Tyson: Nurture of the Beast / Edition 1

by Ellis Cashmore

Overview

Beast. Monster. Savage. Psycho. The glowering menace of Mike Tyson has spooked us for almost two decades. And still we remain fascinated. Why? Ellis Cashmore's answer is disturbing: white society has created Tyson as vengeance for the loss of privilege produced by civil rights.

Cashmore's eviscerating analysis of Tyson'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 Tyson's multi-pathological origins in the racially-explosive ghettos of the 1960s, Tyson'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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780745630700
Publisher:	Polity Press
Publication date:	01/14/2005
Series:	Celebrities , #1
Pages:	200
Product dimensions:	6.02(w) x 9.02(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Ellis Cashmore is Professor of Culture, Media and Sport at Staffordshire University

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments vii

one INTRODUCTION: I WILL KILL YOU. DO YOU UNDERSTAND THIS? 1

two IF YOU’D BE KIND ENOUGH, I’D LOVE TO DO IT AGAIN 13

three ARE YOU AN ANIMAL? IT DEPENDS 29

four LIKE WATCHING A SERENGETI LION RIP INTO A WARTHOG 43

five HIS VITAL ORGANS IN EXCHANGE FOR FORGIVENESS 60

six GOD’S PLANNING TO SCREW HIM 87

seven TO RAPE THE VIRGINAL BLACK PRINCESS 108

eight IN HANDCUFFS IN THE BACK OF A POLICE CRUISER 131

nine THEY BELIEVE WHITE MEN HAVE HAD TO PAY FOR BLACK SUCCESS 144

ten TIME TO LEAVE THE WHITE MAN’S WORLD 162

eleven FACTS ARE LOST IN THE PRECONCEPTIONS OF RACIAL GRIEVANCE 191

twelve GIVE HIM ENOUGH TIME AND THE NIGGER WILL COME OUT IN HIM AGAIN 213

thirteen THE DEBT OF THE GHETTO BOUND 231

fourteen YOU’D STILL LOOK AT ME AS A SCUMBAG 245

Bibliography 256

Index 260

Editorial Reviews

A terrific read! This a fascinating study of a centralfigure in American life. Meticulously researched and perfectlytimed, Tyson does more than any previous work to put MikeTyson's story in its proper sprawling context.”

Grant Wahl, Sports Illustrated

“Ellis Cashmore has gone beneath the persona of Tyson withintelligent sensitivity. He has pointed us towards the motives inthe psyche of an extraordinary figure in the history of sport andanalysed why Tyson remains such a figure of fascination to so manypeople.”

John Goodbody, The Times

“Ellis Cashmore’s book will fascinate and frustratean unusually wide range of readers. He juxtaposes the biography ofMike Tyson against mini-narratives of other prominent athletes andcelebrities, African American leaders, and contemporaneousincidents, allowing biographical narrative to unfold almostseamlessly into analysis and cultural history. In situating Tysonin his times, Cashmore offers an uncompromising critique of latetwentieth-century US race relations, as well as presenting acompelling account of an intriguing career and lifestory.”

Douglas Hartmann, University of Minnesota

"His account is a well-written and fascinating attempt to helpus understand this. It will undoubtedly appeal to a largereadership. It is not a purely academic read, but neither is it atrashy hagiography. As such it deserves a broad audience outside ofwhat is traditional for an 'academic' book."

Guy Osborn, University of Westminster

From the Publisher