Tom Cushman, one of boxing's great sportswriters, followed the "Ali generation" of fighters from New York to Las Vegas, Nassau to Zaire, reporting for the Philadelphia Daily News from 1966–1982 and for the San Diego Tribune, 1982–1992. Muhammad Ali and the Greatest Heavyweight Generation chronicles the behind-the-scenes stories of the great athletes in boxing's biggest-and-best age—their victories and struggles, crimes and passions, heydays and swansongs.

This collection of essays, gleaned from Cushman's personal files as well as his recent research, brings to light the backgrounds of the fighters, in and out of the ring: Liston's tragic death, Foreman's rise from hell to heaven, Holmes's crushing defeat and his great heart, Everett's murder—and everywhere, always, the unforgettable voice and charismatic volume of the astounding Muhammad Ali.

Columnist Bill Conlin, Philadelphia Daily News, writes in the book's Preface:

                             

This [is] history of the rarest sort—the view of a man who not only had lived in the time and recorded the events, but now, a quarter of a century later, who was able to interpret both the athletic imprint left by these dynamic men and the sociological impact of their triumphs and tragedies.

 

Besides the compelling stories of boxing's back stage, Muhammad Ali and the Greatest Heavyweight Generation includes previously unpublished photographs from the personal collections of Cushman and others, as well as classic images from veteran newspaper photographers.

Tom Cushman was born in St. Louis in 1934. He received his BA from Southeast Missouri State University and graduated from University of Missouri’s School of Journalism. For over 40 years, he worked as a reporter for the Colorado Springs Gazette Telegraph (1959–1966), as reporter and eventually staff columnist for the Philadelphia Daily News (1966–1982), as Sports Editor and columnist for the San Diego Tribune (1982–1992), and as Sports Editor and columnist for the San Diego Union-Tribune (1992–2002). He is currently a freelance writer and frequent contributor to San Diego Magazine.

In his years as a sportswriter, he has covered 10 Olympic Games, 25 World Series, 26 Super Bowls, 30 NCAA Final Fours, 21 Masters Golf Tournaments, 18 U.S. Open Golf Tournaments, and major professional boxing matches on four continents. He was the first writer outside New York City to receive the Nat Fleischer Award for Excellence in Boxing Journalism.

Tom and his wife Lois live in Colorado and have a son, Scott, who teaches in Chicago.

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Darien Cavanaugh, editor, Yemassee:

For the past decade, Dixon Hearne has been one of the quiet heroes of American letters. Widely published in literary journals and reviews, he always leaves his readers with that feeling of being satisfied yet wanting more. Plantatia is full of familiar people and places—a wisteria-bound and oak-shaded South comprised of honky tonks, corner stores, mills, and revival churches populated by drunks, gossips, and scandalous preachers—part yarn and part folk in a way that is reminiscent of Zora Neale Hurston. I highly recommend Plantatia for aficionados of Southern literature but also for all readers who simply like a good story well told.

Norman German, fiction editor, Louisiana Literature; author of A Savage Wisdom:

Plantatia offers a buffet of headstrong and sassy stories sure to please every palate. Dixon Hearne is your acerbic tour guide through the high- and lowlife settings of an Old South revitalized by his keen eye and ear. These stories move with the patience of Eudora Welty and the confidence of Flannery O’Connor. To steal one of Dixon Hearne's phrases, you'll leave these stories "with your heart laughing out loud."

Billy Fontenot, editor, The Louisiana Review:

This impressive debut collection from Dixon Hearne mixes relaxed storytelling of small-town life with insights into the human condition, along with a little of that strange, sad, mystical state of existence found only in the deep American South.

Bev Marshall, author of Walking Through Shadows, Right As Rain, and Hot Fudge Sundae Blues:

Dixon Hearne is a born storyteller and reading his "high-toned and low-down" stories reminded me of those precious porch-sitting days when the tales of my relatives evoked both laughter and tears.

Darnell Arnoult, author of Sufficient Grace and What Travels With Us: Poems:

In this debut collection of stories filled with raucous characters and lively romps, Dixon Hearne proves he has mastered the Southern tradition of old-fashioned front-porch storytelling.

 

About the author:

Dixon Hearne teaches and lives in southern California. His writing, however, draws greatly from the rich images in his daily life growing up along the graceful river traces in West Monroe, Louisiana. His short stories, essays, and poems—many of which have earned awards—appear in numerous magazines, literary journals, and anthologies. He is presently at work on a novel and editing a new book, Thanksgiving to Christmas: A Patchwork of Stories. He is co-editor of two recent collections of southern stories, a frequent presenter, and an invited speaker at the 2009 Louisiana Book Festival

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