Hall's elegant and well-paced narrative teases out the contradictions of one of tennis's most enigmatic characters.
Times Literary Supplement
Eric Allen Hall's biography of Ashe is assiduous in giving context, ever-traceable in its sources, to the tennis player's life: his childhood in segregated Richmond is recounted with a summary of how de jure segregation ruled the lives of ... Read moreAmerican children; his coming of age as an athlete and ROTC member includes sketches of the Civil Rights Era on campus and in Vietnam; his ascendance to a globe-touring professional with public demonstrations against apartheid in South Africa includes glosses on the competitive structure of world tennis and the Cold War arrangement of power between the segregated nations of America and South Africa.
Rain Taxi Review of Books
A strong book on an outstanding topic, it serves as a reminder that Ashe's tragic death has to some extent eclipsed his life's work on behalf of racial equality.
Wall Street Journal
A portrait of Arthur Ashe that shows the fullness of his character-his broad interests, his impressive talents, and his missteps.
New Books in Sports
A remarkable book that will serve as a model for future works in this genre.
Virginia Magazine of History and Biography
Arthur Ashe is a scrupulous and lively book that should achieve the difficult task of satisfying both academics and non-specialists. Anyone interested in how the mixture of sport and politics has become cultural common sense will benefit tremendously from reading it.
The Allrounder
Hall's meticulous research of extensive archival materials allows him to uncover the complexities of Ashe's relationship with his own athleticism and race... This kind of collection is almost unique in sports history and Hall's capable use of it lends Arthur Ashe a depth of private detail unprecedented among athletic biographies, scholarly or otherwise... Meticulous, honest, and straightforward, the book itself might act as a tool by which other cultural critics, building on Hall's research, can bring refreshed and renewed attention to this intersection between sport and political activism, racial or otherwise.
H Net
Hall's book expertly builds on... previous representations [of Arthur Ashe], and features an impressive analysis of primary data-including Ashe's personal diary-in an overall effort to offer the most critical and comprehensive historical account of his life to date. He succeeds in remarkable fashion...
European Journal for Sport and Society
An invaluable resource... It's a solidly researched book.
Inside Tennis
Makes clear how difficult it was to stage the kind of civil rights politics and protests found across the board in American sports in the late 1960s in the traditionally patrician showground of tennis. Hall's accessible history restores much of the necessary context and conclusion to ensure that Ashe is understood on his own terms.
Journal of American History
This book is more than a biography; it is a window into the wider world that existed when Ashe was alive. Hall's research is meticulous, his contextualization of a life is impressive, and he writes his story clearly and deftly.
Choice
...This biography will appeal to a genral audience. Hall closely examined the relevant primary and seconday sourses.
The Journal of African American History
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