Cassius X (Paperback)

Stuart Cosgrove

ISBN 10: 1641603542 / ISBN 13: 9781641603546

Editore: Lawrence Hill Books, 2020

Paperback. Although Muhammad Alis decision to assume a new name has often been portrayed as a sudden transformation, Cassius Clays conversion to Islam was a process, not an event. For many months he received guidance from Malcolm X, who had traveled from Harlem to Miami to be his mentor as he studied for his entry into the deeply divided and fratricidal Nation of Islam. The name he assumed over those now-forgotten months was Cassius X. This is the story of Cassius X over twelve months in Miami, a city that was changing faster than America itself, as he trains for the fight that will bring him global fame: his world heavyweight title fight against Sonny Liston in February 1964. Change was happening on every conceivable front, not least in music where two significant coincidences brought Cassius X into contact with the two major forces in sixties music: Beatlemania and the newly emergent soul music. The Beatles famously turned up at Clays training camp at the 5th Street Gym and Sam Cooke negotiated a recording deal for the flamboyant Cassius X. However, his music career, which included a cover version of Ben E. Kings Stand By Me and a brief love affair with the dance-craze queen Dee Dee Sharp, never came close to echoing his career as a championship fighter. Politically, the Warren Commission, the FBIs Informant 88, and the philosophical differences between Martin Luther King Jr. and the emergent black power movements were all at work. Cassius Xs experiences came to pre-empt and predict the major cultural and ideological shifts that would unfold in the decade ahead. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability. Codice articolo 9781641603546

Riassunto:

Although Muhammad Ali’s decision to assume a new name has often been portrayed as a sudden transformation, Cassius Clay’s conversion to Islam was a process, not an event. For many months he received guidance from Malcolm X, who had traveled from Harlem to Miami to be his mentor as he studied for his entry into the deeply divided and fratricidal Nation of Islam. The name he assumed over those now-forgotten months was Cassius X. This is the story of Cassius X over twelve months in Miami, a city that was changing faster than America itself, as he trains for the fight that will bring him global fame: his world heavyweight title fight against Sonny Liston in February 1964. Change was happening on every conceivable front, not least in music where two significant coincidences brought Cassius X into contact with the two major forces in sixties music: Beatlemania and the newly emergent soul music. The Beatles famously turned up at Clay’s training camp at the 5th Street Gym and Sam Cooke negotiated a recording deal for the flamboyant Cassius X. However, his music career, which included a cover version of Ben E. King’s “Stand By Me” and a brief love affair with the dance-craze queen Dee Dee Sharp, never came close to echoing his career as a championship fighter. Politically, the Warren Commission, the FBI’s “Informant 88,” and the philosophical differences between Martin Luther King Jr. and the emergent black power movements were all at work. Cassius X’s experiences came to pre-empt and predict the major cultural and ideological shifts that would unfold in the decade ahead.

Informazioni sull'autore: Stuart Cosgrove is the award-winning author of the history of soul music trilogy Detroit 67: The Year That Changed Soul, Memphis 68: The Tragedy of Southern Soul, and Harlem 69: The Future of Soul.

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Titolo: Cassius X (Paperback)
Casa editrice: Lawrence Hill Books
Data di pubblicazione: 2020
Legatura: Paperback
Condizione: new