He intimidated people on and off the football field. He was brutal yet brilliant, narcissistic yet magnanimous, relentless yet unyielding. Most of all, he was the greatest football player of all time. He was Jim Brown.
Jim Brown was an astonishing physical specimen with tremendous skills and intelligence. An athlete who played a number of sports at Syracuse University, he ultimately discovered that it was the violence of football that appealed to him most. The idea of physically dominating other men, surviving ferocious battles on the field against opponents who would just as soon call him a nigger as try to gouge out his eyes fueled an astonishing, record-making NFL career that led to the Hall of Fame. He battled his defenses, sometimes his teammates, and often the Cleveland Browns' legendary head coach Paul Brown.
But Jim Brown had ambitions greater than football. He used his athletic brilliance to launch a movie career, becoming Hollywood's first black action hero, culminating in a scandalous love scene with America's sweetheart Raquel Welch. He leveraged his popularity into helping the NFL's black players and becoming a civil rights activist. Never shy about expressing his opinions, Brown would become the subject of FBI investigations and surveillance throughout parts of his life.
Then there were the women. The patient wife who was essentially a single mother and who endured public humiliation. The girlfriends he ran through and the scandalous accusations of violence made by some of them.
A complex and fascinating story, Jim Brown is a towering biography of a living legend.
Digital Life Reviews
Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: - BEST RUNNING BACK EVER
THIS BOOK BY MIKE FREEMAN IS A VERY GOOD BIO ON A VERY INTERESTING PERSON IN JIM BROWN. HE CAPTURES BROWN AS A VERY COMPLICATED PERSON WITH MANY SIDES. I AM FROM CLEVELAND AND SAW MANY OF HIS GAMES AS A CHILD AND ARE STILL ETCHED IN MY MIND FOR THE GREAT PLAYS HE MADE. OFF THE FIELD IT WAS A DIFFERENT STORY. JIM WAS ARROGANT, ALOOF AND A MAJOR WOMANIZER. HE HAS BEEN ACCUSED OF PHYSICAL ABUSE MORE THAN A FEW TIMES OVER THE YEARS. HE ALSO WAS A MAJOR MOTIVATOR IN TRYING TO HELP BLACK BUSINESS PEOPLE ESTABLISH THEMSELVES BACK IN THE 1960'S AND 1970'S. ALONG WITH ALL THIS, HE MADE SEVERAL MOVIES AND HAD A SOLID CAREER FOR AWHILE. THE ONE COMPLAINT I HAVE WITH THIS BOOK IS A LACK OF TIME SPENT ON HIS FOOTBALL CAREER. OTHER THAN THAT I REALLY ENJOYED AND ALSO FOUND THE PART ABOUT THE FBI KEEPING AN EYE ON BROWN FOR SEVERAL YEARS TO BE VERY INTERESTING. ALL IN ALL I LIKE IT AND SUGGEST FOR ALL JIM BROWN FANS.
Rating: - Extremely disappointed in this book
It was so bad I went through it in a short evening. It covers Brown's entire life, but I wouldn't call it a biography. It didn't go into enough depth in really any area of his life. Brown is a fastinating personality, but the author didn't do a very good job. I would never be inclined to read another book written by the author. Jim Brown is a subject that David Mariness should write about. Now there's an author!
Rating: - Hopefully a better bio will come along
I read "Jim Brown" a few weeks after finishing Mike Callahan's "Johnny U". Like "Johnny U", I gave this 3 stars, partly out of nostalgia. Both books have gaping flaws and those probably are even more apparent to someone who hadn't lived through these players' glory years. Unitas, in many ways, was the last of a certain kind of player--one who said little, played hard, and seemd to go along with management. These were the guys who lived next door to their fans and had off season jobs (usually in some sort of sales), because they and their families needed the money. Brown was the beginning of very different era. He left the game at his prime and spent his career being very outspoken about football, and was willingly to confront Coach Paul Brown. The elder Brown was instrumental in developing the modern game of football--he approached the game in a studied, almost academic manner and developed the foundations of the ... Read More
Rating: - Nicely Done Bio
I just finished reading this book and although it slowed at times it was worth the read. Jim Brown probably the greatest running back to play football in any era is laid out warts and all in this bio.I believe the book reveals alot in regards to how Brown evolved into the person he is now. The social and racial prejudice he encountered early in life chiseled not only his body but personality into a hard edged, tough to get close to icon.
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- BEST RUNNING BACK EVER
- Extremely disappointed in this book
- Hopefully a better bio will come along
