Davis Miller - The Tao of Muhammad Ali

Nobody has ever written so purely about Ali before. Out of the silence, by fate into Alis life and into print, comes Miller, and this intimate, rambling, fascinating book, which Miller calls a nonfiction novel. Miller is arrogant enough to know he has written a book that is a low-key revelation, like a long letter from an apostle.

Tim Kawakami, Los Angeles Times

What brilliant stories these are! Davis Miller writes profoundly and beautifully.

Joyce Carol Oates

Absorbing, generally unsentimental and filled with the clarity of ordinary human experience. Millers best writing occurs when he recalls periods of his life when Ali was not part of it, for example the buzz of early journalistic successes or the sudden illness that took his fathers life. After all, the real Zen lesson to be learned from a man like Ali, Miller argues, has nothing to do with lionizing the mighty infallible heroes whom we aspire to be. It is, instead, about living with the potent fallibility of ourselves.

Michael Mulhall, The Times Literary Supplement (London)

(four-star review) Inspired by Ali, Miller began practicing martial arts, drove himself to become a writer, and finally met, sparred, and befriended his idol. Millers tale is inspiring, beautifully written, and keenly insightful about himself, Ali, and the nature of hero worship.

Maxim

Alis life has been documented many times overbut never has anyone captured the essence of his ongoing appeal as well as Miller. A poignant and unforgettable portrait of the sports legend.

Wes Lukowski, Booklist

An engaging blend of autobiography and portrait, told in clean, spare prose, Millers warm celebration of Ali will have readers cheering for the man who calls himself The Greatest of All Timesand for his Boswell, too.

Publishers Weekly

Davis Miller has written a fine, rare book, one of only a very few that recognizes that sport can be a pathway to and for the spirit. Ali plays the Great White Whale to Daviss Ahab. Through his consideration of Ali, Davis examines his own lifeand we, as readers, come to understand ourselves. The Tao of Muhammad Ali resonates with wisdom. [This story] is a classic, part of the standard against which Ill measure all other sports writing.

Glenn Stout, Editor, The Best American Sports Writing

I expected an Ali bio. What I found is a latter-day Don Quixote. Ali as metaphor, myth, and mystic. The author as part John Irving, part Bruce Lee, part Everymanand every bit an original. Davis Millers memoir is a tender, terrific, one-of-a-kind book with a revelation in each paragraph, a surprise on every page.
Ron Shelton, director and writer

(Bull Durham, White Men Cant Jump, Tin Cup, Cobb)

Millers astounding book, more in the tradition of contemporary writers such as Tobias Wolff and Richard Ford than that of mere boxing biographies, is a seminal interpretation of fame, how it affects both those who have it and those who live in its shadow.

Esquire

Copyright 1996 by Davis Miller

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Published by Three Rivers Press, New York, New York.
Member of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc.

www.randomhouse.com
THREE RIVERS PRESS and the Tugboat design are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.

Originally published in hardcover in the United States by Warner Books, Inc., in 1996 and in softcover in Great Britain by Vintage Books U.K. in 1997.

Portions of this story have appeared in various forms in the following publications. Magazines: Esquire (England), Mens Journal, Arena (England), Gentlemens Quarterly (England), Sport magazine, Sky magazine, Candis (England), Legends magazine, Playboy (Japan), Die Zeit (Germany), Kicker magazine (Germany), Dagbladunie (Netherlands), Directions magazine (South Africa), Penthouse (South Africa), Triad Style, Karate International, and Sports Illustrated. Newspaper magazines: Courier-Journal (Louisville), Miami Herald, Chicago Tribune, Sunday Independent (London), Plain Dealer (Cleveland), Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Melbourne Age (Australia), Detroit Free Press, Dallas Morning News, Buffalo News, Washington Post, New York Newsday, and Denver Post. Features sections of newspapers: Courier-Journal (Louisville), Washington Post, Houston Chronicle, Seattle Times, Winston-Salem Journal, Toledo Blade, Independent (South Ireland), Sydney Morning Herald (Australia), Grand Rapids Press, Folha de S. Paulo (Brazil). Sports sections of newspapers: Los Angeles Times, Indianapolis Star and News, Winston-Salem Journal, Miami Herald, Houston Chronicle, Chicago Sun-Times, Tampa Tribune, Detroit News, Courier-Journal (Louisville).

Thanks to the editors at all of the magazines and newspapers who, although this didnt fit the format of their periodicals, trusted the writing and the story.

Portions of chapters twenty-three, twenty-seven, twenty-nine, thirty, and thirty-eight appeared in different forms as The Zen of Muhammad Ali in The Best American Sports Writing of 1994.

The story My Dinner with Ali was anthologized in a different form in The Best American Sports Writing of the Century (Houghton Mifflin, June 1999) and in The Muhammad Ali Reader (Ecco Press, June 1998).

In January 1998, the British Broadcasting Corporation broadcast a six-part abridged radio reading of this book on The Late Book.

The Tao of Muhammad Ali was completed with a creative Nonfiction Writers Project Grant from the North Carolina Arts Council.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Miller, Davis.
The Tao of Muhammad Ali / by Davis Miller.
Originally published: New York: Warner Books, 1996.
eISBN: 978-0-8041-5171-9
1. Ali, Muhammad, 1942 . 2. TaoMiscellanea. I. Title.
[GV1132.A44M55 1999]
796.83092dc21
[b] 98-56510

v3.1

To Roy L. Miller
the best father I could ever imagine having had.

And for Rebecca Lyn Spencer (circa 1977).

Sincere admiration and immeasurable thanks to my adopted grandfather (and the godfather of this book), Armand S. Deutsch.

A special tap of the mitts to Terry Davis. This book is as much yours as mine, old friend.

Ring center bows to Will Sulkin and Doug Pepper, who understand what, how, and why.

The Greatest Thank-Yous of All Times to Stephen Brunt, Hannah Corbett, Jerry Douglas, Charles S. Dutton, Holly Haverty, Greg Johnson, Paul Kent, Bill Linthicum, Kathy Long, Debbie McGill, Dave McGinty, Craig Mortali, Eric Nolan, Kerry Shale, Laura Shepherd, Tom Shroder, Tom Simons, Terri Smith, George Tan, Beth Thomas, Maya Thomas, Gene Weingarten, and Greg Williams for friendship, (numerous) readings, editing, schooling, and advice; to Len Irish for the remarkable photos and to Howard Bingham for making them happen.