Stuart Cosgrove: The Soul Of Muhammad Ali (2020 Event)

Following on from his acclaimed trilogy about the American soul music scene in the 1960s, much-loved Scottish broadcaster and writer Stuart Cosgrove returns to the American post-war era with his highly topical new book.

In Cassius X: Six Months That Shaped The Sixties, Cosgrove charts the journey of a young Kentucky boxer named Cassius Clay. Alongside his rise as a fighter, Clay begins to embrace the ideas of the Black Power movement and the teachings of Malcolm X. Thus, Clay changes his name to Cassius X, before eventually changing it again to his Islamic name: Muhammad Ali.

As well as documenting the meteoric rise of one of the all-time sporting greats, Cosgrove shows how soul music formed a soundtrack to an era of social and political turmoil. Join him in this event recorded for the 2020 Book Festival as he talks to Scottish author Val McDermid about this landmark moment for American culture, and its parallels with the USA today.