Few, if any, athletes lived a bigger life than Muhammad Ali. Leigh Montville, who has written best-selling biographies of larger-than-life figures Babe Ruth, Ted Williams and Dale Earnhardt, decided to focus in squarely on a critical part of Ali's life when he was a polarizing political figure. During a time when the Vietnam War divided the country, Ali changed his name from Cassius Clay and refused the Army draft. He famously said, "I ain't got no quarrel with them Viet Cong." Ali's stance caused him to be banned from boxing for 31/2 years, costing him some of his prime years as a boxer. Montville details how Ali fought the U.S. government, boxing's governing bodies and his many critics to fight again. Montville, one of the best sportswriters of his generation, vividly frames Ali's individual struggle against the backdrop of the civil rights movement and the upheaval of the late '60s. He shows how Howard Cosell went against the media sentiment in defending Ali, showcasing his unique personality to a national audience for the first time. Montville also writes portraits of the various people and hangers-on surrounding Ali at that time. Ultimately, Montville shows how Ali evolved and changed throughout the entire ordeal, and how it shaped the remainder of his career in the ring.
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