The Muhammad Ali reader / edited by Gerald Early.

Introduction : Tales of the wonderboy / by Gerald Early -- Poet and pedagogue / A.J. Liebling -- The marvelous mouth / Tom Wolfe -- Miami notebook : Cassius Clay and Malcolm X / George Plimpton -- Views and reviews / George S. Schuyler -- Clay explodes Liston myth / Jackie Robinson -- The champ and the chump / Murray Kempton -- In the ring (2) / LeRoi Jones -- The redemption of the champion / Gordon Parks -- In defense of Cassius Clay / Floyd Patterson with Gay Talese -- In defense of Cassius Clay / Jackie Robinson -- Muhammad Ali and the little people / Irwin Shaw -- Cassius Clay is the sixties / Jimmy Cannon -- The Black scholar interviews Muhammad Ali / Muhammad Ali -- "I don't have to be what you want me to be," says Muhammad Ali / Robert Lipsyte -- Ego / Norman Mailer -- The disintegration of a folk hero / Pete Hamill -- Muhammad Ali and the fly / Ira Berkow -- Muhammad Ali, may his tribe increase / Roger Kahn -- Playboy interview : Muhammad Ali / Muhammad Ali -- Muhammad Ali / Garry Wills -- Hyperbole's child / A.B. Giamatti -- Ex-fighter's notes on the champion / Jose Torres -- Last tango in Vegas / Hunter S. Thompson -- The fourth Ali / Ishmael Reed -- Sport interview : Muhammad Ali / Jose Torres with Muhammad Ali -- Muhammad Ali is the most famous man in the world / Bob Greene -- Muhammad Ali at the ringside, 1985 / Wole Soyinka -- My dinner with Ali / Davis Miller -- Great men die twice / Mark Kram -- The cruelest sport / Joyce Carol Oates -- Boxing Fidel / Gay Talese -- Ali's amazing grace / David Maraniss.

Every so often, a sports figure takes America by storm, grabbing headlines and rising to super stardom in a flash of fame. But rarely does a sports figure grip the attention of the entire world--and maintain it through five decades.