Approaching Ali: A Reclamation in Three Acts

I think Davis Miller has provided a wonderful insight into the great character that Ali is. Ali has done so much humanitarian work post retirement from the ring that he is truely the 'The Greatest'. His role model is much needed in today's cynical world and I believe Miller has shown what makes Ali a wonderful human being. Highly recommended.

I’ve long enjoyed Davis Miller’s books and revisit them often - when I do, I not only find something fresh - an expression, a feeling - but also have a sense of returning, of something warmly familiar being stirred back into existence.Miller has an uncanny knack of transporting the reader to a time and place, one which creates an aching, yearning melancholy and which taps into a Proust-like seam of subconscious, like a scent that instantly evokes a distant childhood memory or the sound of long-forgotten but instantly remembered melody.Approaching Ali, A Reclamation in Three Acts is no exception. It draws you in, quietly, inviting you to sit on the sofa alongside the Ali family - and to be part of the often uncomfortable reality of an extraordinary life, lived out amid the mundanity of everyday existence. The Greatest, in slow decline - it could almost be a modern day Shakespearean tale.On the book’s sleeve notes, Maya Angelou says, ’There is music and truth in each sentence he writes.’ I couldn’t agree more - much like the book’s subject, Davis Miller’s words dance lightly on the page before catching you off-guard with punches that send you reeling, delivering blow on blow of richly visual and poetic imagery.Here he describes Floyd Bass, Ali’s handyman: ‘…smooth, glowing, unwrinkled skin, shining eyes the hue of sand and October sea; a curly halo of slightly receding hair that has gone prematurely white (as if it has been illuminated); a short, round beard the color of both shadow and light; a perpetual-seeming crinkled smile; a whisper-soft, even-timbred voice; and a general demeanour that suggests he has visited the mountain and come down changed.”And here, ‘Bob’s Crab Shack’… ‘stunningly bright overhead incandescents, ladder-backed unfinished pine chairs. The smell of fried shrimp and hush puppies, beer and sweet tea. An economy-sized towel roll parked in the center of each thickly shellacked long pine table. Hooting drunks and tyrannisingly massive television screens all around us, each and every TV projecting ball games….’While the book offers a fascinating and intimate glimpse into Ali's private life - one observed by the author and forged during the many years of their friendship - it is as much a vehicle for Miller’s own story and in that sense, could almost have been written about anyone. Ali fan, boxing fan or neither, I suspect that many readers will connect with this book in ways the author didn’t intend or perhaps anticipate.A remarkable book by a remarkable writer. I urge you to read it.

This is a fantastic read and its obvious Davis really knew the Greatest of all times. The book tells some great stories and the friendship and love between Davis and Muhammad is there for all to see. 5 STARS.

Brilliant read

Really excellent read, couldn't put down, very enjoyable.

Reasonably priced and very fast.

Davis Miller is a wonderful writer, but I do feel he has dined out and stretched his one incredible piece of writing Dinner with Ali until breaking point.Once again that story forms the corner stone of this volume, and contains other writing previously used in his book the Tao of Muhammad Ali.There's a bit in the book where Davis remembers a man turning from Ali saying "we've taken too much from you champ" this is in a way life imitating art. Davis' friendship to Ali while warm at times, has been documented to breaking point, leaving no new angles.A wonderful writer; but nothing we haven't read from him before.

I came to the table a little late as per the works of Davis Miller, but I have become a great "fan". Here, in this latest offering, he writes lyrically and thoughtfully about his muse of many years, Muhammad Ali. It is not really a book about Ali the fighter, but Ali the man, and his adjustment, and in a way, triumph, over the Parkinson's disease which has silenced him literally, but not totally. This is a profound study of one man's redemption(Ali), and another man's inspiration by ALL of the segments of Ali's career in the public eye. Rarely does a sports figure of Ali's near-surreal stature let his personal struggle with such an illness be public, and Miller does justice to that, describing his relationship with Ali through the years, first as an aspiring young, slight, kick-boxer who, in 1975, actually sparred with Ali, and then in in 1988, as the manager of a video store in Louisville, met him at his house serendipitously, and began a decades-long relationship with him. The book is somewhat non-linear, but also Proustian in it's description of Ali's daily life, his still great love of children, and his humble acceptance of his fate-which is actually a spiritual quest to transcend his fractious youth. . and still show others a way forward past adversity. Miller is the real deal; a man who has known him for years, and his seen the physical decline along with the redemptive aspect of his illness. He writes not as a hero worshiper, but as someone who sees the very, very human side of a figure who was not just larger than life, but an icon. Now Ali can be shown in his fullness as someone who has survived, and in his own quiet(literally) way thrived, in a state of grace that strangely has transformed him for the better. As I write this, Miller is on his way to London to be co-curator of the biggest exhibition ever of Ali's life, so I am a bit flummoxed by one reviewer's one-star review of this hauntingly beautiful book as perhaps a "fantasy". There is no narcissism here, but there is a work to be savored slowly, page by page. Truly. . a masterpiece.

En tapa blanda la calidad es muy cuestionable, pero por 2'50 no puedo quejarme. Más barato que el kindle.

I recommend this book very highly to any reader looking for engaging, touching and real stories of human interest. I have read Mr. Miller's other writings and the stories in this book that appeared in his other books have been beautifully polished and they shine ever more brightly now. The new stories bring an additional dimension to Mr. Miller's fascinating relationship with the the World's most famous Man. Mr. Miller's writing is a pleasure to read. His descriptive style is vibrant and full. He is able to make you feel that you are living these remarkable experiences right along with him. Even if you've never seen a boxing match you'll come away from this book an Ali fan and a Miller fan, too.

Wow. I didn't simply read this. I was absorbed into a world Davis Miller created. He has a beautiful style in the tradition of great Southern writers How he does it, within the post fight years of Ali, I don't know. But he does. I think of the world's of Mark Twain, of Tolkien.I have found his writings and books very powerful over the years. Here I am, once again, ruminating over finishing the latest. Teddy Kennedy once spoke that, few men have the chance to bend history. Clearly Muhammed Ali was one of those chosen few. I would say that Davis Miller has shaped the history of Muhammed Ali. No small feat.

I got a signed copy in March of last year in London at the exhibition 'I Am the Greatest: Muhammad Ali at The O2', which Davis Miller and Muhammad Ali's wife Lonnie signed for me. This was three months before Mr Ali's death. Mr Miller was a lovely man to speak with. I'd read his book 'Tao of Muhammad Ali' years ago and admired it. The focus in 'Approaching Ali' is more on Mr. Ali himself than in Mr. Miller's previous work.The exhibition was fun. Davis Miller gave several of us a guided tour, telling stories about various artefacts and about his friendship with Ali. A great experience, a lovely man, and this book is nothing short of brilliant.

A must read. Between the author and Ali, its a beautiful but complicated and joyful journey.I grew up, in Ali's time period. Not only did I watch him fight, watched him stand for whathe believed was right.

Great writing by Davis Miller--as usual!!!

Bought for my brother--he loves it.

great book, reminds us we are human.

Outstanding

I have read just about every book published on Muhammad Ali and enjoyed most. This was the most tedious tale of Ali I have ever read. The writing (I am no writer) is poor and has a fan fiction tone to it. I am not doubting the writers story but it is difficult to believe and in many instances he seems to be gloating about being "friends" with Ali and family. I would pass if I were you there are plenty of other more interesting and intimate volumes on The Greatest.