[silence bracket good morning, everyone, thank you for coming and welcome to the 29th southern festival of books. It is my pleasure to have the opportunity to introduce jonathan eig, and author i admire. I have been reading his book for years and he is to talk about his biography of mohammed ali. Before jonathan speaks i must mention a few things. Book festival is free but if you would like to contribute you can do that at the corners of the book festival outside or online. Also remind you after his remarks jonathan will head to the signing tends next to the parnassus tent on the main players a so he can sign your book over there. Jonathan is regarded as the top writer of narrative nonfiction, fantastic offer, he has written four bestselling books including two that i read on lou gehrig and Jackie Robinson. He has written for the New York Times and new yorker, esquire and the washington books and the wall street journal. His biography of mohammed ali is one of the most anticipated books of the fall. Rave reviews, the most highly rated book of the fall. There is always a national. Mohammed alis widow is a vanderbilt graduate. If you ever had a chance to be the legendary coach of the tiger belt, always told the story of the 1960 olympics where cassius clay was with wilma rudolph. He would come in his pink convertible cadillac looking for wilma. I dont know if you drove down from chicago in a pink cadillac or flew down but we are excited to have you, thank you for coming. [applause] thank you. It is a thrill to be here. When mohammed ali was introduced like that he would say you are not as dumb as you look. I wouldnt do that. There are a lot of things mohammed ali could get away with that i couldnt. We dont have that much in common but we both have unbelievably fast jab. Want to see it . Want to see it again . That is a mohammed ali joke. It is important as a biographer to recognize you do not have much in common with your subject usually. The job of a biographer is to understand the subject the best you can, often from a distance. That means really paying attention to the facts, doing your research. I did 600 interviews with 200 individuals. I interviewed many of them over and over. I counted the number of times he was punched. I worked with speech scientists to look at how they affected his speech rate. I dove as deeply into his life as i could because the biographers job is to help you understand a persons life and how it was shaped and how it shaped us as a country and the people. With mohammed ali, one of the most important men of the 20th century i would argue, was a huge responsibility. The really important piece of biographer has to keep in mind is empathy. You have to try to empathize with your subject. Doesnt mean you have to always celebrated more excuse him. The job is not to glorify were pretty him up. He was pretty enough to begin with. Not necessarily knocking down either but to have empathy. I would like to talk about that process, what i learned along the way. Dick gregory, the great comedian and social activist who passed away said to me when i interviewed him, there is no point in writing this book, white boy, nope point in writing this book if you are not able to explain to me and cleans your readers how black kid growing up in jim crow louisville felt like he could be special. What made him he could go around calling himself the greatest of all time . In america said he was in syria and a secondclass citizen and not just the law said so too. You are going to understand you have to make me and readers understand, to make this kid different. Getting to know mohammed ali, trying to meet him, i would like to take you on that journey. To interview people who knew him best especially older folks in the beginning of the process. People who might not be around, i began with the second wife who came to chicago a lot. She was 17 years old when she married mohammed ali. And she came to call chicago a lot, for a movie premiere, grew up in chicago and lives in florida. I showed up at the movie premiere. I would like to talk to you. Who gave you permission to write this biography . The answer is nobody. Again, a sense of responsibility, im taking this guys life in my hands, he didnt ask me to but im going for it anyway. The kind of biography he deserves, not another lovefest, not other book that makes him out to be a saint but something that shows how important he wasnt who he was and married him for 10 years, the most interesting years of his life from the vietnam protest through the joe frazier fight. I need you to tell me what it was like to be married to this man. How much are you going to pay me . I get that a lot in the boxing world. This is mohammed alis brother, i called him up a few times, just one question. Im not talking to you unless you pay me. I want to know what your dog thinks, 1000. Is that your dogs name . 1000, wont tell you my dogs name unless i give you 1000. I dont pay for interviews but im very persistent. You can ask my wife. And boxing they say you are above your weight, my wife is impressive that she would go out with me tells you how persistent i am. As i set out in this quest, this is a home where he grew up. He used to stand in a crack between the houses there on the right and challenge them to hit him. I measured it, 72 inches between the two houses. The view out his window, the next house over, 72 inches away. Challenge his brother to throw rocks at him. Some say he became so quick by avoiding punches. I learned from his wife that he was dyslexic. Was never able to read well and that is one of the reasons he became a class clown. His father was abusive, alcoholic, running around with a lot of women. He came from a difficult circumstance, he was not for. This is a fairly middleclass neighborhood compared to most boxers who came out of poverty. He grew up with School Teachers and principals and lawyers and doctors and undertakers, all africanamerican but nevertheless he saw opportunities and he saw his biggest opportunity to escape from this and find a way out when he was 12 years old. How many people know the story of his stolen bicycle . Most people heard he had his bike is old, happens to one of the great religions that turned out to be true. When i dive into these things, he did not put his arm around Jackie Robinson. This turned out to be true. Hes riding his bicycle, 50 when, big deal, starts to rain, he ducked into an auditorium to escape the rain and comes out on his bicycle looking for a Police Officer, find one in the basement of a gym, tells him his bike is stolen and he will beat up whoever took it. He was cassius clay at this time. He says no but i am tough. Falls in love with it. Transfixed by the site in the gym. Not just heavy bags, then Something Else important. There were black kids and white kids punching white kids. You did not do that in america in the 1950s. You could be arrested for less than that. Mohammed ali sold this and began to rewire his brain increase the ways. What else can i get away with . He begins taking boxing very seriously. He used to race the bus to school, have you heard this . One of the things i learned from robert caro, always ask what it was like to be in the room with your subject and ask it over and over, what was it like to be in the room . I would ask his classmates what it was like to be on the bus when he was racing . I asked it over and over, two four people and it wasnt making sense, couldnt picture it. One of the guys something that bugged me, told me it was a city bus. And it hit me, you said it was a city bus, right . Doesnt a city bus stop a lot . Almost every block. He said yes. So he was racing the busker but it kept stopping. We got off at chestnut and transferred. And he would wait with us for the next bus. Was he really racing the bus . No, of course not. He was just trying to entertain us, remind us he was a big shot boxer and he wanted to be famous. He didnt want to be faster than the bus. This is a key moment for biographer, okay, i get this guy now. He wants to box, to become great but also really wants attention. Now i am starting to get to know him a little bit. This is the gym where he trains, found joe martin in the basement, not only train their but when he got done he went to another jim, joe martin was a white Police Officer. Here is a white Police Officer who is not arresting black people but helping black kids, rewiring the brain of what he has been taught growing up but finds a black trainer and when hes done training joe martin he goes to train fred stoner and another jim and by 1960 by the time hes a senior in high school he is the olympic lightweight champion. Comes back to central fiscal and is a hero. He is failing almost every class. He is boxing all the time but they decide the principle of the school so someday this kid will be famous and i dont want to be remembered as the principal who flunked the champ. He discovered he just loves attention. At the olympics in 1960 which is described beautifully and David Meredith asp okay becomes mayor of the limbic village which everybody wants their picture taken with this guy because he has such charm, such charisma and he realizes being outspoken, being loudmouthed, his nickname is the louisville lip, is good for his career, getting more attention, bigger fight, making more money and he loves money too. He talked about how many cadillacs he had and different shades of the rainbow. This attitude, standing up and making himself known, helping him get bigger fights. By 1964 he gets his first shot against this guy, the biggest baddest meanest man on earth, champion who knocked out his last opponent in a matter of seconds. Mohammed ali is more unpopular, has a criminal record, autobiography is called the champ no one wanted, very unpopular man, mohammed ali is more unpopular because the black kid being unsportsmanlike, bragging about himself is seen as repulsive to most white americans. People are rooting for sonny lipson which he is not used to. This is the end of marmot alis career, no way he can beat him. He is so bad. But marmot ali has something hes not prepared for, incredible speed perhaps learned from dodging those rocks but also something given as a gift to him. He is so fast, he boxes like heavyweight are not supposed to box. They are supposed to duck punches but mohammed ali is so quick he can move out of the way and sometimes miss him altogether. They are so frustrated they cant get near him and that is what happens to lipton. You see him throwing giant punches. The left jab, and getting tired and mad. And he is gone. He gives up the heavyweight championship without being knocked down or knocked out because cassius clay is too much for him. What happens after the fight . Mohammed ali announces he is no longer he is champion, king of the world. He says i told you i am the greatest and i am now a member of the nation of islam. Im not a christian, christianity was a religion forced upon me in slavery, the name cassius clay is a slave name, might as well be a brand steered onto my flesh. I dont have to do that anymore. He makes this unbelievably important pronouncement the changes the world and changes the way people not only see black athletes but black people all over. He says i dont have to do what you tell me to do. I dont have to say what you tell me today. I dont have to be what you want me to be, i am free. In 1964 those are fighting words. If he was unpopular before for being an sportsmanlike, he is way more unpopular now. Soon after he announces he is changing his name from cassius clay to mohammed ali, a name given by the founder of the nation of islam, Elijah Mohammed. In almost every picture of mohammed ali from the 60s in 70s, his brother named rudy at the time is somewhere in the picture. Rudy is always hanging around with his big brother. That is Elijah Mohammed in the middle. He joined this group that is considered by the American Government a threat to democracy. This is a radical group, not with the doctors on, this is a group that believes black people in america are never going to be treated equally, theres no point wasting your time on the Civil Rights Movement, no point discussing integration khalili ways for black people to forge their own way out, build their own businesses, improve their lives, improve their help and start their own country and america will be forced to give a segment of the United States the nation of islam for black people to start their own country. Mohammed ali grew up hearing something similar from his father who is not a big fan of immigration, thought black people were never going to be treated equally and told him youre never going to be rich, youre never going to be any, is the color of your skin, get used to it. Mohammed ali believed what his father said that was not prepared to get used to it. He believed because he was different, because he was a boxer, he had this platform that america had to listen to what he said, he could fight that and joining the nation of islam gave him a platform. Something gregory pointed out, when other black leaders in his country spoke, when Elijah Mohammed spoke or Martin Luther king their words were filtered by the white media. The New York Times decided which quotes to use, cbs news decided which class but when mohammed ali stood in the center of the ring and said i am the greatest, i talked to allah and allah told me i was going to win this fight and all praise is due to Elijah Mohammed, the whole world heard that and no one could edit it and that gave him a special platform and helped explain why he thought he could cite when a lot of other black athletes were forced to accept it. The deal being that you did your job, performed your sport and kept your mouth shut. Something black athletes are being told today but he didnt think he had to accept that. He paid for it. He refused to fight in vietnam, was convicted of draft evasion. First he said i just dont want to go. Interesting to watch him evolve on this. We think of him as a Conscientious Objector and pacifist but at first he said take my tax dollars and go by all the bombers and jets you want. Im making a lot of money. I dont want to go. Then he said this war is not fair to black people, black people are dying disproportionate numbers and we are not even treated as equals, weiss we fight for a country that treats us like secondclass citizens . Then he said it is against my religion. He evolve as many people who were opposed to the vietnam war evolved but he paid a huge price for us, convicted, sentenced to 5 years in prison, banned from boxing for 31 2 years and loses millions of dollars in endorsements and fight revenue. Finally after 31 2 years out of the ring he gets a chance to come back. This is in many ways the key moment in mohammed alis career as an athlete. He comes back against joe frazier, flight of the century, the two undefeated heavyweights that squared off, heavyweight champion squaring off in a ring. By now it is 1971. Our views on vietnam have changed, most americans feel the war was a mistake. We see that mohammed ali paid for his convictions, he suffered and he was willing to take that, willing to sacrifice for his beliefs whether you agreed with them or not, you had to respect that. Then he gets put on his rear end by joe frazier in the 14th round, a vicious left hook. He was up in a second and a half. He later said he was unconscious on the way down in the ground woke up. He bounces right back up, finishes that fight, he loses and he has to start fighting his way back to a rematch with fraser come a shot at the heavyweight championship and this is when americans show respect for him because his toughness is not in question. Used to be thought he was so quick and pretty and talkative that he wasnt a true champ but now people begin to admire his tenacity if nothing else. Still may not agree with his politics but in the 70s the Civil Rights Movement has moved off the street and into the courts. Mohammed ali is a popular figure, hes on Johnny Carson all the time. He said he hated white people, white people were the blueeyed devil and is still saying stuff like that but also joking with Johnny Carson and has the ability to charm us. Impossible to hate the guy. His High School Girlfriend that you cannot be in a bad mood around mohammed ali. Even people who went into the room thinking this is a draft dodging trader, they couldnt resist the guy. He was so likable. When he starts fighting his way back, in the 60s he was a grizzly bear, wild, untamed, dangerous. By the 70s hes more like a circus bear, still dangerous but fun. He is entertaining. The last act of his life which i will talk about a little bit more, hes like a teddy bear, we want to embrace him. I want to think about why that is the case. He gets his shot at the heavyweight championship again fighting George Foreman in zaire. This becomes a fight for black pride. A fight no matter who is the biggest, toughest black man on earth, don king pulls out a bizarre spectacle in zaire under this dictator, no one has seen anything like this. Mohammed ali is a slower fighter. I counted all the punches he took over the course of his career, calculated probably 200 punches including amateur fights, sparring sessions but by this point he is training to take those punches, his sparring partners hit him as much as he can because he believes he can build resistance and nobody cannot come out as he you take enough punches and you will be immune to a knockout and he lets George Foreman, strongest man in heavyweight boxing pound away at him until 4 minutes arms get tired and then mohammed ali begins to fight back. George foreman told me he believes he was drugged before the fight by his own manager. He also told me he gave 25,000 cash to the referee to make sure it was a fair fight and found out later mohammed alis people gave more than 25,000. I call the manager and said george says he gave 25 to the rest and you paid more. s manager said that is the stupidest thing i ever heard. We only gave 10,000. Take it for what you believe. He beats George Foreman, because heavyweight champion again. Elijah mohammed says you have done it all, youre the champion, time to retire. Devote the rest of your life to your religion, your family. After this fight he does or so he marries veronica. He cant stop. Keep