Muhammad Ali: The King of the Ring
Muhammad Ali: The King of the Ring
by Lewis Helfand, illustrated by Lalit Kumar Sharma
Campfire Publishing, New Delhi, India © 2011 84 pp.
One night I came home from a late library shift to find my dear husband on the couch teary-eyed. It was a surprise to me that this was due to watching the documentary, I Am Ali. Joel was quite taken with Muhammad Ali's philanthropic work, his basic goodness, and his relationships with his grandchildren. My experience of Ali was limited to seeing this big bragging man on TV when I was young, so I had to do a bit of research to catch up.
A couple of months
later I found the Campfire Heroes series of graphic novels,
which covers some of the greats in our library such as Mother Teresa, Gandhi,
and Martin Luther King, Jr. as well as a great selection of secular leaders. And Muhammad
Ali!
Being still new to the graphic novel genera, I very much enjoyed Lewis Helfand's treatment of Ali. As you would expect, Helfand covers Ali's childhood and boxing career; he delves into Ali refusing to be drafted into the army during Vietnam War, and how it negatively affected his career; his joining Nation of Islam and then later Sunni Islam; his humanitarian and charitable work; his struggle with Parkinson's disease; and of course his basic goodness. The only thing Helfand leaves out is Ali's later devotion to Sufism.
Being still new to the graphic novel genera, I very much enjoyed Lewis Helfand's treatment of Ali. As you would expect, Helfand covers Ali's childhood and boxing career; he delves into Ali refusing to be drafted into the army during Vietnam War, and how it negatively affected his career; his joining Nation of Islam and then later Sunni Islam; his humanitarian and charitable work; his struggle with Parkinson's disease; and of course his basic goodness. The only thing Helfand leaves out is Ali's later devotion to Sufism.
Here is a clip of a longer YouTube film Joel shared with me, of Ali taking Sufi initiation with Shaykh Kabbani:
"But what truly
made Muhammad Ali the greatest and the people's champ can't be counted in the
number of wins or titles. What made him the greatest and so beloved was the
fact that he cared, and the fact that he gave his time, gave everything that he
had, freely and continuously." (p. 84)
-- reviewed by Jennifer
Knight
To visit the blog and see more reviews and quotes from books in the collection of Center for Sacred Sciences' Library, click here https://centerforsacredscienceslibrary.blogspot.com
To visit the blog and see more reviews and quotes from books in the collection of Center for Sacred Sciences' Library, click here https://centerforsacredscienceslibrary.blogspot.com