One of the signal contributions of Blood Brothers — a rigorously researched book that gracefully pivots between the world of the ring and the racial politics of the early ’60s — is its excavation of Cassius Clay Sr.’s impact in shaping his son’s views on race, and thereby enhancing the appeal of the Nation of Islam.
“Blood Brothers is a unique hybrid of race, politics, and sports; it is easy to read yet gives rise to sober reflection. It fills a gap in our understanding of one of the most fascinating relationships in American history.
“Blood Brothers tells the story of these two galvanizing and hypnotic personalities and of the America that produced them. Although the book promises more than it delivers, it is earnest and, by focusing mostly on the years between 1962 and 1965, smartly constructed.
Armed with redacted FBI files and rare archival material, the historians challenge standard accounts of the friendship and use their revision to illuminate the moment when the civil rights era, anti-colonial struggles and the baby boomers' coming of age coalesced to reshape the world in ways that still resonate ... Other of the book's claims, however, are more tenuous. At times, the authors engage in pop psychologizing to explain Ali's behavior, and they over-dramatize Malcolm's reaction to Ali's betrayal.
The authors also invite a grim and unanswerable question: If Clay had stood by Malcolm, refusing Elijah Muhammad’s demands, would his enemies have dared to have Malcolm killed, knowing Ali would take his side? We will never know.
Messrs. Roberts and Smith, who’ve just spent more than 300 pages inventorying Mr. Ali’s duplicity, suddenly take him at his word. Maybe they should. Or maybe they too, like all those liberal hagiographers, have been seduced, at least a bit, by that mix of charm, hipness and sympathy that has made Mr. Ali nearly as untouchable in print as he once was in the ring. Blood Brothers is an engrossing and important book. But at the final bell, it pulls its punches.
