Mike Tyson

Beast. Monster. Savage. Psycho. The glowering menace of Mike Tyson has spooked us for almost two decades. And still we remain fascinated. Why? Ellis Cashmorea s answer is disturbing: white society has created Tyson as vengeance for the loss of privilege produced by civil rights. Cashmorea s eviscerating analysis of Tysona s life and the culture in which he grew up, rose to prominence and descended into disgrace provokes the reader into re--thinking the role of one of the most controversial and infamous figures of recent history. Told as an odyssey--style homeward journey to Tysona s multi--pathological origins in the racially--explosive ghettos of the 1960s, Tysona s story is part biography, part tragedy and part exposition. His associations with people like Al Sharpton, Don King and Tupac Shakur shaped his life; and events, such as the O J Simpson trial and the Rodney King riots, formed a turbulent background for the Tyson psychodrama. Over the course of an epic boxing career, Tyson was transformed from the most celebrated athlete on earth to a primal, malevolent hate--figure. Yet, even after being condemned as a brute, Tyson retained a power -- a power to captivate.
Cashmore reveals that the sources of that power lie as much in us as in Tyson himself.