3.5
Jim Brown
ByPublisher Description
A unique biography of Jim Brown—football legend, Hollywood star, and controversial activist—written by acclaimed sports journalist Dave Zirin.
Jim Brown is recognized as perhaps the greatest football player to ever live. But his phenomenal nine-year career with the Cleveland Browns is only part of his remarkable story, the opening salvo to a much more sprawling epic. Brown parlayed his athletic fame into stardom in Hollywood, where it was thought that he could become “the black John Wayne.” He was an outspoken Black Power icon in the 1960s, and he formed Black Economic Unions to challenge racism in the business world. For this and for his decades of work as a truce negotiator with street gangs, Brown—along with such figures as Muhammad Ali, Bill Russell, and Billie Jean King—is revered as a socially conscious athlete.
On the most hypermasculine cultural canvases of the United States—NFL football, the Black Power movement, Hollywood's blaxploitation films, gang intervention both inside and outside prison walls—Jim Brown has made his mark. Yet in the landscape of the most toxic expression of “what makes a man”—numerous accusations of violence against women—he has left a jagged mark as well.
Dave Zirin's book redefines an American icon, and not always in a flattering light. At eighty-one years old, Brown continues to speak out and look for fights. His recent public support of Donald Trump and criticism of Colin Kaepernick are just the latest examples of someone who seems restless if he is not in conflict. Jim Brown is a raw and thrilling account of Brown's remarkable life and a must-read for sports fans and students of the black freedom struggle.
Jim Brown is recognized as perhaps the greatest football player to ever live. But his phenomenal nine-year career with the Cleveland Browns is only part of his remarkable story, the opening salvo to a much more sprawling epic. Brown parlayed his athletic fame into stardom in Hollywood, where it was thought that he could become “the black John Wayne.” He was an outspoken Black Power icon in the 1960s, and he formed Black Economic Unions to challenge racism in the business world. For this and for his decades of work as a truce negotiator with street gangs, Brown—along with such figures as Muhammad Ali, Bill Russell, and Billie Jean King—is revered as a socially conscious athlete.
On the most hypermasculine cultural canvases of the United States—NFL football, the Black Power movement, Hollywood's blaxploitation films, gang intervention both inside and outside prison walls—Jim Brown has made his mark. Yet in the landscape of the most toxic expression of “what makes a man”—numerous accusations of violence against women—he has left a jagged mark as well.
Dave Zirin's book redefines an American icon, and not always in a flattering light. At eighty-one years old, Brown continues to speak out and look for fights. His recent public support of Donald Trump and criticism of Colin Kaepernick are just the latest examples of someone who seems restless if he is not in conflict. Jim Brown is a raw and thrilling account of Brown's remarkable life and a must-read for sports fans and students of the black freedom struggle.
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Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communities9 Reviews
3.5
shelbynik
Created 4 days agoShare
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Olafimihan (Fimi) Oshin
Created 7 months agoShare
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“Dave Zirin’s Book Jim Brown Last Man Standing is a fascinating read about arguably one of the most iconic sports figures in the 20th century I always wondered who Jim Brown was and this book allowed me to learn more about the Hall of Fame running back and I was puzzled with discovering the abuse he dealt with as a child to hand growing up in a Jim Crow era, him attending Syracuse, as wonder one of the few black students at the university and also was a few black athletes on the team and becoming a legend as Syracuse playing in the NFL for 10 years with the Cleveland Browns, becoming an icon, maybe the greatest running back ever and so on, but I was surprised to read more about his exploits off the field, especially his involvement in infidelity adultery, and also abuse of younger woman that he’s been accused of doing while he was staunch against very professional athletes who had Issues with domestic violence of sexual assault, such as Kobe Bryant and O.J. Simpson. I also found it interesting about his initiatives in the community. He wanted a few athletes to have his foot on the ground when it comes to dissolving gain violence in communities, and I enjoyed reading about his initiatives, the organization that he created for America where he helped gang members try to have a better life and build a better community as well Jim Brown is a polarizing and complex individual at the same time. I know to read it because he is an important figure in our pop culture history He is regarded as a legend in sports, and I truly feel that this book gave me all answers all the questions that I have about him answered with this book and I recommend this book to everyone that I know to read it because he is a important figure in our pop culture history”Roxanne Guzman
Created over 1 year agoShare
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Red
Created over 2 years agoShare
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“The book itself is decent. The life of Jim Brown is super cringe tho.”
About Dave Zirin
Dave Zirin is the sports editor for The Nation, a columnist for The Progressive, and the author of eight books on the politics of sports, including What's My Name, Fool? Sports and Resistance in the United States and A People's History of Sports in the United States. He was named among the Utne Reader's "50 Visionaries Who Are Changing Your World" and was a finalist for the 2016 PEN/ESPN Award for Literary Sports Writing.
Other books by Dave Zirin
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