Mickey Z
Cool Observer
Friday, February 25, 2005
Book worth reading: "Redemption Song: Muhammad Ali and the Spirit of the Sixties"
A big chunk of my recent in-flight reading was “Redemption Song: Muhammad Ali and the Spirit of the Sixties,” by Mike Marqusee (Verso, 2000). More than just another Ali rehash, this book reclaims The Greatest’s most radical beliefs and stances...and features a wide range of 20th century figures, e.g. Jack Johnson, W.E.B. DuBois, Paul Robeson, Bob Dylan, Patrice Lumumba, Bob Marley, and Malcolm X.
One of my favorite quotes in the book comes from Jackie Robinson, famously Republican but nonetheless completely freaked out after attending the 1964 GOP Convention at which Barry Goldwater was nominated.
Robinson said: “I had a better understanding of how it must have felt to be a Jew in Hitler’s Germany.”
“Redemption Song” is highly recommended.
Copyright © 2005-2007 Mickey Z.
