Talking to McEnroe, his friends and rivals, and drawing on a range of references, Tim Adams presents a book that is both a portrait of the most colourful player ever to pick up a racket and an original study of the idea of sporting obsession. ... Read more

Book Description

Reviews (6)

Everything but the 'legend" of King Arthur
One of the greatest English myths is of King Arthur, Camelot and the Knights of the Round Table; the legend says if England is in dire trouble, Arthur and his knights will ride once again to their rescue.

Unfortunately, this book mostly ignores the legend and limits itself to bare facts. Without giving away the plot, the book concludes that either Arthur really existed even if no one is sure of what all he accomplished, or else someone with the same name did it all. In other words, it's good investigative history with a poor understanding of King Arthur.

Although it may not be apparent to an Englishman, King Arthur embodies the finest of the English spirit and attitudes. He was a great warrior who successfully defended his land against almost impossible odds (to be specific, the Saxon invaders from Germany). He was the architect of English fair play, justice, equality and democracy -- why else have a "round table" at which all are equal?

It was the Normans who imposed an absolute monarchy; the English, in the Magna Carta, told them that no one in England has the right of absolute rule. The legend warns of the perfidious French in the person of Lancelot, who seduces the Queen. In today's England, the legend of King Arthur says "this is who we would like to be."

Ashe provides a cornucopia of facts about the possibilities or likelihood of the real King Arthur, including a tantalizing suggestion the origins of the legend may date back to the beginnings of Stonehenge some 4,000 years ago. Granted, this may be a latter day addition to the legend, in effect claiming "we've always been like this." Or, it may indicate the stubborn English individuality may date much further back than anyone suspects.

It's a pity Ashe didn't examine the legend and it's modern meanings -- even in the recent American form with Richard Burton in Camelot -- and how this grew out of the facts he has compiled. The legends of Beowulf, der Ring des Nibelungen, Gitchee Manitou, the Good Soldier Schweik and others tell a lot about people. Someday, in a far distant time and place, "legends" of Battle of Britain pilots may merge with Camelot; think of Squadron Leader Arthur, his Spitfire knights gathering around a table in some pub after battling the Saxons.

Impossible? In America, legendary stories of George Washington began to arise within a few decades of his death. Today, true believers swear by such stories. Such modern legends express the best of America. It's what legends mean.

History is more than facts -- it is also meaning.

This book is a rich trove of facts, well worth reading. Whatever one thinks of King Arthur, this book provides a solid foundation for further analysis. I'd have preferred more, in the line of "here's what the legend means." Even limited as it is, it's well worth reading.

A Must Have For Arthurian Enthusiasts
I've skimmed this book several times (for the pictures) before I gave it a real chance when college professors pointed out the thesis of Ashe's work: there are remarkable parallels between the "legendary" King Arthur of Geoffrey of Monmouth and Riothamus, an actual 5th century British King.

Ashe brilliantly leads up to his thesis by presenting the facts, the legends, and previous attempts to discovery the "real" Arthur ("The Old Welsh Trail"). By doing so, Ashe gives the readers the proper context to fit his thesis into.

There are excellent pictures of late Roman/early Saxon Britain artifacts and most interesting of all: an artist's conception of an "Arthurian Knight".

Ashe's book is far more legitimate than King Arthur: The True Story, written by Graham Phillips and Martin Keatman. Although well-written, Phillips and Keatman's book tries to link a petty Welsh King of the early 6th century (Owain Ddantgwyn of the Annales Cambriae) with Nennius's King Arthur merely because "he was in the right place at the right time", his nephew Maglocunus could have been Mordred, and because he is mentioned as the "Bear", which means Arthur or something.

This is no criticism of Ashe's believable and accurate work but I must say that I can't believe that Riothamus is the ONLY Arthur. No one can deny that Geoffrey of Monmouth based a good of Arthur's continental campaigns on Riothamus but what about Nennius and the other Welsh Dark Age manuscripts? What about Ambrosius Aurelianus's successor, the Romano-British Warlord/King who slaughtered the Saxons at Mount Badon, a battle that Gildas reported? Riothamus fought in the 460s and 470s, a period atleast 20 years before the battle at Mount Badon. I think there were two special men, the warlord of Badon, and Riothamus, who captured the imagination of the Welsh, and Geoffrey of Monmouth incorporated the two into one man.

Fascinating look into myth and reality
As a King Arthur enthusiast, I read this book both with awe, and admiration for the author, Geoffrey Ashe. His insight and passion, and vast historical knowledge, into finding out the facts behind the legend of King Arthur make "The Discovery of King Arthur" a powerful read indeed. Ashe unravels the tangled myths to reveal the facts behind the legend, and pinpoints Arthur to one individual who, more than any other man, fits the description of "Arthur". Ashe makes a very provocative, and eloquent, case for his existance; and bases his argument on facts, rather than hearsay, or personal opinion. We may never know whether or not King Arthur actually existed; however, Ashe treats us to a well written and fascinating look into myth and reality, as well as giving us a history lesson we cannot possibly fall asleep reading.

Indispensible Reading for Arthurian Enthusiasts
This book represents the culmination of a lifetime of research by a leading scholar. Geoffrey Ashe should be commended for the great advances he has made in uncovering the history underlying the legend of King Arthur. Even if one finally decides to reject (as I do) the equation of the historical Arthur with Riothamus, one must nonetheless come to share Ashe's appreciation that the history of Britain in this period cannot be properly understood apart from events transpiring elswehere in the Roman Empire, especially Gaul.

The most brilliant and important thesis on this subject.
I've read this book 5 times now, and it still impresses and amazes me. To be perfectly honest, I did not realize its brilliance and importance until the second time I read it. When this book was first published in the mid 80s, I was already a fan of Ashe, having read other books by him about reconstructing a historical Arthur figure and culture. The first time I read it, I thought that it was weak and conflicted with theories put forth by him in his previous books -- theories which I felt were fine and did not need to be improved on. A couple of years ago, someone convinced me to read it a second time, and it absolutely blew my mind! So I recomend that anyone who is not impressed with it give it another chance. Yes, it shifts Arthur chronologically back a generation or so, but many Arthurian events are being shifted back several years in light of the most up-to-date scholoarship. What Ashe does is he lines up the legend of Arthur, as told by Geoffrey of Monmouth, side by side with the history of the fifth century British king, Riothamus, and points out not just a few, but a whole slew of parallels. There are many theories out there trying to reconstruct a historical King Arthur (e.g. see my review of _King Arthur: The True Story_ by Graham Phillips and Martin Keatman), many of which try to identify Arthur with someone on record under a different name; most such theories are weak at best and often quite preposterous, being based on the vaguest scraps of evidence and the most tenuous conicidences. Ashe's theory, on the other hand, is a startlingly strong case made up of a preponderance of circumstantial evidence; one may point to any one thing and say that it is only a coincidence, but when you get layer upon layer of these and couple it with archaeological evidence, one can no longer dismiss the similarities between Riothamus and Arthur as mere coincidence. Take it from a guy who has read a lot of books and articles on this subject: this is not just another among the myriad of historical Arthur theories; this deserves to be far and away the preeminent reconstruction of a historical Arthur. Ashe is a genius! ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Sit right down...
Stephen Cooper, associate professor of religious studies at Franklin and Marshall College in Pennsylvania, has produced a very readable and practical guide to Augustine in this text, 'Augustine for the Armchair Theologians'. At first glance, one might think that the text is not a serious text (not always a bad thing to assume, mind you), as there are line-art drawing of a cartoon-ish nature throughout, but this is no book for dummies (although it is very accessible). Cooper does not dishonour the text of Augustine's 'Confessions', instead following very closely the autobiographical portion of the 'Confessions', deviating only to bring in outside material (from Augustine or from other sources) to further enlighten the reader.

Augustine remains a pivotal figure, both in church history, and history of the world generally. A man of great passion and great intellect, he combined these in fascinating ways, producing what many call the first real autobiography (in his 'Confessions') and putting together a mammoth collection of practical and philosophical theological writings, such that the scholar Isidore of Seville wrote that 'he who claims to have mastered all of Augustine is a liar'.

Augustine lived at the time of the fall of Rome and the initial breakdown of Roman society, a time when the primary surviving institution was the church, and the world longed for stability of 'the good old days'. Augustine himself was a man of great passion who had in his youth no problem of acting out of that passion; he had deep, powerful relationships and a keen intellect and personality that attracted people to him. It is perhaps this social aspect, Cooper states, that is the primary aspect of Augustine, both in his relationship in the world and his desiring a relationship with a God who also desires to be in relationship.

Cooper follows the first nine books (chapters) of 'Confessions' closely, and gives a brief overview of the rest of the 'Confessions', to some extent doing in some regard what he criticises others for doing - Cooper mentions that often when 'Confessions' are assigned as reading in college, only the first nine books are required. The tenth book is a remarkable piece of psychological self-study (centuries before psychological study was born), and the rest give insights into the way Augustine read scripture (a vitally important piece in understanding Augustine's overall thought development) as well as the kinds of unanswered questions that followed Augustine throughout the rest of his career.

Cooper's concludes with an overview of Augustine's life as a bishop (after the death of his mother, his best friend, and his son) and some of his actions, particularly with regard to controversial issues such as the dealing with the Donatists (an officially heretical group still in vogue in northern Africa). Cooper gives some discussion of major issues and writings in Augustine's life post-'Confessions', but given the massive amount of work Augustine produced, this could be in Cooper's book little more than a sampler and outline.

One might wish for a few more chapters to give depth to the issues in Augustine's later works, including some of his sermons, biblical studies, and his work in the massive 'City of God'. Hopefully the easy and energetic writing of this text will inspire readers to further study in Augustine's works, and to that end, Cooper provides suggestions for further reading, which includes brief pieces (Chadwick's 'Augustine: A Very Short Introduction') and magisterial works (Fitzgerald's 'Augustine through the Ages'), as well as the scholarly standards (Brown's 'Augustine of Hippo: A Biography'). There is a brief index as well.

The illustrations by Ron Hill give to a certain extent the same kind of comedic pause in the drama that a short scene by a fool would give in a Shakespearean play - never detracting from the text, they highlight certain points while relieving the reader in key spots of any monotony of text-on-page that might be developing. Hill has also illustrated other 'Armchair Theologian' volumes. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

This book is very interesting and exciting from pg.1-pg.192!
This book is very exciting and interesting from from the begining to the end. It tells how Abigail almost dies as a child. She lived through the Revolution. Abigail also marrys the second President and is the mother of the sixth President. ... Read more

Book Description

Twenty-five years after her death, we are still coming to terms with the controversial figure of Hannah Arendt. Interlacing the life and work of this seminal twentieth-century philosopher, Julia Kristeva provides us with an elegant, sophisticated biography brimming with historical and philosophical insight. Centering on the theme of female genius,emphasizes three features of the philosopher's work. First, by exploring Arendt's critique of Saint Augustine and her biographical essay on Rahel Varnhagen, Kristeva accentuates Arendt's commitment to recounting lives and narration. Second, Kristeva reflects on Arendt's perspective on Judaism, anti-Semitism, and the "banality of evil." Finally, the biography assesses Arendt's intellectual journey, placing her enthusiasm for observing both social phenomena and political events in the context of her personal life. Drawing on fragments of Arendt's most intimate correspondence with her longtime lover Martin Heidegger and her husband Heinrich Blucher, excerpts from her mother's "Unser Kind" (a diary tracking Hannah's formative years), and passages from Arendt's philosophical writings, Kristeva presents a luminous story. With a thorough thematic index and bibliographical references,is a major breakthrough in the understanding of an essential thinker. ... Read more

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The intellectual overview of a political science genius
It has been a long time since I went to a baseball game, but trying to keep track of the intellectual action in the biography of Hannah Arendt by Julia Kristeva reminded me of the game. Eventually, I even thought of a song, "Catfish" by Bob Dylan (Words by Bob Dylan and Jacques Levy) recorded on July 28, 1975, an outtake from the album "Desire" that was finally released in a three-CD package called "The Bootleg Series Volumes 1-3 [rare and unreleased] 1961-1991." There was once a pitcher called Catfish Hunter, million dollar man, and Dylan's chorus said, "Nobody can throw the ball Like Catfish can." I have had the words since "The Songs of Bob Dylan" was released in 1976, but I didn't hear the song until 1991. Having an English translation from 2001 of a feminist biography of a political scientist of the mid-twentieth century captures the intellection activity that interests me about as well as "Catfish" captures the action of a baseball game.

Lazy stadium night, Catfish on the mound,
"Strike three" the umpire said,
Batter have to go back and sit down.

There are three chapters in HANNAH ARENDT, and the third has 219 notes. Basic statistics on how much Julia Kristeva is merely educating herself in public by providing a reading from Arendt's books might be obtained by counting the Ibid.s. Counting backwards, I found 133 Ibid.s in the notes for Chapter 3, including my favorite note:

"99. "Letter to the Romans 7:21, drafted between 54 and 58 a.d., cited in ibid., p. 64." (p. 268).

A lot of the books I read lately keep trying to tell me when the Bible was written, but I never noticed it in a note before. Usually my favorite notes are about Nietzsche, like:

"123. Ibid., p. 165, citing Nietzsche, THE GAY SCIENCE, no. 310"

"126. Concerning the `forgetting' that Nietzsche revives see p. 237; and Paul Ricoeur, paper presented at the Hannah Arendt Conference at the Grande Bibliotheque de France, December 6, 1997."

"128. Ibid., pp. 169-70, citing Nietzsche, THE WILL TO POWER, no. 585 A, pp. 316-19."

`131. LM, "Willing," p. 172, citing Nietzsche, THUS SPOKE ZARATHUSTRA, pt. 3, "Before Sunrise." '

`187. Ibid., citing Nietzsche, "The Use and Abuse of History," pp. 6, 7.'

"189. Ibid., citing Nietzsche, THE GENEALOGY OF MORALS, p. 61"

`192. Ibid., pp. 63, 72-73 ("even in old Kant: the categorical imperative reeks of cruelty").'

Nietzsche wrote such things about Kant, and it is a bit difficult to imagine that Kristeva and Arendt would associate such ideas with the great weight of the past if Nietzsche hadn't made this connection first. Understanding philosophy is a process that can be compared to intellectually building a rehash of old, familiar plays, as if it is about something like a baseball game, which has an umpire who gets to decide when an easy pop fly is an infield fly rule call that makes the batter out, but the umpire does not have time to say anything until after it is all over when a triple play picks off the runners before they have a chance to tag up if the pitcher ducks under a line drive that gets caught right on second base before anyone has time to react, but a quick shortstop snagged the ball out of the air and flipped it to first in the only instant in which that could happen. Kristeva is capable of interpreting political science as an activity best understood in terms of the philosophy of Nietzsche:

"To the `identical will' that forges the solidarity of a group, Arendt contrasts the way men who are connected to one another through a mutual promise `act in concert.' These men dispose of the future as though it were the present, and they live together in the miraculous enlargement of what Nietzsche called the `memory of the Will,' which is what distinguishes human life from animal life. As Arendt evokes Nietzsche's concept, she hears only the joyful touches of the superman and denotes not a trace of Nietzsche's disdainful tone." (p. 236).

Still counting backward, I find 102 Ibid.s in the notes for Chapter 2 and only 52 Ibid.s in the notes for Chapter 1. The Introduction only had two notes, on a wide variety of topics, but both related to the nature of "genius." When political opinion surveys offer a few sample views to encompass the political orientation of the great mass of the population, only a genius could be expected to have a ready answer to questions like "Will mothers become our only safeguard against the wholesale automation of human beings?" (p. xiii). The Introduction actually seems more suited for a triple biography, as "The three women who are the subject of this work" on page xv includes two women who are hardly mentioned in the three main chapters of HANNAH ARENDT. It does not add much to understanding this book to also learn "that Melanie Klein devoted herself to studying decompensation." (p. xvii). But in considering who else has been brilliant, it pays to have some comic relief. Among the French, who must understand comedy as well as any people anywhere, it might even be popular to declare:

"Colette's only real rival would prove to be Proust, whose narrative search has a social and metaphysical complexity that goes well beyond the adventures of Claudine and her counterparts. And yet Colette far surpasses Proust in the art of capturing pleasures that have never been lost." (pp. xviii-xix). ... Read more

Book Description

Reviews (4)

Incredibly Researched
Author Munro Price has shown that intense research combined with informative speculation is consistent with successfully piecing together a very confusing and torrid sequence of events in Western European history. Price, through what appears to be pains taking information gathering, relays a brilliant account of the lives of some of the French Revolution's most influential players. He brings to light, to those not in the academic world, the Baron de Breteuil and his tremendous influence on the policy of counter-revolutionary France. Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, the recipients of the brunt of the Revolution, were shown both in their glory and in the flaws that led to their eventual demise. Price has not failed to impress with his clearly thought out formulations of the mindset and personal weaknesses of Louis XVI and, in contrast, the inner strength of Marie Antoinette. This book is easily followed and is difficult to put down. I recommend to anyone interested in this monumental period of political change in Europe.

Interesting history
This was an interesting and very readable book - I was sorry to see it end. It was obviously painstakingly researched and contains a lot of little known information about Louis and Marie-Antoinette and particularly their attitude toward the revolution which eventually killed them. It includes details about Marie-Antoinette's actions and attitudes that the general public may be surprised at - she was not just another pretty face who let events unfold - instead she apparently became stronger and took an active part in events.

Even though the death of the king and queen were inevitable I found myself rooting for their escape. The book almost reads like a novel, but is a true and absorbing story.

Good History
The Road from Versailles is more than another retelling of this laboriously studied part of the French Revolution. It is a well-written narration, with excellently crafted literary panache and skill that really translate into a rousing read for any reader. More than that however, author Munro Price offers some very good new sources that lend a lot to his ideas concerning the last days of the Bourbon monarchy. His interpretation avoids the trap of dry repetitive narration/research and instead relies on new sources of information to explain the authors somewhat unique viewpoint.

The Road from Versailles begins in familiar territory. As the reign of Louis XVI continued, France fell further and further into failure, both economic and militarily. France was reeling from numerous failures abroad, most notably the defeat at the hand of the British in North America during the French and Indian War. Economically, the country was an absolute disaster. Even the royal government itself was not sure of the nations finances, and the system was bleeding funds chronically. People wanted someone to blame for their conditions, and they found a good candidate in the Austrian princess Marie Antoinette. Her heritage and her penchant for finery quickly gained her the ire of the French public. As disasters mounted, the monarchy came under attack from all sides. It was clear that, politically, Louis XVI would have to alter his role. How to do this was the big question. Rapidly, the question became moot as the street violence exploded.

Munro concentrates on the minor, or supposedly minor, character of Breteuil, a royal minister. Using new documents, Munro suggests that Breteuil was much more involved than previously though, especially concerning the various royal plots to aid the royals in their escape from Paris. One of the best parts of the book is its emphasis on what was happening outside of France, as numerous plots were being hatched to either evacuate the royal government or to reestablish its power by military force. The decisions and actions made and taken by the royal family are also examined. Munro tries to explain Louis XVI inaction and floundering a little too much, I thought. I believe the simple answer is that Louis was a very foolish person, who had little political comprehension besides the absolutionist system he was born into. Marie is shown as quite active, but not as devious as proposed in the some other works. Munro does a great job of explaining his conclusions to the reader in a way that is accessible to both popular and academic readers. A very good work of history.

3.7 stars; a provisional grade
Munro Price's history of how Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette confronted the French Revolution comes at a less than propitious time. In a month from now, we will see Timothy Tackett's book on the Flight to Varennes. Tackett's previous books have been known for their thorough and exhaustive research, and his newest book may be a stark contrast to Price's which, as we will soon see, is comparatively under-researched. Nevertheless this book does have something of considerable value. It has been known that the royal couple were less than thrilled with the Constitution of 1791 and were trying to deal with foreign powers which France was at war with. But what were their real plans? Price's book offers some real answers.

The answers are convincing because they are not ones that Price is fully comfortable with. Price's colleague and occasional co-writer, John Hardman, has been the most pro-Louis historian for a couple of generations, even in one book comparing Louis to a saint. It is well known that Louis' last pre July 14 prime minister, the Baron de Breteuil was given special powers to talk to other foreign powers. (His letter of authority from the king, was forged, but Price reasonably argues that the Queen was just forcing the pace on her indecisive husband. The letter would not have worked if it did not represent Louis' views, and the plans for the Flight of Varennes could not have occurred without his knowledge and support.) But what were Louis XVI and Breteuil planning for France during the Flight to Varennes and the war with Europe? On at least two occasions the royal couple destroyed valuable documentation, while Breteuil was careful to leave as little information as possible. However with some diligence Price tracked down the papers of an ally of Breteuil, the Marquis de Bomballes, and found out what the royalists were planning. The result is devastating to Louis XVI's reputation.

Recently several scholars, most noticeably Keith Baker, have argued that by refusing a bicameral legislature in 1789, the National Assembly paved the way to totalitarianism and rejected reasonable compromise. It is clear from Bomballes' papers that the king had no interest in such a legislature. Royalists rejected it in 1789, and he and Breteuil rejected it several times in 1791-92. Louis had no interest in the Constitution of 1791, which he had swore to uphold, or using its mechanisms for amending it. He did not wish to go back to the National Assembly, but to the Estates General, giving the Nobles and the Clergy certain powers of veto. He did not plan to compromise with the Assemblies, but seek to use either his own troops to overwhelm them, or use the victory of foreign troops to get what he wanted. Although often unable to make a decision, these were his basic principles, pushed and prodded on by his wife.

This is the most valuable part of the book, and there are descriptions of the Flight of Varennes, the events of August 10 and the battle of Valmy that readers will find interesting. There are also interesting accounts of the royalist players, such as Breteuil's libidinous activities, and his daughter's affairs with an emigre bishop. I have some reservations about the book. (1) There are not that many new sources outside of the Bomballes papers, giving the book a somewhat padded feeling. (2) Certain counter-revolutionary activities could use more detail. There is only a brief mention of the affair of the Marquis de Favras, though Barry Shapiro in his book "Revolutionary Justice" points out that this was a major conspiracy which compromised the king's brother, Monsieur, later Louis XVIII. Price also briefly mentions a plan involving Danton to buy the royal family's freedom, which I would have liked to hear more about. (3) There is a somewhat indulgent tone about the royal couple, as Price tries to refute the idea that they were a pair of nitwits. This is not very convincing, especially since Price believes that Louis did not realize that ejaculation was a necessary condition for conception, while Marie Antoinette's suggestions were almost always unhelpful. At one point, in writing about the royal couple's last meeting before Louis was sent to a scaffold, Price sentimentally says that the two had found a kind of love, though he has elsewhere said that the Queen was sleeping with the Swedish aristocrat Fersen. (4) On certain points, like the royal couple's failure to conceive, or Breteuil's attitude towards Necker, Price relies on limited and self-serving sources. (5) Likewise he is not very acute on revolutionary "paranoia," particularly when he has shown that the republicans were right; the royal couple were traitors, and their treason implicated everyone who tried to deal with them in good faith. (6) Price has the odd tendency to claim that the king could have succeeded if he had just been decisive enough to call on the army. This is an odd argument, because every time it was considered the soldiers showed signs of mutiny and general untrustworthiness, whether it was at the fall of the Bastille, the Flight to Varennes, August 10, 1792, Lafayette's attempted coup, or Dumoriez's treason. And this was before they knew Louis' full plans. (6) Finally this is a history of a select group of individuals. We learn nothing about monarchist ideology or the royalist press, and we learn nothing about why the king never tried to mobilize public opinion on his side. The contrast with Britain, as seen in Linda Colley's "Britons", is rather striking. ... Read more

Book Description

Climb inside the ring with a world-champion boxer for a behind-the-scenes look at Muhammad Ali

Writers have long been attracted to boxing. Hemingway, Mailer, Algren, Plimpton, Oates, and many others have stepped into the ring--at least in spirit--to give voice to an otherwise wordless sport, to celebrate that sweet science, and to bear witness to its romance and tragedy. In Sting Like a Bee, hailed by Norman Mailer as an impressive event, we are brought for the first time into the ring for a close-up look at the manly art through the eyes of Jose Torres, a man who was a great boxer himself. When former light-heavyweight world champion Jose Torres traded in his gloves for a typewriter, boxing finally found its eyewitness.

In this classic book, Torres turns his well-trained eye on one of the most celebrated and controversial athletes of all time: Muhammad Ali. In this penetrating view of Ali and the world of prizefighting, told by a true insider and boxing's Renaissance man, Torres delivers exciting and explicit accounts of all of Ali's major fights with the cool authenticity of one who has lived it. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Tremendous
This book is great for all readers and is a great biography that puts you in the mind of a writer. You will feel like you are actually there witnissing these masterfull events. ... Read more

Book Description

Thirty years after he burst onto the scene as a gold medal light-heavyweight at the Rome Olympics, Muhammad Ali is still a magical figure. His accomplishments in the ring were the stuff of legend -- the two fights with Sonny Liston, when he proclaimed himself "The Greatest" and proved he was; the three epic wars against Joe Frazier; the stunning victory over George Foreman in Zaire; and the shocking loss and final win that made him the first man to win back the heavyweight crown twice, fourteen years after he had first claimed it.

Ali's life has been played out as much on the front pages as on the sports pages. With brilliant immediacy and unprecedented candor, bestselling author Thomas Hauser recreates this extraordinary man. In the words of more than 200 of Ali's family members, opponents, friends, world leaders, and others who have known him best, the real Muhammad Ali emerges: deeply religious, mercurial, generous, a showman in and out of the ring. ... Read more

Reviews (13)

A "must read" for Ali fans
Muhammad Ali has always played a large part in my life. He showed me that being black did not make me inferior at a time when almost everything and everyone said the opposite. This book gave me a fresh perspective on his achievements and his beliefs, thanks to contributions from sources as diverse as Joe Frazier and Cheryl Tiegs. The stories are wide-ranging and informative. Some were laugh out loud funny (very embarrassing when you're on a train). Some were depressing (stories surrounding Ali's entourage and the Holmes fight almost made me cry). There are even some from people who don't like Ali or see him as someone worthy of praise. All of them gave me a deeper, more rounded insight into a man that I viewed with awe and reverence. I started the book seeing Ali as some kind of distant super hero and ended it seeing him as a warm, caring human being with the same flaws and insecurities as anyone else. Along the way I laughed a lot and learned even more. The book is funny, engaging, and inspirational...just like the man himself.

Inspiring champion; awe-inspiring human being
MUHAMMAD ALI: HIS LIFE AND TIMES, through accounts of noteworthy admirers and close-associates, chronicles the life and times of a living legend. Long-time pugilistic journalist and award-winining author Thomas Hauser has painstakingly compiled a wealth of information to support what seems to be his thesis: that no matter how amazing Muhammad Ali was in the ring, his worth as a boxing champion is far exceeded by his worth as a citizen of this world. In 500 pages of text, we are able to follow Ali in his growth from a brash, boisterous heavyweight contender to a highly devoted man of God who brings happiness wherever he tarries. For fight fans, all of the classic bouts from Liston I to Manilla are covered; anecdotes to be especially savored are those leading up to the first Liston fight, where Ali was arguably out of his mind in the extent to which he went in taunting his opponent, as well as the unadvised beating Ali suffered at the hands of Larry Holmes in the twilight of his career. Most interesting were the sections of the book that dealt with Ali's relationship with Malcolm X and the Nation of Islam at the beginning of his first reign as heavyweightchampion and his conscientiously objecting to fighting in Vietnam. It is obvious that Hauser is captivated