Jim Brown: The Fierce Life of an American Hero

Just old enough to have seen Jim Brown in his prime I therefore read this out of respect for the football player, activist, and occasional jail occupant. The author clearly has great respect for Brown and details the steps he took to be granted interviews from this controlling, contentious man. This book is a great summation but really without any revelations. Brown was a great football player from a broken home in Georgia whose mother brings him to New York and works as a domestic to raise him. High school coaches guide him to a great Syracuse career while he experiences racism and events that will shape his life.Brown left the NFL at the top of his game for a career in movies. The book seems to glorify the Jim Brown acting career which seems to me to be quite a stretch. Whether it compensated Brown better than staying in football is never made clear. After acting and football we are left with Jim Brown the activist and possible abuser. I applaud Brown for his long history of effective activism but am conflicted on how to balance this with the domestic violence incidents which he continually tries to explain away. This is for the reader to decide but it is apparent that the author also has this same conflict.Overall, this is a fine book. But does it really add new ground? Not really. Does it give great insight into a unique period America? Probably, in my opinion this is the book's greatest failure. While he touches on what is happening in America during this period, particularly the support for Mohammed Ali as he objects Vietnam duty, there is no great reflection to open this historical period to the reader. Therefore I was left with a biography of maybe the greatest football player who is now an activist and who doesn't want anything written about him. There is just not enough insight or reflection to call this an exceptional book. But if you have a specific interest in knowing of Jim Brown, this book will serve that purpose.

Writer had a very tough task, an unauthorized biography of a very guarded man. I admire the effort, results are lacking a bit.Writer asks if a man who is so abusive to women can be a hero.Many sections of the book are lacking. Brown was a great running back, greatest runner. But he was a mediocre (at best) pass catcher and a lousy blocker. Author ignores that completely.Author does speculation of how Brown would perform today and makes points about him being bigger than many of the defensive linemen he played against. But he forgets that if he played on artificial turf, he might have gotten injured more.Would have loved to hear more of his lacrosse career. Is he still in touch with Roy Simmons, Jr.?Movie career is quite overrated. However, the author did not even mention "I Am Gonna Git You Sucka", a parody of Blaxploitation movies.Author should have used a story about Brown and the late Dick Schaap, the sportswriter and broadcaster. Brown was his usual hostile self when being interviewed by Schaap until Dick reminded Brown that he was a lacrosse goalie at Cornell. Schaap had little success against Brown that day and after a lot of laughter, Brown warmed up completely.

Jim Brown was a legend on the field, the star running back for the Cleveland Browns blazed a trail that few could even dream of being mentioned in the same breath as him.Black men were not easily accepted in the NFL when Brown commenced playing for the Browns, his role became not only star player but also a lead advocate of player rights and civil rights in the 1960's.The author Mike Freeman tells an interesting story about Brown and isn't afraid to delve into the darker side of the man. Brown's alleged woman beating and his regular dating of women while married are documented and discussed in detail.Brown is a very interesting personality - champion player, movie star, abuser of women, civil rights activist - it is all there.A good book, perhaps not riveting reading as the style is a little dull, but still a good addition to the bookshelves.

This book gives great descriptions of Brown's athletic ability for football junkies and provides a great summary of his accomplishments and troubles outside of the sport. The book does a great job raising excellent existential questions about Brown. I wish the author had come to more concrete answers but instead leaves that task up to the reader. Regardless, this book is worth the read for anyone interested in civil rights or football.

Came into this book thinking I knew enough about Jim Brown. After reading this book i got a good understanding of who he is the peaks and valleys. The greatness of him and the ugliness that makes Jim Brown

What I wanted

Son needed this for school with the requirements of an autobiography or biography on someone born prior to 1940. This fit the bill and he found it interesting even though he's not a big reader.

I' great look inside the life of a fret man.

Received book over a year ago

An interesting read covers all aspects of jim browns life in a balanced manner and really shines a light on race issues faced by black athletes in jim browns era