When Muhammad Ali met Joe Frazier in Manila for the third, bloody act of their heoric trilogy of fights, the rivalry had spun out of control. More than a clash of personalities or fighting styles, the Ali/Frazier match-up had become a kind of madness, enflamed by the media and the politics of race. When "The Thrilla in Manila" was over, the hype no longer mattered: one man was left with a ruin of a life, the other was battered to his soul.

Mark Kram's remarkable book begins with the boxers themselves—who they are and who they were. Weaving together present and past, Kram explodes the hagiography surrounding both fighters&3151;particularly Ali—and presents readers with the rarest of literary accomplishments: a psychologically riveting study of two heroes, many myths, and the reality behind it all.