The first, definitive biography of one of the most important, controversial, and outspoken athletes of the 20th century.
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. A legend in his own time, Jim Brown was revered as an athlete, actor, and unflinching symbol of black pride and self-reliance. In this moving book, Mike Freeman offers the first definitive portrait of the sports star. Based on interviews with Brown, his family, friends, and colleagues, Jim Brown is an honest, complete picture of the man and his turbulent times. Part biography, part cultural history, it is a quintessential American tale—a story of adversity, adulation, tenacity, inspiration, and pride.
Go beyond the highlight reels to discover the fierce, controversial, and brilliant man who changed more than just the game.
- NFL Dominance: Explore the on-field genius that made Jim Brown the most feared running back in history, an athlete who redefined his position for the Cleveland Browns and walked away at the peak of his power.
- Hollywood Pioneer: Discover how Brown shattered Hollywood barriers to become the first Black action hero, starring in films like The Dirty Dozen and sharing the screen with stars like Raquel Welch.
- Unflinching Activist: Go beyond the field to Brown’s crucial role as a civil rights leader, from founding the Black Economic Union to his unwavering support for Muhammad Ali and his lifelong fight for Black pride and self-reliance.
- A Complex Legacy: Confront the controversies that marked his life, from his turbulent relationships and clashes with the law to the FBI surveillance that targeted him as a powerful Black leader.
- Deeply Researched: Based on extensive interviews with Brown himself, his family, and his contemporaries, this is the definitive, multi-layered portrait of a true American icon.
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.
"[Freeman is] an excellent storyteller...what resonates most is Brown's fierce determination to do things his way."
