Approaching Ali: A Reclamation in Three Acts

The single most intimate look at Muhammad Ali’s life after boxing, told through the story of an unexpected friendship.

In 1988, then struggling writer and movie store manager Davis Miller drove to Muhammad Ali’s mother’s modest Louisville house, knocked on the door, and introduced himself to his childhood idol. Nearly thirty years later, the two friends have an uncommon bond, the sort that can be fashioned only in serendipitous ways and fortified through shared experiences. Miller now draws from those remarkable moments to give us a beautifully written portrait of a great man physically devastated but spiritually young―playing mischievous tricks on unsuspecting guests, performing sleight of hand for any willing audience, and walking ten miles each way to grab an ice cream sundae. Following in the contemporary tradition of writers such as Gay Talese and Nick Hornby, Miller gives us a series of extraordinary stories that coalesce to become a moving and timely introduction to the human side of a boxing legend. 25 photographs