Book review
Boxing clever
Redemption Song: Muhammad Ali and the spirit of the sixties, by Mike Marqusee (Verso, £17.99)
Reviewed by Susan Moore
I don’t like boxing. Its not my sport, I’m afraid. But then people I know who (strange creatures) don’t like cricket have enjoyed and appreciated Mike Marqusee’s books on cricket, so I was determined to read his latest offering "Redemption Song – Muhammad Ali and the Spirit of the Sixties". I was certainly not disappointed.
I didn’t think I would be, from the moment I saw a copy – Verso have done themselves proud with the design. This smaller book is easier to hold and has a wonderful photo of Ali and Malcolm X on the cover.
And the style was typical Marqusee – a mixture of closely argued political polemic and graceful metaphor.
Most importantly, I was interested in the subject, despite my dislike of boxing. I was 9 when Cassius Clay became the World Heavyweight Champion and then became Muhammad Ali. I knew even then that something important politically was going on with both these events and wanted – but had no means to find out more. This was my opportunity to do that – and much more.
The book is in some ways rather different from the author’s previous works because more of it is telling a story – and a story that focuses on the life, actions and ideas of one individual – although it interweaves this tale with many other personalities and broader political developments.
That interplay is done in an almost seamless way – making the man live for those more familiar with the background and for those drawn by the individual colouring in the equally vital context.
There were sections that were more familiar to someone who has read Marqusee’s previous work. Early in the book, we are treated to a basic outline of the social history of boxing – which while not making me want to watch the "sport" certainly did lead me to understand its class and racial basis in a way that I had previously not considered.
Like many readers, some of the topics it dealt with were familiar to me but others were not. Whichever it was I remained engrossed pretty much all of the time – though I confess that my least favourite section was that which made the comparison and contrast between Ali and Bob Dylan.
I’m not sure what jarred – perhaps its just that Dylan was important to my growing up and becoming active, so I resist the throwing of stones even this time later – but I think its more than that.
On the other hand, the most powerful message from this section – and possibly from the whole book – was undoubtedly the way in which the participation of black people – including Ali himself – in the anti-war movement has been effectively ignored – the way so much else of Black History has been.
I was nervous about how the question of the Nation of Islam would be dealt with, how Ali’s famous Rumble in the Jungle in Mobuto’s Zaire would be depicted.
But though it is clear that Marqusee respects and is engrossed by his subject, this involvement does not restrict his ability to criticise when that is what is needed.
On the question of the Nation of Islam, Marqusee is not soft at all, though he explains that the organisation that Clay joined in 1962 was different in many ways from the Nation today.
In many respects however the differences are products as much of the change in political circumstances as of the different personalities of the respective leaders.
On the mythic fight with Foreman, while calling Ali’s victory " a triumph of intelligence and sheer intensity of personality over impersonal brawn" (p274), Marqusee also explains that the political aspirations behind the contest to " herald a new era of reciprocity between America and Africa, mediated by African Americans were betrayed. The fight in Kinshasa proved a staging-post in a path of development that would leave Africa at an ever greater economic and political disadvantage… To Basil Davidson, Mobuto’s Zaire exemplified ‘ a degradation which seemed unthinkable during the early years of post colonial independence.’ He cited the murder of Lumumba ( by Mobuto) as a ‘turning point’ in the downfall".(p275-6)
All in all I thoroughly enjoyed the book and learnt a lot from it – but I still don’t like boxing.