A FRESH YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK

A “thoroughly captivating biography” (The San Francisco Chronicle) of American icon Arthur Ashe—the Jackie Robinson of males’s rugby—a pioneering sportsman who, after breaking the color barrier, went on to be an influential civil privileges activist and open public intellectual.

Blessed in Richmond, Virginia, in 1943, by the age of eleven, Arthur Ashe was one of the state’s most talented black color golf players. He became the first African American to try out for the united states Davis about Arthur Ashe: A Life Cup team in 1963, and 2 yrs later he won the NCAA singles championship. In 1968, he increased to lots one national position. Turning professional in 1969, he soon became one of the globe’s most effective tennis stars, earning the Australian Open in 1970 and Wimbledon in 1975. After retiring in 1980, he served four years as the united states Davis Glass captain and was inducted into the International Golf Hall of Fame in 1985.

In this “deep, complete, thoughtful chronicle” (The New York Times Publication Review), Raymond Arsenault chronicles Ashe’s rise to stardom within the courtroom. But a lot of the book explores his off-court profession as a individual rights activist, philanthropist, broadcaster, writer, businessman, and superstar. In the 1970s and 1980s, Ashe obtained renown as an advocate for sportsmanship, education, racial equality, as well as the removal 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 bloodstream transfusions, one of which left him HIV-positive. After devoting the final ten months of his existence to Helps activism, Ashe died in Feb 1993 at the age of forty-nine, leaving an uplifting legacy of dignity, integrity, and active citizenship.

Predicated on prodigious study, including more than one hundred interviews, Arthur Ashe places Ashe in the context of both his time and the lengthy struggle of African-American sportsmen seeking equal chance and respect, and “will provide as the typical work on Ashe for a few period” (Library Journal, starred review).