King of the World by David Remnick

King of the World (Inscribed Picador Hardcover in Dust Jacket)

David Remnick's Prize-Shortlisted Portrait of Muhammad Ali and the Making of an American Hero

Bibliographic Specifications

• Title: King of the World: Muhammad Ali and the Rise of an American Hero
• Author: David Remnick
• Publisher: Picador, London
• Publication Date: 1999
• ISBN-13: 9780330371889
• ISBN-10: 0330371886
• Edition Details: First published in Great Britain by Picador in 1999 (first published by Random House, New York, in 1998). Inscribed by the original owner.
• Binding: Publisher's hardcover in dark cloth with a printed dust jacket.
• Physical Format: Large octavo hardcover, 336 pages. With black-and-white photographic plates.
• Language: English

Official Condition Report

• The Book: Very Good (VG)
• Exterior / Boards: The dark green-black cloth boards are sound and square, with a plain spine and no tears. Dusty or smeared pale marks show across the front board. The spine and corners are sound. The top edge of the text block carries brown spotting and dirt marks, with some darkening towards the fore-edge.
• Interior: The text is clean and legible with slight toning to the paper. The binding is tight. A handwritten inscription appears on the front endpaper. Spotting is visible on the top page edge. Black-and-white photographic plates are included.
• Provenance: Handwritten blue-ink inscription on the front endpaper: "Happy 60th Sammy You still float like a butterfly however you gotta work on that sting Love Tony".
• The Dust Jacket: Present and protected in a durable archival-type plastic cover. The jacket is bright and complete, with a photographic front panel, a back panel with a review quote and barcode, and an author photograph on the flap. No significant wear is evident.

Synopsis & Historical Value

King of the World: Muhammad Ali and the Rise of an American Hero is David Remnick's biography of Muhammad Ali, first published in New York in 1998. It concentrates on the early years: the young Cassius Clay's rise from Olympic success, his bouts with Sonny Liston, his conversion to the Nation of Islam and the social context of the time. It is a book about a boxer rather than about boxing.

The book was named the top nonfiction book of 1998 by Time magazine. This Picador edition, published in London in 1999, was short-listed for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year.

This copy carries a warm personal inscription on the front endpaper, a birthday message that gives it a pleasing human touch beyond the text itself.

Author Profile: David Remnick

David Remnick has been editor of The New Yorker since 1998, having spent six years there as a staff writer. Earlier he served as The Washington Post's correspondent in the Soviet Union, and he won the Pulitzer Prize for Lenin's Tomb.

His other books include The Devil Problem (1996), Resurrection: The Struggle for a New Russia (1997) and The Bridge, a biography of Barack Obama.