Arthur Ashe: A Life

Author: Arsenault, Raymond

Number Of Pages: 784

Details:

A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK The first comprehensive, authoritative biography of American icon Arthur Ashe—the Jackie Robinson of men’s tennis—a pioneering athlete who, after breaking the color barrier, went on to become an influential civil rights activist and public intellectual. Born in Richmond, Virginia, in 1943, by the age of eleven, Arthur Ashe was one of the state's most talented black tennis players. Jim Crow restrictions barred Ashe from competing with whites. Still, in 1960 he won the National Junior Indoor singles title, which led to a tennis scholarship at UCLA. He became the first African American to play for the US Davis Cup team in 1963, and two years later he won the NCAA singles championship. In 1968, he won both the US Amateur title and the first US Open title, rising to a number one national ranking. Turning professional in 1969, he soon became one of the world’s most successful tennis stars, winning the Australian Open in 1970 and Wimbledon in 1975. After retiring in 1980, he served four years as the US Davis Cup captain and was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1985. In this revelatory biography, Raymond Arsenault chronicles Ashe’s rise to stardom on the court. But much of the book explores his off-court career as a human rights activist, philanthropist, broadcaster, writer, businessman, and celebrity. In the 1970s and 1980s, Ashe gained renown as an advocate for sportsmanship, education, racial equality, and the elimination of apartheid in South Africa. But from 1979 on, he was forced to deal with a serious heart condition that led to multiple surgeries and blood transfusions, one of which left him HIV-positive. In 1988, after completing a three-volume history of African-American athletes, he was diagnosed with AIDS, a condition he revealed only four years later. After devoting the last ten months of his life to AIDS activism, he died in February 1993 at the age of forty-nine, leaving an inspiring legacy of dignity, integrity, and active citizenship. Based on prodigious research, including more than one hundred interviews, Raymond Arsenault’s insightful and compelling biography puts Ashe in the context of both his time and the long struggle of African-American athletes seeking equal opportunity and respect.

Reviews:

“For those who have long admired Ashe, this close look at his life offers even more evidence that he was more than a great player, he was an extraordinary person. . . . Arthur Ashe: A Life is among the best books about tennis I’ve ever read

— it’s a deep, detailed, thoughtful chronicle of one of the country’s best and most important players.” -- Touré ―

The New York Times Book Review

"[A] wide-ranging, massively researched and thoroughly absorbing biography."    -- Gene Seymour

― USA Today

“A thoroughly captivating biography. . . . With great dexterity, Arsenault juxtaposes Ashe’s tennis journey with touchstone moments of the ’60s. . . . As this book eloquently reveals, one can only wonder and shed at least one tear for what more [Ashe] might have accomplished.” -- Joel Drucker

― The San Francisco Chronicle

“An insightful narrative of the evolution of a remarkable human being.”  -- Michael Grunwald

― The Washington Post

“An important interpretation of Ashe’s legacy and accomplishments, not just on the UCLA tennis courts but also with the deeds that defined him later.”   -- Tom Hoffarth

― Los Angeles Times

"Finally a thorough and thoughtful biography of the committed activist and tennis champion. It’s the book this most admirable man deserves." -- Bill Littlefield

― The Boston Globe

"Raymond Arsenault's magisterial biography of Arthur Ashe reconstructs the life of a true gentleman and scholar-athlete, a champion on and off the court who became one of the most admirable figures in the history of sports." -- Ambassador Andrew Young

“Masterful. . . . Arsenault's effort to document Ashe's full life in one volume is commendab...

EAN: 9781439189047

Release Date: 21-08-2018

Languages: English

Item Note: Great shape- pages are unmarked and sharp.Has a remainder mark. Hardcover Used - Like New Ships fast! 2018

Item Condition: UsedLikeNew

Binding: Hardcover