From Hated to Greatest: The Life of Muhammad Ali
How did one of the most controversial Americans of the 1960s become one of the most beloved figures of the 1970s and beyond? Muhammad Ali’s biographer, Jonathan Eig, will tell the story of how he dug beneath the surface of Ali’s mythology to discover the real man and gained an understanding for America’s strange relationship with the man known as The Greatest.
Ken Burns calls Jonathan Eig, B.S.J., a “master storyteller.” Eig is the author of five books, three of them becoming New York Times best sellers. He was born in Brooklyn and graduated from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. Eig is a former staff writer for The Wall Street Journal. Ali: A Life was named winner of PEN/ESPN Award for Literary Sportswriting; best book of the year by Sports Illustrated; and one of the ten best non-fiction books of the year by The Wall Street Journal. It was a finalist for Mark Lynton History Prize, the Plutarch Award, the William Hill Award, a Los Angeles Times Award, and an NAACP Image Award. Eig has appeared on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, Fresh Air with Terry Gross, and in two Ken Burns documentaries. He is currently working with Burns and Florentine Films in making a documentary on Muhammad Ali.
