“[Aiello's] captivating and deeply researched account seamlessly weaves together the politics of race and sports. This is a knockout.”—Publishers Weekly, starred review
“Aiello's decision to focus on a specific fight is interesting and makes for a compelling story. . . . Even diehard Ali fans will learn something from this book.”—Stephanie Howes, Booklist
“Return of the King is a compelling social history, a story that moves nimbly and lands its punches with power. Thomas Aiello has written an important and original work exploring Muhammad Ali’s comeback and the making of modern Atlanta.”—Jonathan Eig, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of King: A Life and Ali: A Life
“You don’t need to be a boxing fan to love Thomas Aiello’s powerful and evocative portrayal of how Black Atlanta enabled Muhammad Ali’s career-defining comeback.”—David J. Garrow, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Bearing the Cross: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference
“Return of the King is essential reading for anyone interested in Muhammad Ali and boxing as transcendent figure and institution respectively. Aiello frames his treatment of the 1970 fight between Jerry Quarry and Ali, in the racial politics of Atlanta, the state of Georgia, and the nation. After reading this book no one can ever see Atlanta as ‘the city too busy to hate.’ This study is sports history at its best and reveals that when properly contextualized and theorized the discipline is invaluable to a clearer and more accurate understanding of the past.”—Jeffrey T. Sammons, author of Beyond the Ring: The Role of Boxing in American Society
“Both local and national in scope, Return of the King is a fascinating account of the Ali-Quarry fight. It offers a fresh look at the political culture of Atlanta through the prism of Leroy Johnson’s story and a closer focus on one of the most underappreciated periods of Ali’s career. This is an early contender for the best sports history books of 2025.”—Clayton Trutor, author of Loserville: How Professional Sports Remade Atlanta—and How Atlanta Remade Professional Sports
“Thomas Aiello’s book is an exciting and detailed account of Muhammad Ali’s return to the ring after three and a half years in exile, with a special focus on how Atlanta, with its sophisticated Black politicians like State Senator Leroy Johnson, was able to overcome racist opposition to present the bout against white hope Jerry Quarry in the heart of the Deep South.”—Lewis A. Erenberg, author of The Rumble in the Jungle: Muhammad Ali and George Foreman on the Global Stage
COMING DECEMBER 1!
Return of the King tells the story of Muhammad Ali’s return to the ring in 1970, after a more than three-year suspension for refusing his draft notice as a conscientious objector during the Vietnam War. With Ali’s career still in doubt, he found new support in shifting public opinion about the war and in Atlanta, a city still governed by white supremacy, but a white supremacy decidedly different from that of its neighbor cities in the Deep South.
Atlanta had been courting and landing professional sports teams in football, basketball, and baseball since the end of 1968. An influential state politician, Leroy Johnson, Georgia’s first Black state senator since Reconstruction, was determined to help Ali return after his exile. The state had no boxing commission to prevent Ali from fighting there, so Johnson made it his mission for Ali to make a comeback in Georgia. Ali’s opponent would be Jerry Quarry, the top heavyweight contender and, more important, a white man who had spoken out against Ali’s objection to the war.
In Return of the King, Thomas Aiello examines the history of Muhammad Ali, Leroy Johnson, and the city of Atlanta, while highlighting an important fight of Ali’s that changed the trajectory of his career. Although the fight between Ali and Quarry lasted only three rounds, those nine minutes changed boxing forever and were crucial to both the growth of Atlanta and the rebirth of Ali’s boxing career.
