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B etween 1988 and 1998, nobody did more to publicly rebuild Muhammad Ali’s legendary image than writer Thomas Hauser. Charged by Lonnie Ali to transmit her vision to a larger audience, Hauser served as Muhammad Ali’s biographer and chief spokesperson for a decade. Hauser’s writings during the 1990s were the ideological foundation of Ali’s recoding as a sanctified American hero. They were—and still are—taken as proof of Ali’s greatness and are key to his enduring cultural relevance. How Hauser was selected is something of a mystery, since Lonnie Ali has never publicly commented on the process, but by most accounts the partnership was mutually fulfilling. Hauser got a plum writing assignment, and the Ali camp got a book that jump-started the moribund movement to canonize the ex-champion as a global figure and all-time moral authority. Although trained as an attorney, the Columbia University graduate had made a name for himself as a writer in the decade prior to his introduction to the Ali family. Hauser’s 1978 literary debut, The Execution of Charles Horman : An American Sacrifice, was adapted into the 1982 movie Missing, starring Jack Lemmon and Sissy Spacek. Hauser’s acclaimed 1986 book, The Black Lights: Inside the World of Professional Boxing, revealed a formidable understanding of how the fight business operates. In addition to his knowledge of law and impressive writing résumé, Hauser possessed an important criterion for becoming Muhammad Ali’s authorized biographer: he idolized Ali. One of his biggest thrills as a young man was conducting an interview with the champion before his fight with Zora Folley. Thomas Hauser The Literary Rehabilitation of Ali’s Legend 168 Good People The relationship between Ali and Hauser began in 1988, when Ali’s best friend, the photographer Howard Bingham, contacted him. At a meeting, Lonnie Ali briefed Hauser about the assignment. She wanted a book “that would place Muhammad in context, not just as a fighter but also as a social, political, and religious figure” and highlight him as a gentle, caring, and spiritual person. With the mission outlined, and the writer completely authorized to conduct interviews, Hauser began the manuscript, frequently consulting with the Ali camp.37 Once he completed the initial draft, Hauser traveled to the Ali family farm in Michigan to meet with Bingham and the Alis and read them his manuscript. “By agreement,” recalled the author, “there was to be no censorship . The purpose of our reading was to ensure that the book would be factually accurate.” Hauser claims that if the Ali camp objected to something he had written, and he insisted on preserving it, then a rebuttal paragraph in Ali’s words would be placed alongside such material. No such rebuttal paragraphs , however, exist in the book. Hauser also asserts that he retained final editorial control over the book and its release.38 Hauser’s work, Muhammad Ali: His Life and Times, was the first serious Ali biography in fifteen years. Because it was authorized, Hauser had virtually unlimited access to Ali’s inner circle and sizable group of admirers. The list of interviewees is extensive; Hauser names 178 people in an appendix, including fighters, actors, musicians, trainers, politicians, civil rights leaders, writers, journalists, comedians, and athletes, many of whom were towering figures in their fields. Among those listed are George Foreman, Sylvester Stallone, Bob Dylan, Angelo Dundee, Jimmy Carter, Julian Bond, James Michener , Robert Lipsyte, Dick Gregory, and Wilt Chamberlain. Simply put, Hauser was able to talk to virtually everyone alive who closely associated with Ali between 1960 and 1990. In fact, the only people unwilling to provide him with material for the book were Don King, Veronica Porche, and John Ali.39 Being an authorized biographer has advantages and limitations. Although he received unprecedented access and claims that the Ali camp had no undue influence on what he wrote, Hauser has been accused of being more of an advocate than a biographer. It is an allegation that he resents and categorically denies, but it is an important issue, because, as another Ali biographer wrote, “The foundations for the current Ali renaissance were laid by the publication of Thomas Hauser’s biography.” Unquestionably, Hauser’s work has been the definitive source from which the overwhelming majority of interpretations of the former champion have since stemmed. Therefore, it is worth asking whether his book is hagiography. The motivations for writing a pro-Ali piece are obvious; doing so would give...

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