‘A strange fate befell Muhammad Ali in the 1990s’, Mike Marqusee writes in Redemption Song, his wonderful, illuminating study of ‘Muhammad Ali and the Spirit of the Sixties’. ‘The man who had defied the American establishment was taken into its bosom. There he was lavished with an affection which had been strikingly absent thirty years before, when for several years he reigned unchallenged as the most reviled figure in the history of American sports.’ The global outpouring of grief, affection […]

Categories: Justice & Liberties, Sport • Tags: boxing, freedom struggles, islam, james baldwin, mike marqusee, muhammad ali, nation of islam, racism, sport, usa, vietnam war