Redemption Song: Muhammad Ali and the Spirit of the SixtiesIn Redemption Song, Mike Marqusee takes the reader on an eye-opening excursion through the politics and culture of the 1960s, using the magisterial but often contradictory career of "the Greatest" as his guiding thread. His portrait of the boxer provides a springboard for an investigation of the themes of black representation, popular culture, the Black Atlantic, and the wool and warp of exuberant individualism and mass protest that came to typify the 1960s. Marqusee's story is populated by figures such as Paul Robeson and Jackie Robinson, Joe Louis and Kwame Nkrumah. It includes fresh examinations of Ali's friend, the singer Sam Cooke, who was a secret supporter of the Nation, and of Bob Dylan, whose retreat from protest to introspection provides an illuminating counterpoint to Ali's own journey. |
Contents
A Change Is Gonna Come | 46 |
Bringing It All Back Home | 102 |
Beyond the Confines of America | 162 |
At the Rendezvous of Victory | 253 |
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Common terms and phrases
activists Africa ain't Ali's anti-war appeal asked athletes audience became black American Black Atlantic black community Black Muslims Black Power black sports Bob Arum Bois boxer boxing called career Cassius Clay celebrated champ civil rights movement claimed Clay's Cooke declared Don King draft board Dylan early Elijah Muhammad fight fighter Floyd Patterson Foreman Frazier freedom Ghana ghetto global gonna Harlem heavyweight champion Herbert Muhammad hero Jack Johnson Jackie Robinson jail Joe Frazier Kinshasa later leaders Louisville Lumumba Malcolm Malcolm X March Martin Luther King Miami militant Mobutu Muhammad Ali Muhammad Speaks NAACP Nation of Islam never Nkrumah Olympic organized Patterson Paul Robeson percent political promoters protest race racial racist ring role model Sam Cooke Shabazz sixties SNCC social song Sonny Liston South sports stars struggle symbolic television told victory Vietnam York young